Magellán

Magellán, also Magallanes in Spanish, most commonly refers to Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480–1521), a Portuguese navigator who organized the first expedition to sail around the world under the Spanish crown. Born in Portugal, he sought western trade routes to the Spice Islands. In 1519 he departed Seville with five ships—the Trinidad, San Antonio, Concepción, Victoria, and Santiago—and crossed the Atlantic, navigating around the southern tip of South America to enter the Pacific Ocean.

Magellan himself was killed in the Philippines in 1521 during the Battle of Mactan. Of the original fleet, only the ship Victoria completed the circumnavigation, returning to Seville in 1522 under the command of Juan Sebastián Elcano, with a small crew. The expedition demonstrated that a westward sea route to Asia existed and that the Earth could be circumnavigated by sea, though it revealed the immense logistical and human costs of such an undertaking.

Magellán’s name has been attached to several geographic features and celestial references. The Strait of Magellan, at the southern tip of South America, provides a navigable route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and was identified by Magellan’s expedition. The Magellanic Clouds, two irregular dwarf galaxies in the southern sky, are named in his honor. Together, Magellán’s voyage and the features associated with his name marked a turning point in global navigation and Europe's understanding of world geography.