1519

Circumnavigating the Globe

Ferdinand Magellan (1480–1521)

Early sailors and shipbuilders had displayed remarkable prowess in maritime navigation, trade, and warfare dating back to prehistoric times. In many ways, the successes and advancements of knowledge of ancient societies of the Mediterranean, western Europe, Scandinavia, and other regions bordering the sea were based on their ability to transport goods and people so reliably. Many seafarers were also explorers as well, helping to chart and inventory new (to them) lands.

Much of the so-called Golden Age of European Exploration in the late fifteenth through mid-sixteenth centuries was fueled by the desire to find shorter, safer routes to the Spice Islands of Southeast Asia. Columbus’s expedition in 1492 set out west from Europe to Asia, but ran into an obstacle called North America. In 1498 and 1502 he sailed farther south, but this time South America, and then Central America, thwarted his efforts to continue west.

It would take until 1520 for a crew to finally make it past these obstacles and become the first Europeans to sail into the South Pacific. That voyage, which departed Spain in 1519, consisted of a fleet of five Spanish ships funded by King Charles V and under the command of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. Three of the ships eventually made it into what Magellan called the Peaceful (Pacific) Ocean around the southern tip of South America, two made it across to the Philippines, and eventually just one—Victoria—made it all the way back to Spain, in 1522, almost exactly three years after departing.

The voyage was historic and successful for the Spanish crown, but that success came at an enormous cost in human lives. Of the original 270 crewmembers who set out on the voyage, 232 died along the way, including Magellan himself, who was killed in a skirmish with locals in the Philippines. The long distance required to get to Asia by sailing west, including the vast span of the Pacific Ocean, made it clear to subsequent investors and explorers that the preferred route for spice trading was indeed eastward. Europe’s westward voyages would soon focus more on exploitation and colonization of the new lands “discovered” by the early explorers, and the riches and glory that they could provide.

A map of the Pacific Ocean from 1589 depicting Ferdinand Magellan’s ship Victoria entering the South Pacific in 1520.