The first Circumnavigation of the World (Collection) Facsimile Edition

The first circumnavigation of the earth (1519-1522) is probably the biggest achievement in sailing history. It was Spain that sponsored and financed this enormous expedition which started an all-new global trade. Two characters play a fundamental role in this journey: Fernando de Magallanes and Juan Sebastián de Elcano.

This collection allows us to revisit their journey and to note that the crew was composed of people from different parts of the world, not only Spanish sailors. It shows how the various injuries, attacks from the native population, and other circumstances substantially reduced the members of the crew, to the point that only eighteen people arrived in Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

The collection contains the following documents:

1. Portulano de Jorge Reinel, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Ge AA-564 (RES)
2. Capitulaciones del Viaje, Seville, Archivo General de Indias, Patronato, 34, r. 7
3. Carta de Magallanes al rey Carlos I, Seville, Archivo General de Indias, Patronato, 34, r. 2
4. Rol de la Armada, Seville, Archivo General de Indias, Patronato, 34, r. 6
5. Memoria de las personas que fallecieron en la Armada, Seville, Archivo General de Indias, Patronato, 24, r. 11
6. Carta de Elcano al rey Carlos I, Seville, Archivo General de Indias, Patronato, 48, r. 20
7. Carta de Elcano al rey Carlos I, Archivo de la Torre de Laurgaín. Sección Laurgaín, legajo 15, nº 9 Euskadiko Artxibo Historikoa - Archivo Histórico de Euskadi; Fondos familiares

Portulano de Jorge Reinel, 1519

This portolan chart, dated 1530 d.C., depicts Arica, Arabia, India, Madagascar, and other eastern islands. This chart only has territories that have already been discovered but it does so meticulously that we can easily presume that Reinel used spherical trigonometry. Most of all, the Portulano de Jorge Reinel allows us to measure the distance between Seville and the Moluccas islands, just like Magallanes did at his time.