1519 AD–1522 AD
Magellan–Elcano expedition circumnavigates the planet
Oceans, navigation & cartography · Ocean navigation · Empire, trade & power
The Spanish expedition begun by Ferdinand Magellan and completed by Juan Sebastián Elcano made the first documented circumnavigation. It joined the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans in one route at enormous human cost and within an imperial contest over spices and sea lanes.
Precision, calendar, and review
- Start
- year · no uncertainty qualifier in this record
- End
- year · no uncertainty qualifier in this record
- Calendar and convention
- Historical-era years; the source calendar is not identified. No conversion of days is assumed.
- Year zero
- The scale goes from 1 BCE to 1 CE without year zero. Changing era names changes labels only.
- Documentary review
- Date not recorded
Reading the date: duration of a process.
Sources
- 1. www.cultura.gob.es (opens in a new tab)
Source provenance and scope
- Publication date
- Not identified in metadata; document review pending
- Bibliographic date checked
- 2026-09-23
The correspondence between this reference and individual claims has not yet been itemized.
- 2. armada.defensa.gob.es (opens in a new tab)
Source provenance and scope
- Publication date
- Not identified in metadata; document review pending
- Bibliographic date checked
- 2026-09-23
The correspondence between this reference and individual claims has not yet been itemized.
This record is an editorial synthesis. Consult the sources to check claims and their limits. Chronological relationships alone do not establish causation.