First Circumnavigation Completed
Elcano completed Magellan's expedition - the first circumnavigation of the Earth
September 06, 1522
Setting Sail Around the World
In September 1519, a fleet of five ships led by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan set sail from Spain on what would become the first circumnavigation of the globe. Magellan's goal was to find a western route to the Spice Islands — the Moluccas — in what is now Indonesia. It was one of the most ambitious and dangerous voyages ever attempted. The fleet carried about 270 men of many nationalities. They faced violent storms, starvation, mutiny, and uncharted waters. Magellan himself was killed in the Philippines in April 1521, before the voyage was complete. Of the original five ships and hundreds of men, only one ship, the Victoria, and 18 survivors made it back to Spain.
The Strait and the Pacific
The most harrowing part of the voyage came when the fleet navigated the treacherous passage at the southern tip of South America that is now known as the Strait of Magellan. The ships spent 38 days threading their way through the narrow, freezing channel with its violent currents and unpredictable weather. When they finally emerged into the open ocean on the other side, the conditions were so calm that Magellan named it the Pacific — meaning peaceful. But the crossing was far more grueling than expected. They sailed for 98 days without seeing land. Men died of scurvy and starvation. When they finally reached the Philippines, they had been at sea for nearly 18 months.
The Proof the World Is Round
The completion of the voyage by Juan Sebastián Elcano and the surviving crew proved beyond any doubt that the Earth is a sphere and that it was possible to sail around it. It also demonstrated just how vast the Pacific Ocean was — far larger than anyone had imagined. The voyage transformed European understanding of world geography and opened new routes for trade and colonization. It showed that the continents of the Americas were not part of Asia, settling that debate definitively. The circumnavigation took three years and was one of the greatest feats of seamanship in history, achieved at enormous human cost but with world-altering consequences.