Ferdinand Magellan (1480 - April 27, 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. Like Columbus, he believed that a western voyage would be much quicker than the Portuguese route. He was sure there was a strait, or sea passage, through the American continent, and that Asia was close beyond. Charles I agreed to sponsor the plan. He gave Magellan 5 small ships and about 265 men and they set sail. Magellan's expedition of 1519-22 became the first expedition to sail from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean (then named "peaceful sea" by Magellan; the passage being made via the Strait of Magellan), and the first to cross the Pacific. It also completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth, although Magellan himself did not complete the entire voyage, being killed during the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines at the age of 40 or 41.