WHAT DOES THE PASSAGE MAINLY DISCUSS

What does the passage mainly discuss?

Our solar system

Galileo's discoveries

The planet Saturn

Read the passage and choose the best option for each sentence or question:

expedition to sail around the world. As a young Portuguese noble, he served the king of Portugal, but he

became involved in the quagmire of political intrigue at court and lost the king's favor. After he was dismissed

from service by the king of Portugal, he offered to serve the future Emperor Charles V of Spain.

A papal decree of 1493 had assigned all land in the New World west of 50 degrees W longitude to

Spain and all the land east of that line to Portugal. Magellan offered to prove that the East Indies fell under

Spanish authority. On September 20, 1519, Magellan set sail from Spain with five ships. More than a year

later, one of these ships was exploring the topography of South America in search of a water route across the

continent. This ship sank, but the remaining four ships searched along the southern peninsula of South

America. Finally they found the passage they sought near 50 degrees S latitude. Magellan named this passage

the Strait of All Saints, but today it is known as the Strait of Magellan.

One ship deserted while in this passage and returned to Spain, so fewer sailors were privileged to gaze

at that first panorama of the Pacific Ocean. Those who remained crossed the meridian now known as the

International Date Line in the early spring of 1521 after 98 days on the Pacific Ocean. During those long days

at sea, many of Magellan's men died of starvation and disease.

Later, Magellan became involved in an insular conflict in the Philippines and was killed in a tribal battle. Only

one ship and 17 sailors under the command of the Basque navigator Elcano survived to complete the westward

journey to Spain and thus proved once and for all that the world is round, with no precipice at the edge.