Which explorer completed the first expedition to circumnavigate Earth after departing Spain in 1519?

Juan Sebastián Elcano completed the first expedition to circumnavigate Earth after departing Spain in 1519.

Ferdinand Magellan commanded the expedition when it left Spain in September 1519, seeking a westward route to the Spice Islands. Magellan crossed the strait at the southern tip of South America now named for him and entered the ocean he called the Pacific.

Magellan was killed in the Philippines in 1521, before the voyage was finished. Elcano then took command of the surviving ship Victoria. It reached Sanlúcar de Barrameda in September 1522, completing the first documented circumnavigation. Only 18 men returned aboard the Victoria from the original fleet of five ships.

Magellan is often credited with the circumnavigation, but he did not personally complete it. Elcano’s role is therefore the precise answer to who finished the expedition. The voyage also provided powerful evidence of the global scale of the oceans and the practical consequences of crossing the International Date Line.