Ferdinand Magellan died on 27 April 1521 in Mactan, aged about 41. A Portuguese navigator in the service of Spain, Magellan proposed to reach the Spice Islands by sailing west, and in 1519 he set out with five ships from Seville. He found the strait at the southern tip of South America that now bears his name and led the first crossing of the Pacific by Europeans. In April 1521, he was killed in a battle with the forces of the chieftain Lapulapu on the island of Mactan, in the Philippines. One ship of the expedition, commanded by Juan Sebastián Elcano, returned to Spain in 1522, completing the first circumnavigation of the Earth.
Before and after
- from 30 June 1520 to 1 July 1520La Noche Triste
- from 1521 to 1523Swedish War of Liberation
- from 1521 to 1526Italian War of 1521–1526
- 18 April 1521Martin Luther defies the Emperor at the Diet of Worms
- 27 April 1521Death of Ferdinand Magellan
- 13 December 1521Birth of Sixtus V
- from 26 June 1522 to 22 December 1522Siege of Rhodes
- from 27 August 1522 to 6 May 1523Knights' War
- 6 September 1522Magellan's expedition completes the first circumnavigation
More in Exploration & discovery
- 24 December 1524Death of Vasco da Gama
- 1540Birth of Francis Drake
- 2 December 1547Death of Hernán Cortés
- 24 September 1557Death of Jacques Cartier
- 28 January 1596Death of Francis Drake
- 1603Birth of Abel Tasman
The era
This moment belongs to the Early modern world (1500 CE to 1760 CE), voyages, printing and new ideas. You can also browse everything in the 16th century.