Who were the first Europeans to sail around the world?
The first Europeans to sail around the world were the Basque (a region of Spain) navigator Juan Sebastián de Elcano (c. 1476–1526) and 18 other crew members who survived the arduous three-year voyage. In 1519 Elcano set out with Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480–1521) and a crew of 256 men on a trip sponsored by Spanish king Charles I (1500–1558) to find a southwest passage around the Americas to the Orient (Asia). After discovering a passage between the mainland of South America and the Tierra del Fuego (presently part of Argentina and Chile) that led to the Pacific Ocean, Magellan’s expedition arrived in the Philippine Islands in 1521. When Philippine natives killed Magellan, Elcano led the expedition to its successful completion. The cargo aboard the ship Vittoria, which included valuable spices, more than paid the…
