They knew that rivers began as springs but where did the water come from? Magellan originally set sail from Spain in 1519, in an attempt to find a western sea route to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. The Strait of Magellan is important because it connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Nobody knew where the water in rivers came from. Why is the Strait of Magellan important?

Despite its tricky passageways and cold climate, the Strait of Magellan was an important route for steam and sailing ships traveling between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, up until the completion of the Panama Canal in 1914, which shortened that passage by thousands of miles. The Strait of Magellan is shown on this map of the southern tip of America: Given how close it is to Cape Horn (which is just to the right and slightly below the area shown on the map), I couldn’t understand why it was so uniquely important – if you wanted to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific, surely it wouldn’t be all that different to go around the Cape. En route, Magellan discovered what is now called the Strait of Magellan. In Magellan's day, nobody had a clue what kinds of processes shaped landscapes. The Strait of Magellan, also known as Straits of Magellan, or the Magellan Strait, is a navigable waterway in South America which separates the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego from the continental mainland, and connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. He became the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean and named South America's Tierra del Fuego. 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. The Strait of Magellan, also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route separating mainland South America . The Strait of Magellan is important because at the time it was discovered, it was a far safer route to reaching the Pacific that trying to cross around Cape Horn. The strait is the most important natural passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans but it is considered a difficult route to navigate because of the unpredictable winds and currents and the narrowness of the passage.