What was the name of the expedition that completed the first circumnavigation of Earth in 1522?

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The Magellan expedition completed the first circumnavigation of Earth in 1522, although Ferdinand Magellan died before it finished.

Magellan’s fleet left Spain in 1519 to find a westward route to the Spice Islands. It passed through the strait now named for him and entered the Pacific Ocean. Magellan was killed at the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines in 1521, after which Juan Sebastián Elcano took command of the surviving ship, Victoria.

Victoria returned to Spain on 6 September 1522 with 18 surviving crew members. The voyage demonstrated the enormous size of the Pacific and provided practical evidence that the world could be circumnavigated by sea. Magellan is often credited in casual retellings, but Elcano and the surviving crew completed the voyage.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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