The first expedition to circumnavigate Earth completed its voyage in 1522.
The expedition began from Spain in 1519 under Ferdinand Magellan, who sought a westward route to the Spice Islands. Magellan crossed the Atlantic and found the passage now called the Strait of Magellan before entering the Pacific Ocean.
Magellan was killed in the Philippines in 1521, so he did not complete the circumnavigation himself. Juan Sebastián Elcano took command of the remaining ship, Victoria, which returned to Spain in September 1522 with only a small number of survivors.
The voyage demonstrated in practice the global scale of Earth's oceans and the possibility of sailing continuously around the planet. It did not prove Earth was spherical; educated Europeans had accepted that idea for centuries.