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List of circumnavigations

List of circumnavigations is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of circumnavigations rather than just read about it. In short: This is a list of circumnavigations of Earth. Sections are ordered by ascending date of completion.

List of circumnavigations — main illustration
List of circumnavigations — illustration

Key takeaways

  • List of circumnavigations belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect List of circumnavigations to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of List of circumnavigations from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

This is a list of circumnavigations of Earth. Sections are ordered by ascending date of completion.

Global

Nautical

16th century The 18 survivors, led by Juan Sebastián Elcano (Spanish), of Ferdinand Magellan's Spanish expedition (which began with 5 ships and 270 men); 1519–1522; westward from Spain; in Victoria. After Magellan was killed by Lapulapu off the Philippines on 27 April 1521, the circumnavigation was completed under the command of the Basque Spanish seafarer Juan Sebastián Elcano who returned to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain, on 6 September 1522, after a journey of 3 years and 1 month. These men were the first to circumnavigate the globe. The survivors of García Jofre de Loaísa's Spanish expedition 1525–1536 including Andrés de Urdaneta; westward from Spain. None of Loaísa's seven ships completed the voyage, but Santa María de la Victoria reached the Moluccas before being wrecked in a Portuguese attack. Successive chiefs of the expedition (Loaísa, Elcano, Salazar, Iñiguez, De la Torre) died during the voyages. Andrés de Urdaneta and other fellow men survived, reaching the Spice Islands in 1526, to be taken prisoner by the Portuguese. Urdaneta and three of his men returned to Spain in 1536 aboard 3 Portuguese ships via India, the Cape of Good Hope and Portugal. Other members of the expedition returned to Spain earlier, in 1534. At least 21 survivors of Ruy López de Villalobos' expedition to colonize the Philippines. Villalobos himself died on the journey, and the expedition began in New Spain. However, at least 20 individuals sailed from Spain or Portugal to New Spain prior to the start of the voyage, and eventually made it back. Another individual joined the voyage in the Philippine islands and layer made it all the way back to the islands. One member of Miguel López de Legazpi's expedition to the Philippines, an interpreter named Jorge Pacheco. Originally from Mengalum Island in modern-day Malaysia, he went to Portugal, Spain, and then new Spain, where he was appointed to join the expedition in 1561. Following the expedition, he returned to the islands. After the return trip of the Legazpi expedition, (the first trip from the Philippines back to New Spain) the Spanish could sail both ways across the pacific and generally avoided more circumnavigations. Hans von Aachen (German) was one of the four survivors of the Loaísa expedition who returned in 1534, and also one of the 18 survivors of Magellan's expedition, making him the first to circumnavigate the world twice. Francis Drake (English); expedition against the Spanish Main 1577–1580; westward from England; in Golden Hind; discovered the Drake Passage but entered the Pacific via the Strait of Magellan; first English circumnavigation and the second carried out in a single expedition. Drake was the first to complete a circumnavigation as captain while leading the expedition throughout the entire circumnavigation. Martín Ignacio de Loyola (Spanish); 1580–1584, westward from Spain. Thomas Cavendish (English); 1586–1588; westward from England; in Desire. Martín Ignacio de Loyola (Spanish); 1585–1589, eastward from Spain (via Macau (then a Portuguese territory), China, and Acapulco, Mexico) to become the first to circumnavigate the world eastwards and first to use overland routes in his circumnavigation. João da Gama (Portuguese); 1584 (or 1585)–1590; eastward from Portugal; from Lisbon to India, Malacca, Macau (then Portuguese) and Japan. Gama crossed the Pacific at a higher northern latitude; was taken prisoner in Mexico and carried in Spanish ships to the Iberian Peninsula. One of the first to go eastwards, mostly by sea.

17th century

The survivors of the expedition of Jacques Mahu (Dutch); 1598–1601; westward from Holland; Of Mahu's five ships only one returned. The survivors of the expedition of Olivier van Noort (Dutch); 1598–1601; westward from Holland; Of Van Noort's four ships only one returned. Francesco Carletti (Italian); Florentine merchant; 1594–1602; westward from Italy; travelled across the American continent overland, through Panama. All Carletti's other travel was by sea until he ended in the Netherlands; he travelled from there overland back to Italy. Carletti was perhaps the first to travel all legs as a passenger, not as a ship's officer or a crew member. Carletti described his journey in his autobiography, "My Voyage Around the World", translated into various languages. Joris van Spilbergen (Dutch); 1614–1617; westward from Holland. Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire (Dutch); 1615–1617; expedition conducted westward from Holland; in Eendraght; Discovered Cape Horn and the first expedition to enter the Pacific via the Drake Passage. Admiral Jacques l'Hermite, Vice-admiral John Hugo Schapenham, and Rear-admiral Jan Willemszn Verschoor (Dutch); 1623–1626; westward from Holland. Pedro Cubero (Spain); 1670–1679; eastward from Spain; the first maritime circumnavigation including significant travel overland. William Dampier and Ambrose Cowley (English); 1679–1691 and 1683–1686; westward from England, travelling together in parts of their voyages and producing the first maps of the Galapagos Islands while raiding Spanish shipping between Panama and Peru. Gemelli Careri (Italian); 1693–1698; eastward from Naples; the first tourist to circumnavigate the globe, paying his own way on multiple voyages, crossing Mexico on land.

18th century

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

List of circumnavigations: The Magellan–Elcano expedition was the world's first circumnavigation.
The Magellan–Elcano expedition was the world's first circumnavigation.
List of circumnavigations: The map of Dampier's circumnavigation produced by Herman Moll (1697)
The map of Dampier's circumnavigation produced by Herman Moll (1697)
List of circumnavigations: The map of Ambrose Cowley's circumnavigation in the 1699 edition of his travels
The map of Ambrose Cowley's circumnavigation in the 1699 edition of his travels
List of circumnavigations: The routes of James Cook's voyages. The first voyage is shown in red, second voyage in green, and third voyage in blue. The route of Cook's crew following his death is shown as a dashed blue line.
The routes of James Cook's voyages. The first voyage is shown in red, second voyage in green, and third voyage in blue. The route of Cook's crew following his death is shown as a dashed blue line.
List of circumnavigations: Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of circumnavigations

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of circumnavigations claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of circumnavigations before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of circumnavigations ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of circumnavigations

In research
List of circumnavigations appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses List of circumnavigations in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
List of circumnavigations is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Circumnavigations, Circumnavigators of the globe, Geography-related lists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for List of circumnavigations outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.
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How to study List of circumnavigations in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what List of circumnavigations means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain List of circumnavigations out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of circumnavigations in simple terms?

This is a list of circumnavigations of Earth. Sections are ordered by ascending date of completion.

Why does List of circumnavigations matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of circumnavigations?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of circumnavigations.

Tags

  • Circumnavigations
  • Circumnavigators of the globe
  • Geography-related lists
  • Lists of expeditions
  • Lists of firsts

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