Born 4 February 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. Confronted to some criminal offences and after King Manuel I of Portugal refused to support his plan to reach the Maluku Islands (the "Spice Islands") by sailing westwards around the American continent, Magellan left Portugal and proposed the expedition to King Charles I of Spain who accepted it. For this move, Magellan was henceforth considered by many in Portugal as a traitor and was never to return. He adopted the name of Fernando de Magellanes and settled in Seville where he married and fathered two children; and from where he organised the expedition. In consideration to the allegiance to the Hispanic Monarchy, Magellan was appointed in 1518 admiral of the Spanish Fleet to command the expedition, the five-ships Armada of Molucca, as well as Commander of the Order of Santiago, one of the highest military ranks of the Spanish Empire.
Granted with special powers and privileges by the King, he headed the Armada from Sanlucar de Barrameda south through the Atlantic Ocean to the eastern coast of South America down to the Patagonia. Despite a series of storms and mutinies, they made it through the Strait of Magellan into the Mar del Sur which he renamed the "Peaceful Sea" (the modern Pacific Ocean). The expedition reached Guam and shortly after, the Philippine islands, where Magellan was killed during the Battle of Mactan in April 1521. Under the command of captain Juan Sebastian Elcano, the expedition later reached the Spice Islands and, to navigate back to Spain and avoid seizure by the Portuguese, the two remaining ships split, one attempting unsuccessfully to reach New Spain sailing eastwards across the Pacific while the other, commanded by Elcano, sailed westwards via the Indian Ocean and up the Atlantic coast of Africa to finally arrive at the expedition's port of departure, completing the first circuit of the globe.
While at the Kingdom of Portugal's service, 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.
