Ferdinand Magellan did not actually circumnavigate the globe.

Famous Figures

F or more than 500 years, Ferdinand Magellan has been famous for being the first person to circumnavigate the globe — which is a bit odd, given that he didn't actually do so. Though Magellan did lead the expedition that made it around the world in three years, the Portuguese explorer died in the Philippines before the journey's end.

Magellan set sail from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain, on September 20, 1519, in search of a new route to the East Indies (present-day Indonesia). Within a couple of years, he found himself on Mactan Island in the Philippines after completing about three-quarters of his epic journey. There, he was killed by a poison arrow during a skirmish on April 27, 1521, after angering the Indigenous peoples, in part due to his attempts to spread Christianity to the Filipino island.

Magellan originally set sail with about 260 sailors, many of whom died before him, and those who survived the events of Mactan Island continued the expedition without him. Only 18 of them made it back to Sanlúcar de Barrameda on September 9, 1522. So who actually deserves credit for being the first to circumnavigate the globe? Some historians single out Juan Sebastián Elcano, who led the expedition back to Spain after Magellan's death, making him one of the 18 men to complete the full journey.

Others name Enrique of Malacca, a Malay man whom Magellan captured in the East Indies in 1511. Enrique traveled with the crew from the East Indies to Europe, around Africa, and then on the expedition to circumnavigate the world, traveling west around South America. When the crew returned to the East Indies, he was near his homeland. If he made it back home, he may have been the first person to circumnavigate the globe.

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By the Numbers

Ships that set sail on Magellan's journey (Trinidad, San Antonio, Concepción, Santiago, Victoria)

Rotten Tomatoes score of 2025's Magellan, starring Gael García Bernal

87%

Did you know?

Magellan named the Pacific Ocean.

Magellan wasn't the first European to reach the Pacific Ocean (that would be Spanish conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa), but he did give the ocean its name. The Portuguese explorer reached the world's largest body of water in 1520 and dubbed it "Mar Pacifico," which is Portuguese for "peaceful sea." He arrived there via what's now called the Strait of Magellan, a 350-mile passage through Chile that connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Balboa beat Magellan to the Pacific by seven years after crossing the Isthmus of Panama; he named his discovery the "South Sea," but the name didn't stick.