Which ocean did Ferdinand Magellan name after finding its waters unusually calm?

Ferdinand Magellan named the Pacific Ocean after encountering unusually calm waters during his expedition.

Magellan’s fleet entered the ocean in November 1520 after passing through the strait now called the Strait of Magellan at the southern tip of South America. He called the new ocean Mar Pacifico, meaning “peaceful sea” in Portuguese, because the crossing initially seemed calm compared with the stormy passage around Cape Horn.

The name can be misleading. The Pacific is frequently affected by typhoons, tropical storms, tsunamis and major earthquakes. Its enormous basin also contains the Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates produce intense volcanic and seismic activity.

Magellan did not complete the voyage: he was killed in the Philippines in 1521. Juan Sebastián Elcano led the surviving ship, Victoria, back to Spain in 1522, completing the first circumnavigation of Earth.