He crossed the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean in 1513, becoming the first European to lead an expedition known to have seen or reached the Pacific from the New World.

The ocean was sighted by Europeans early in the 16th century, first by the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1513), who crossed the Isthmus of Panama, and then by Ferdinand Magellan, who sailed the Pacific during his circumnavigation (1519-1522). In 1564, conquistadors crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi who sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands. For the remainder of the 16th century, Spanish influence was paramount, with ships sailing from Spain to the Philippines, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands; the Manila Galleons linked Manila and Acapulco. In 16th century also Ragusan galleys from Dubrovnik led by Vice Bune explored southwestern Pacific, and discovered the islands of Bismarck Archipelago, Vanuatu (New Hebrides), etc.

You may be thinking it was discovered once the Europeans navigated to the other side of the Americas, but you’re forgetting the Pacific goes all the way to Asia. Someone from that continent was fishing in it – and even crossing it – hundreds of years before.

And neither is true. He didn’t discover it because it was always there. And he wasn’t the first person to cross it. Polynesian paddlers crossed it coming from their homeland to Hawaii, where they settled. Chinese fisherment crossed it when they came to what is now North America, eons before Magellan set foot on deck.