Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese in the service of the Spanish crown, left Spain on 20 September 1519 with the goal of finding a western route to the Moluccas (Spice Islands) and trade for spices. He sailed across the Atlantic, and discovered the strait that now bears his name, allowing him to pass through the southern tip of South America into the Pacific Ocean (which he named). The fleet performed the first ever crossing of the Pacific. On March 16, 1521, they landed on Homonhon island in Samar.
Magellan name the islands “Las islas de San Lázaro” (St. Lazarus' Islands) because they reached the islands on the feast day of Saint Lazarus of Bethany. However, the archipelago was renamed “Las islas de Poniente” (Islands to the West).
On April 17, 1521, Magellan sailed to Mactan and ensuing battle killed Magellan by the natives led by Lapu-Lapu.
Juan Sebastian de Elcano, the master of ship "Concepcion" took over the command of the expedition after the death of Magellan and captained the ship "Victoria" back to Spain. Out of the five ships and more than 300 men who left on the Magellan expedition in 1519, only one ship (the Victoria) and 18 men returned to Seville, Spain on September 6, 1522. Nevertheless, the said expedition was considered historic because it marked the first circumnavigation of the globe and proved that the world was round.
