Ferdinand Magellan killed
April 27, 1521

Portuguese navigator and explorer who sailed under the flags of both Portugal (1505–12) and Spain (1519–21). From Spain he sailed around South America, discovering the Strait of Magellan, and across the Pacific. Though he was killed in the Philippines, his ships continued westward to Spain, accomplishing the first circumnavigation of the world. The voyage was successfully terminated by the Basque navigator Juan Sebastián de Elcano (del Cano).

On November 28 "Trinidad," "Concepción," and "Victoria" entered the "Sea of the South," from their calm crossing later called the Pacific Ocean. Tortured by thirst, stricken by scurvy, feeding on rat-fouled biscuits, finally reduced to eating the leather off the yardarms, the crews, driven first by the Peru Current and throughout the voyage by the relentless determination of Magellan, made the great crossing of the Pacific. Until December 18 they had sailed near the Chilean coast; then Magellan took a course northwestward; not until Jan. 24, 1521, was land sighted, probably Pukapuka in the Tuamotu Archipelago. Crossing the equinoctial line at approximately 158° W on February 13, the voyagers on March 6 made first landfall at Guam in the Marianas, where they obtained fresh food for the first time in 99 days. A Memorial, sent by Magellan to King Charles before leaving Spain, suggests that he knew (probably partly from Serrão's letters) the approximate position of the Moluccas; in sailing now to the Philippines instead of direct to the Spice Islands, he was doubtless dominated by the idea of early revictualing and the advantage of securing a base before visiting the Moluccas.

Leaving on March 9, Magellan steered west-southwestward to islands later called the Philippines, where at Massava he secured the first alliance in the Pacific for Spain, at Cebú the conversion to Christianity of the ruler and his chief men. Less than two months later, however, Magellan was killed in a fight with natives on Mactan Island.

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