Transport & space · 1522

First circumnavigation

The Victoria returns to Spain after the first voyage around the world.

Five ships left Spain in 1519 under Ferdinand Magellan; one, the Victoria under Juan Sebastian Elcano, returned in 1522 with 18 of about 270 men. The voyage proved the oceans are connected and measured Earth's true scale. It opened a single global maritime trade network.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 3

Mariner's astrolabe 1481
Carrack 1400
Portolan chart 1275

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

World trade as a share of GDP since 1500 Latest: 1950-now (PWT): 57.8 % of GDP (2023) Source: Our World in Data

Transatlantic crossing time Latest: 3.5 hours (1976) Source: Wikipedia: Transatlantic crossing, duration list; Geography of Transport Systems: liner transatlantic crossing times