September 6, 1522
The first circumnavigation of the globe completed
In August, 1519 a fleet of five ships under the command of Ferdinand Magellan set sail from the port of Seville for a voyage around the world. Of the 250 crewmen aboard those ships, only 18 survived to return home on September 6, 1522 from their journey of 14,460 Spanish leagues (60,440 km or 37,560 mi). The expedition was chartered by the King of Spain but the crew was drawn from Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Greece, England and France. Its purpose was to reach the Indies without travelling around the horn of Africa, a route controlled by the Portuguese.
The fleet crossed the Atlantic without incident but when resupplying in what is now Argentina, a mutiny broke out, forcing Magellan to execute the captains of two of his ships and a number of rebellious crewmen; other mutineers he marooned. After a winter spent on shore, Magellan laboriously navigated through the narrow channels at the tip of South America to reach the Pacific. In doing so, one ship was wrecked and another abandoned the voyage to return to Spain. The three remaining vessels headed northwest and in March 1521 they became the first Europeans to reach the Philippine archipelago. Magellan involved himself in local politics as well as trading with the natives; he converted some regional nobles to Christianity but others he chose to war with. On April 27, Magellan and dozens of his men were killed in battle, leaving the fleet seriously undermanned. The crew consolidated on to two ships and continued their journey through the Spice Islands but when Trinidad, the larger vessel, showed signs of damage the expedition split up. The smaller Victoria would continue west toward Africa while the crew of Trinidad would repair their ship and return via the route by which they had come. Trinidad was captured by the Portuguese and lost but Victoria would eventually limp home under his captain Juan Sebastián Elcano with a starving, skeleton crew and a hold full of spices. The three years of adventure had cost the lives of 232 sailors but laid the foundation of Spain’s empire in the East.