Ferdinand Magellan (/m?'g?l?n/[1] or /m?'d??l?

n/;[2] Portuguese: Fern�o de

Magalh�es, IPA: [f??'n?~w d? m???'??~j?]; Spanish: Fernando de Magallanes, IPA:
[fe?'nando �e ma?a'?anes]; c. 1480 � 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer who
organised the Spanish expedition to the East Indies from 1519 to 1522, resulting in
the first circumnavigation of the Earth, which was completed by Juan Sebasti�n
Elcano.

Born around 1480 into a family of minor Portuguese nobility, Magellan became a
skilled sailor and naval officer and was in service of the Portuguese crown in
Asia. After King Manuel I of Portugal refused to support his plan to reach India by
a new route, by sailing around the southern end of the South American continent, he
was eventually selected by King Charles I of Spain to search for a westward route
to the Maluku Islands (the "Spice Islands"). Commanding a fleet of five vessels, he
headed south through the Atlantic Ocean to Patagonia. Despite a series of storms
and mutinies, they made it through the Strait of Magellan into a body of water he
named the "peaceful sea" (the modern Pacific Ocean).[3] The expedition reached the
Philippine islands, where Magellan was killed during the Battle of Mactan. The
expedition later reached the Spice Islands in 1521 and one of the surviving ships
eventually returned home via the Indian Ocean, completing the first circuit of the
globe.

Magellan had already reached the Malay Archipelago in Southeast Asia on previous
voyages traveling east (from 1505 to 1511�1512). By visiting this area again but
now travelling west, Magellan achieved a nearly complete personal circumnavigation
of the globe for the first time in history.[4][5]