Juan Sebastián Elcano

Born in the Basque country in 1486 or 1487, Elcano became a navigator and ship-owner before joining Magellan's expedition to the Spice Islands. When Magellan was killed in the Philippines, Elcano took command of the *Victoria* and piloted her across the Indian Ocean, around Africa, and back to Spain in 1522 - the first vessel to complete a circumnavigation. Charles I rewarded him with a globe-bearing coat of arms and the motto *Primus circumdedisti me*. Four years later the king sent him on a second expedition to the Spice Islands under García Jofre de Loaisa. He died of scurvy in the Pacific on 4 August 1526, the mission unfinished. For three centuries after, historians barely wrote about him.