Who completed the first circumnavigation of Earth by leading the expedition after Magellan’s death?

Juan Sebastián Elcano completed the first circumnavigation of Earth by leading Magellan’s expedition after Magellan’s death.

The expedition left Spain in 1519 with five ships under Ferdinand Magellan’s command. Magellan was killed in the Philippines in 1521, before the voyage was finished. Elcano, a Basque mariner from the ship Victoria, later assumed command of the surviving vessel.

Victoria crossed the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and returned to Spain in September 1522. Only 18 of the approximately so 270 original crew members survived the complete voyage aboard the ship. Elcano received a coat of arms bearing the motto “Primus circumdedisti me,” meaning “You were the first to circle me.”

Magellan is often credited with the circumnavigation because he initiated and commanded most of the expedition, but he did not complete it. Elcano was the expedition’s leader when the first successful circumnavigation ended.