(Ferdinand), a celebrated Portuguese mariner in the 16th century. He being dissatisfied with the king of Portugal, went into the service of the emperor Charles V., and sailed from Seville with five vessels in 1519, when he discovered and passed the strait to which he gave his own name, and sailed through the South Sea to the Ladrones Islands, when, according to some authors, he was poisoned in 1520; though others say that he was killed in a mutiny of his people, in the island of Mutan, on account of his severity. His voyage round the world was written by one on board, and has been frequently printed in English. His suddenly converting to the Christian religion people whose language was unknown to him, as his was to them, is an absurdity that discredits this work.

Straits of Magellan, a narrow passage between the island of Terra del Fuego, and the southern extremity of the continent of America. This passage was first discovered by Ferdinand Magellan, who sailed through it into the South Sea, and from thence to the East-Indies. Other navigators have passed the same way; but as these straits are exceedingly difficult, and subject to storms, it has been common to sail by Cape Horn, rather than through the Straits of Magellan. See Straits Le Maire, and Tierra del Fuego.