Juan Sebastián Elcano

Juan Sebastián Elcano was a Basque mariner who sailed on Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition in the search for a westward route to the Spice Islands. After Magellan’s death and the loss of other commanders, Elcano took command of the Victoria for the final stages of the voyage.

Elcano chose to return to Spain across the Indian Ocean and around the Cape of Good Hope, bringing the Victoria home in 1522 and completing the first circumnavigation of the globe. He later joined another expedition to the Moluccas and died in the Pacific in 1526.

In Roger Crowley’s Spice, after Portuguese forces reached the Moluccas in 1511, Lisbon’s attempt to secure the spice routes drew Spain into a competing search for a western passage. Ferdinand Magellan’s Spanish-backed expedition crossed the strait that bears his name and the Pacific before his death at Mactan, leaving Juan Sebastián Elcano to bring the Victoria home and complete the first circumnavigation.