Strait Of Magellan | Location, Map, Importance, Climate, & Facts

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External Websites

• Princeton University Library - The Strait of Magellan: 250 Years of Maps (1520�1787)
• Universidad de Chile - Repositorio Academico - Straits in Latin America: The Case of the Strait of Magellan
• Library of Congress - The Spanish Defenses of the Strait of Magellan, the Pacific Coast and the Caribbean after the Drake Circumnavigation
• Heritage History - Magellan's Straits
• National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Diversity of benthic marine mollusks of the Strait of Magellan, Chile (Polyplacophora, Gastropoda, Bivalvia): a historical review of natural history

Strait of Magellan channel, South America Ask Anything Homework Help Also known as: Estrecho de Magallanes Written and fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated Jan. 22, 2026 •History Britannica AI Ask Anything Table of Contents Table of Contents Ask Anything

Strait of Magellan, channel linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, between the mainland tip of South America and Tierra del Fuego island. Lying entirely within Chilean territorial waters, except for its easternmost extremity touched by Argentina, it is 350 miles (560 km) long and 2–20 miles (3–32 km) wide. It extends westward from the Atlantic between Cape Vírgenes and Cape Espíritu Santo, proceeds southwestward, and curves to the northwest at Froward Cape on the southern tip of Brunswick Peninsula to reach the Pacific Ocean after passing Cape Pillar on Desolación Island. The strait’s major port is Punta Arenas, on the Brunswick Peninsula; the port is a shipping point for Chilean mutton.

Spanish: Estrecho de Magallanes (Show more) On the Web: Heritage History - Magellan's Straits (Jan. 22, 2026) (Show more) See all related content

The first European to navigate the strait was Ferdinand Magellan (October 21–November 28, 1520), a Portuguese sailing for Spain, whose expedition eventually completed the first circumnavigation of the world. Although the strait follows a somewhat tortuous course among numerous islands and channels and has a cold, foggy climate, it was an important sailing-ship route before the building of the Panama Canal (completed in 1914) shortened the Atlantic-Pacific passage by several thousand miles.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn.