Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan may have reached the Philippines in 1521 because of El Niño, without him or his fellow voyagers knowing it.
A 2021 study by Dr. Scott Fitzpatrick of North Carolina State University and Dr. Richard Callaghan of the University of Calgary examined Magellan’s circumnavigation and how the expedition may have ended up in the Philippines.
MAGELLAN’S UNEXPECTED VOYAGE TO THE PHILIPPINES
When Magellan set sail across the vast ocean west of South America in November 1520, he anticipated a swift passage south toward the Spice Islands.
Instead, climate researchers analyzed Magellan’s route and found that the Portuguese explorer may have encountered climate conditions that altered the expedition’s trajectory, eventually leading his fleet to the Philippine archipelago in March 1521.
According to an analysis by the Royal Meteorological Society’s MetMatters, an El Niño event was active during Magellan’s 1520–1521 voyage, potentially steering the expedition toward the Philippines.
THE TRADE WINDS THAT SHIFTED HISTORY
The Royal Meteorological Society said that after Magellan navigated the treacherous strait at the southern tip of South America, the explorer sailed across the Pacific under remarkably calm conditions.
However, what Magellan did not know was that the calm conditions were likely linked to El Niño, which disrupts normal atmospheric circulation by weakening the trade winds that typically blow from east to west across the tropical Pacific.
“What no one knew was that an El Niño event was in full swing. This meant that the equatorial easterlies, which normally stretched across the whole of the Pacific, would be weaker and even reversed in direction in the western half of the ocean,” the Royal Meteorological Society explained.
It continued, “To keep the wind at his back, Magellan would have been forced to steer a more northerly route. This may well be what led to his ill-fated arrival at the island of Cebu in the Philippines, 1,500 kilometers north of his intended destination, the Spice Islands.”
Magellan’s El Niño-driven arrival in the Philippines set the course for the rest of his journey in the archipelago.
His expedition had pivotal encounters, including the first Catholic Mass in the Philippines and alliances with local communities, before Magellan was killed in the Battle of Mactan in April 1521 against the forces of Lapu-Lapu.
The Royal Meteorological Society explained that the episode illustrates how global climate phenomena can interact with human history.
Had the winds across the Pacific maintained their usual course, Magellan may not have reached the Philippines and could have instead made it to the Spice Islands, now known as the Maluku Islands in Indonesia.
But Magellan and his crew would never have known that El Niño may have played a role in bringing them to the Philippines.
