Tia Fischer, age 11, of Henderson, Nev., for his question:
WHO WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO GO AROUND THE WORLD?
World travel received a boost in 1450 when the Portuguese invented the three masted ship, which made it easier for sailors to travel against the wind. A Portuguese navigator, Ferdinand Magellan, received cred for being the leader of the first expedition that sailed . ound the world. He is considered by many historians to be the grt test navigator who ever lived.
Magellan sailed for the king of Spain from Sanlucar de Barrameda on Sept. 20, 151, and arrived at the bay of Rio de Janeiro in South America three months later. He traveled south and passed through the Strait of Magellan into the western ocean, which he named Pacific.
The first 'round the world trip continued when Magellan slowly traveled west with some time spent in the South Pacifica's Mariana Islands. Reaching the island of Cebu in the southern Philippines, Magellan estimated that he had passed the longitude of the East Indies and that the way was then open to him to return to Spain through the Indian Ocean simply by continuing to sail west.
But on April 27, 1521, Magellan was cut down by native spears and cutlasses and died. It was up to his crew to complete the voyage without him.
Magellan's ships traveled through the Indian Ocean and around the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa. The ship returned to Sanlucar de Barrameda in Spain on Sept. 6, 1522. This first around the world voyage had taken two weeks less than three years to complete.
As the years passed, the trip around the world took less time. An American newspaper reporter named Nellie Bly made a record trip in 18 in 72 days, six hours and 11 minutes.
In 124, four U.S. Army airplanes circled the earth in 15 days, three hours and seven minutes. Then in 133 an American aviator named Wiley Post made the first solo flight in seven days, 18 hours and 4 minutes. And today, a space shuttle can make the round the world journey in just minutes.
Getting from point A to point B has always been a challenge to humankind. Ever since the wheel was invented in the eastern Mediterranean region about 2700 B.C., transportation has improved from one age to another. The Chinese came up with the first system of roads in 200 B.C. And by the year A.D. 100, explorers and adventurers were heading out for the open seas.
A U.S. Air Force bomber named Lucky Lady II made the first nonstop flight around the world in 14. It took the crew three days, 22 hours and one minute to make the trip. The plane was refueled four times in flight.