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6 September 1522Reputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

The Victoria Completes the First Circumnavigation

Eighteen survivors out of the roughly 270 who set out finish a voyage around the entire planet

On the timeline · around 6 September 1522 · A Connected WorldConquest and CircumnavigationA Connected WorldThe Victoria Completes the First Circumnavigation15201525153015351540

Quick facts

Ship
Victoria
Commander after Magellan
Juan Sebastian Elcano
Arrival
6 September 1522, Sanlucar de Barrameda, Spain
Survivors
18 of about 270 who departed

What happened

After Magellan's death, the ship Victoria, now commanded by Juan Sebastian Elcano, continued west from the Spice Islands. The Trinidad needed extensive repairs and could not continue, so the Victoria alone carried on, crossing the Indian Ocean starting 21 December 1521 and rounding the Cape of Good Hope before reaching Spain. On 6 September 1522, the Victoria arrived at Sanlucar de Barrameda on the Spanish coast with only 18 men left of the roughly 270 who had set out three years earlier.

Why it matters

The Victoria's return proved for the first time, by direct experience rather than calculation, that the earth could be circled by sea and that all its oceans connect. The cost, more than 90 percent of the crew dead from combat, disease, and starvation, showed just how punishing the voyage had been even as it succeeded.

How we know

The Mariners' Museum's Ages of Exploration entry on Magellan traces the Victoria's route under Elcano after Magellan's death, including the Indian Ocean crossing date and the arrival at Sanlucar de Barrameda with 18 survivors.

Sources

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Part of a timelineThe Age of Exploration27 events · How Portuguese and Spanish voyages connected the world's oceans between 1415 and 1600, and what that connection cost the people already living thereView all →
The Victoria Completes the First Circumnavigation · The Age of Exploration · SourcedStory