Discovery of Straits of Magellan, 1520

Discovery of Straits of Magellan, 1520

Ferdinand Magellan discovering the sea passage, which would later become known as the Straits of Magellan, in November, 1520. Ferdinand Magellan (1480 - April 27, 1521) was a Portuguese nobleman who had served his country as a soldier in the Indies. Like Columbus, he believed that a western voyage would be much quicker than the Portuguese route. He was sure there was a strait, or sea passage, through the American continent, and that Asia was close beyond. Charles I, new king os Spain, agreed to sponsor the plan. He gave Magellan 5 small ships and about 265 men. In September 1519, the ships set sail. Magellan's expedition of 1519-22 became the first expedition to sail from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean (then named "peaceful sea" by Magellan; the passage being made via the Strait of Magellan), and the first to cross the Pacific. It also completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth, although Magellan himself did not complete the entire voyage, being killed during the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines at the age of 40 or 41. Two of the closest galaxies, the Magellanic Clouds, were named for Magellan sometime after 1800, and also the Magellan probe, which mapped the planet Venus from 1990 to 1994.

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