Coin set proof

The expedition was planned by the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan in the service of the Spanish Crown. Its original objective was not circumnavigation of the world as such, but a western sea route to the Moluccas (Molukken). This island group was economically coveted because of the spice trade, including cloves. Spain was seeking access that did not lead around Africa via the routes controlled by Portugal. Behind this lay the rivalry between the two maritime powers over trade routes and overseas territories.

The fleet consisted of five ships. It crossed the Atlantic, passed through the Strait of Magellan (Magellanstraße), later named after Magellan, at the southern tip of America, and reached the Pacific. The voyage was marked by shortages of food, diseases, mutinies and the loss of ships. Magellan himself did not reach Europe again: he was killed in 1521 during an armed conflict on the Philippine island of Mactan. Numerous other participants also died or left the expedition.

Juan Sebastián Elcano was a Basque navigator from Getaria. After Magellan’s death and several changes in leadership, he assumed command of the “Victoria”, the only ship to complete the entire route. From the Moluccas, Elcano sailed the ship westward across the Indian Ocean and around the Cape of Good Hope (Kap der Guten Hoffnung). Only 18 men from the original crew returned to Spain aboard the “Victoria”. This provided the first practical proof that an expedition could completely circumnavigate the Earth by sea.

Emperor Karl V granted Elcano a coat of arms featuring a globe and the Latin motto “Primus circumdedisti me”, meaning: “You were the first to circumnavigate me.” The wording refers to the Earth itself. The fact that Spain commemorated the anniversary on a circulating coin can be explained by Spain’s financing of the voyage, its point of departure in Andalusia and Elcano’s role in its completion. At the same time, the occasion recalls the early global interconnection of sea routes, trade and European claims to power.