Strait of Magellan
body of water in Chile connecting Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
The Strait of Magellan (Spanish: Estrecho de Magallanes), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago to the south. Considered the most important natural passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the strait is approximately 570 km (310 nmi; 350 mi) long and 2 km (1.1 nmi; 1.2 mi) wide at its narrowest point. The name of the strait dates to 1520, when the Spanish expedition of the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan brought the first Europeans to the area.
Magellan's original name for the strait was Estrecho de Todos los Santos ("Strait of All Saints"). The King of Spain, Emperor Charles V, who had sponsored the Magellan-Elcano expedition, changed the name to the Strait of Magellan in honor of Magellan.
The route is difficult to navigate due to frequent narrows and unpredictable winds and currents. Maritime piloting is now compulsory. The strait is shorter and more sheltered than the Drake Passage (the open sea route around Cape Horn), which is beset by frequent gale-force winds and icebergs. Along with the Beagle Channel, the strait was one of the few sea routes between the Atlantic and Pacific before the construction of the Panama Canal.
History
Indigenous navigation
Land adjacent to the Strait of Magellan has been inhabited by indigenous Americans for at least 13,000 years.
“Strait of Magellan” enters the record as body of water in Chile connecting Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Strait, Magellan and body can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q48365. VIAF identifies the subject as 235069100. The Library of Congress control number is sh85079589. Authority coordinates are -54.000, -71.000. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1520.
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This entry incorporates text from “Strait of Magellan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.