Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese navigator and explorer. From Spain he sailed around South America, discovering the Strait of Magellan, and across the Pacific. Though he was killed in the Philippines, one of his ships continued westward to Spain, accomplishing the first circumnavigation of Earth.

Learn about the Portuguese explorer who set out from Spain in 1519 to find a western sea route to the Spice Islands. Discover his achievements, challenges, and fate on his epic voyage around the world.

Ferdinand Magellan, or Fernão de Magalhães (c. 1480-1521), was a Portuguese mariner whose expedition was the first to circumnavigate the globe in 1519-22 in the service of Spain. Magellan was killed on the voyage in what is today the Philippines, and only 22 of the original 270 crew members made it back to Europe .

While in the service of Spain, the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan led the first European voyage of discovery to circumnavigate the globe.

The Magellan expedition, sometimes termed the Magellan–Elcano expedition, was a 16th-century Spanish expedition planned and led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. One of the most important voyages in the Age of Discovery —and in the history of exploration —its purpose was to cross the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to open a trade ...

Learn about the life and achievements of Ferdinand Magellan, the first European to circumnavigate the world. Explore his early career, his struggles and discoveries, and his tragic death in the Philippines.

Ferdinand Magellan (February 3, 1480–April 27, 1521), a Portuguese explorer, set sail in September 1519 with a fleet of five Spanish ships in an attempt to find the Spice Islands by heading west. Although Magellan died during the journey, he is credited with the first circumnavigation of the Earth.

Ferdinand Magellan was the first person to reach Asia and the Indian Ocean by sailing a westward route through the Americas and across the Pacific Ocean. Magellan's groundbreaking voyage was the first circumnavigation of earth and gave the first true record of the distribution of oceans and continents.

Magellan was undoubtedly one of the most skilled sailors of the great age of European maritime discoveries. Yet because he sailed in the service of the king of Spain, Portuguese historians have tended not to grant him the credit given to other eminent Portuguese navigators, such as Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama.