Which expedition was the first to circumnavigate the world?

The Magellan expedition was the first expedition to circumnavigate the world, completing the journey in 1522. Ferdinand Magellan commanded the fleet when it left Spain in 1519, but he was killed in the Philippines in 1521 before the voyage ended.

Juan Sebastián Elcano took command of the surviving ship, Victoria, and brought it back to Spain with a small number of crew members. The expedition crossed the Atlantic, passed through the Strait of Magellan, crossed the Pacific and sailed across the Indian Ocean before rounding Africa.

Magellan himself therefore did not complete the circumnavigation. This is a common mix-up in descriptions of the voyage. The expedition also demonstrated on a practical scale the vast size of the Pacific Ocean, a name associated with Magellan's account of relatively calm waters during part of the crossing.