The first voyage round the world

The story

Towards the Spice Islands

After Columbus's voyage, Europeans had realised that between Europe and Asia there was a whole continent. Now everyone wanted to find a passage to sail through from the west, to reach the Moluccas, the Spice Islands, in present-day Indonesia, where cloves and nutmeg grew, worth as much as gold. The Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan, offended by his king who had not given him a reward, offered his services to the King of Spain, Charles I, the future emperor Charles V, and proposed to find the way.

The king agreed. On 20 September 1519, from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, a port near Seville, five ships set out: the Trinidad, commanded by Magellan, the San Antonio, the Concepción, the Victoria and the Santiago. The men numbered about two hundred and forty, from many nations. Among them was a young Italian from Vicenza, Antonio Pigafetta, who kept a diary of the whole voyage.

A winter in the cold

The ships crossed the Atlantic and sailed down the coast of South America. On reaching the furthest point south, in the bay of San Julián, in Patagonia, they had to spend the southern winter. Here the Spanish captains, who could not bear being commanded by a Portuguese, mutinied. Magellan put down the revolt by force: one leader was executed and others were abandoned on shore. Soon afterwards the ship Santiago was wrecked in a storm.

In October–November 1520, after a long search among islands, fogs and currents, the fleet found a narrow, twisting passage to the other ocean, the one now called the Strait of Magellan. During this crossing the ship San Antonio abandoned the expedition and went back to Spain. Three ships remained.

The Pacific

The ocean that opened up before them was calm, and Magellan called it “Pacific”. But it was enormous: the crossing lasted over three months, without finding any islands to stop at. The food ran out, the water went bad, and the sailors ate rats, leather and sawdust. Many fell ill with scurvy and died. In March 1521 they reached the Mariana Islands, and then the Philippines.

Here Magellan allied himself with a local ruler and wanted to help him against a rival. On 27 April 1521, on the island of Mactan, he was killed in battle by the warriors of the chief Lapu-Lapu. The expedition lost its commander, but carried on. One ship, the Concepción, was burned because there were not enough men to handle it. The other two, the Trinidad and the Victoria, reached the Moluccas and filled their holds with cloves.

The return

The Trinidad was in poor condition and stayed behind. The Victoria, commanded by the Basque Juan Sebastián Elcano, went on alone across the Indian Ocean, avoiding the coasts where the Portuguese were, and rounded the Cape of Good Hope. On 6 September 1522 she reached Sanlúcar de Barrameda, almost three years after leaving. Of the roughly two hundred and forty men who had set out, eighteen were left on board, thin and exhausted.

Near home, at the Cape Verde Islands, which belonged to Portugal, Elcano sent a boat ashore to buy food. The Portuguese seized thirteen men, and the Victoria had to set off again in a hurry without them, afraid of being captured.

When they counted the days, they found something strange: in their diary it was Thursday, but ashore it was Friday. They had lost a day by travelling west, because of the Earth's rotation. It was proof, anything but theoretical, that it was possible to go around the world. The sale of the cloves paid for the costs of the whole expedition.