Who were the first people to sail around the world?
Nobody knows for sure because the ancient Chinese had some pretty huge fleets that sailed most of the world at one time or another. But the first ones we know about were the survivors of Magellans’ cruise. From WikiPedia: Ferdinand Magellan, 1511–1521 (multiple voyages). Magellan led the first expedition to circumnavigate the world, but he died before the circumnavigation was actually completed. In 1511 he visited the Moluccas. He returned to Portugal and set out from Spain in 1519 to reach the Moluccas sailing westwards. He reached the Philippines in 1521, where he was killed on Cebu. The 18 survivors of Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition, 1519–1522, in the Victoria. After Magellan’s death, the circumnavigation was completed under the command of Juan Sebastián Elcano who returned to Seville on 8 September 1522 after a journey of 3 years and 1 month. They were the first to round the world in a single expedition. Sources:
