On 21 October 1520, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan reached Cape Virgenes at the southern tip of South America, discovering the entrance to a waterway that would become one of the most important maritime passages in history: the Strait of Magellan.
The discovery brought Magellan’s expedition closer to its ambitious goal of finding a western sea route from Europe to the Spice Islands of Southeast Asia. It would take another five weeks before his ships emerged into the Pacific Ocean, completing the first recorded European voyage through the strait.
A search for a passage through South America
Magellan had departed Spain in September 1519, commanding a fleet of five ships under the Spanish crown. His mission was to reach the valuable spice-producing islands of Asia by sailing west, avoiding the established Portuguese routes around Africa.
After crossing the Atlantic, the expedition followed the eastern coast of South America, searching for a navigable passage through the continent.
The voyage was already proving dangerous. The crews faced severe weather, shortages of supplies and internal disputes. During the southern winter of 1520, a mutiny broke out while the fleet was anchored at Puerto San Julián in present-day Argentina. Magellan suppressed the rebellion, but the expedition also lost one of its ships, the Santiago, in a wreck.
By October, the remaining four vessels were sailing south again, still searching for an opening towards the ocean on the other side of the continent.
21 October 1520: The entrance to the strait
On 21 October, the expedition reached a headland that Magellan’s crew named Cape of the Virgins, now known as Cape Virgenes, near the eastern entrance to the strait.
Beyond the cape lay a channel stretching into unfamiliar territory. It was not immediately clear whether this was the long-sought passage to the Pacific or another inlet that would eventually end in a dead end.
Magellan ordered further exploration, and the fleet gradually made its way into a complicated network of channels, bays and narrow waterways between mainland South America and the land now known as Tierra del Fuego.
The passage was initially named the Strait of All Saints by the expedition. It later became known as the Strait of Magellan, commemorating the explorer who led the voyage.
Five weeks of difficult navigation
Finding the entrance was only the beginning. The ships had to negotiate unfamiliar currents, narrow channels and unpredictable weather while their crews searched for a route westward.
During the crossing, the San Antonio deserted the expedition and returned to Spain, leaving Magellan with three vessels: the Trinidad, Concepción and Victoria.
On 28 November 1520, those three ships finally emerged from the western end of the strait into the vast ocean beyond.
Magellan named it the Pacific, reflecting the relatively calm conditions encountered after leaving the difficult waters of southern South America.
The expedition had established a navigable connection between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, transforming European understanding of the world’s geography.
A voyage that changed maritime history
The discovery did not mean that Magellan’s troubles were over. Crossing the Pacific proved far longer and more punishing than the expedition had anticipated.
Food supplies deteriorated, fresh water became scarce and sailors suffered from hunger and disease as the ships travelled across an ocean whose immense size Europeans had severely underestimated.
Magellan eventually reached the Philippines in 1521, where he was killed during fighting on the island of Mactan on 27 April.
He never completed the circumnavigation that would make his expedition famous.
That achievement came in September 1522, when the Victoria, commanded by Juan Sebastián Elcano, returned to Spain with the surviving members of the expedition. It was the first recorded voyage around the world.
The Strait of Magellan remained a vital maritime route between the Atlantic and Pacific for centuries, particularly before the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914.
More than five centuries later, the events of 21 October 1520 remain a defining moment in the history of exploration. Magellan had not yet reached the Pacific, but he had found the entrance to the passage that would take him there.
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