Magellan and the world's first circumnavigation Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who died 500 years ago, discovered a passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans — today's Strait of Magellan. The first circumnavigation of the world was unwittingly initiated by Ferdinand Magellan, who died 500 years ago, on April 27, 1521. A battle-hardened knight and hardy sailor at a young age, he never would have imagined he would be the one to make the key contribution to travelling around the globe. Born about 1480 in Portugal into a Catholic family of minor nobility, Magellan was influence...