João Rodrigues Serrão (d. May 1521), also known as Juan Rodríguez Serrano, was a Portuguese and Spanish pilot and explorer. He served in the Portuguese India Armadas that secured control of the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca for the Portuguese but is most well known for his participation in Ferdinant Magellan's 15191521 expedition to the Spice Islands for CharlesI of Spain, which discovered a path around South America to the Pacific and initiated Spanish involvement in the Philippines. Serrão and Duarte Barbosa became leaders of the expedition after Magellan's death at the Battle of Mactan but did not live to complete the circumnavigation with Elcano. They were both killed shortly thereafter during a massacre of the Spanish by their supposed convert and ally Humabon, raja of Cebu. Name João Rodrigues Serrão is the Portuguese form of the Spanish name Juan Rodríguez Serrano and more common in English sources, although Antonio Pigafettaa Venetian who accompanied Magellan's expedition as a supernumerary and subsequently wrote an account of his voyageconsidered Serrão notably Spanish. The name is usually shortened to Serrão rather than Rodrigues Serrão. It also appears in some sources anglicized to John Serrano. Life Serrão was born in Frixinal (now Fregenal de la Sierra), Badajoz, in a border area long contested between Portugal and Spain. He was the brother or cousin of Francisco Serrão. Like Magellan, for the first part of his life, João Serrão served the Portuguese king ManuelI. He served as the pilot of a round caravel in the Fourth India Armada led by Vasco de Gama in 1502. Together with Magellan and his relative Francisco, he also took part in the Seventh India Armada led by Francisco de Almeida in 1505. In that expedition, he captained the round caravel . Serrão and Magellan also took part in the Portuguese conquest of Malacca led by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1511. Subsequently, Francisco stayed in the East Indies and wrote descriptions of the area to João and Magellan. Finding himself in disgrace in the Portuguese court and thinking Francisco's information suggested the Spice Islands (now Indonesia's Maluku Islands) fell within the Spanish hemisphere created by the Treaty of Tordesillas, Magellan approached the young Spanish king CharlesI (subsequently Emperor CharlesV of the Holy Roman Empire) for funding. When this was granted, Serrão joined Magellan as one of the captains for his expedition. Serrão captained the across the Atlantic in 1519.