List of circumnavigations

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 . 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.Kurlansky, Mark. 1999. The Basque History of the World. Walker & Company, New York. , p. 63 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 later 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 ; 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 . 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

William Funnell (English); 1703–1706. William Dampier (English); 1703–1706. Woodes Rogers (British); 1708–1711; with the Duke and the Duchess; He rescued Alexander Selkirk on Juan Fernandez on 31 January 1709. Selkirk had been stranded there for four years. William Dampier (British); 1708–1711; First person to circumnavigate the world three times (1679–1691, 1703–1707 and 1708–1711). Gentile of the Barbinais (French); 1714–1718. The second circumnavigation of a commercial passenger. George Shelvocke (British); 1719–1721. John Clipperton (British); 1719–1722. Privateer, initially sailed with George Shelvocke. Jacob Roggeveen (Dutch); 1721–1724. George Anson, 1st Baron Anson (British); 1740–1744; in . John Byron (British); 1764–1766; in . Samuel Wallis and Philip Carteret (British); 1766–1768; in and ; Carteret had served on Byron's expedition. Dolphin was the first ship to survive two circumnavigations. Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (French); 1766–1769; On board was Jeanne Baré, disguised as a man, the first woman to circumnavigate the globe; first French circumnavigation. James Cook (British); 1768–1771; in ; The first circumnavigation to lose no personnel to scurvy. Tobias Furneaux (British); 1772–1774; in . First east-to-west circumnavigation entirely by sea. Furneaux was a veteran of Byron's expedition. Furneaux was part of Cook's 1772–1775 circumnavigation, but they became separated, and Furneaux returned to Britain before Cook. James Cook (British); 1772–1775; in . George Dixon and Nathaniel Portlock (British); 1785–1788; in and respectively; early pioneers of the Maritime Fur Trade between the Pacific Northwest and China. Alessandro Malaspina (Spanish); 1786–1788. Archibald Menzies (British); 1786–1789 Robert Gray (American maritime fur trader); 1787–1790; first American circumnavigation. John Hunter (British); 1788–1789 Alessandro Malaspina; 1789–1794. Etienne Marchand (French); 1790–1792 Edward Edwards (British); 1790–1792 George Vancouver (British); 1791–1795; Prior to commanding the Vancouver Expedition, George Vancouver had also participated in the circumnavigations of the HMS Resolution during James Cook's second voyage, and the HMS Discovery during James Cook's third voyage. John Boit (American maritime fur trader); 1794–1796; in Union; first sloop of her size and rig to sail around the world.

19th century

Ignacio María de Álava; 1795–1803; in Montañés, flagship of a Spanish Navy. Francisco Javier de Balmis; 1803–1806, led the Balmis Expedition, the first international healthcare expedition in history. Adam Johann von Krusenstern and Yuri Lisyansky; 1803–1806; the first Russian circumnavigation. John DeWolf; 1804–1808; circumnavigation by sea and land; first American to travel overland across Siberia; first person known to have circumnavigated the globe by way of an overland route across Russia. Hippolyte Bouchard;1817–1819; in "La Argentina"; the first Argentine circumnavigation. Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev; 1819–1821; the first circumnavigation mostly between 60° and 70° S, discovered Antarctica and the first islands south of the Antarctic Circle. ; 1826–1827; as part of her assuming the role of the flagship of the South American station squadron, from England via Cape of Good Hope, Burma, Australia and Brazil, returning to England via the Caribbean. , 3 September 1826 – 8 June 1830; from New York by way of Cape Horn, visiting the Hawaiian islands in 1829 and Macau in 1830. Her return voyage was made by way of China, the Philippines, the Indian Ocean, and the Cape of Good Hope. After nearly four years, Vincennes arrived back in New York under Commander William B. Finch. Two days later the ship was decommissioned. ; 19 August 1831 – 23 May 1834; Commodore John Downes commanding, departed New York for the first Sumatran Expedition via the Cape of Good Hope, and returned via Cape Horn to Boston. Robert Fitzroy; 1831–1836; in ; with Charles Darwin. Sir George Simpson; 1841–1842; made the first "land circumnavigation" by crossing Canada and Siberia. ; May 1844 – September 1846; commanded by Captain John Percival. The paddle sloop ; 1845–1847; first steamship circumnavigation. The first Galathea expedition; 1845–1847; first Danish circumnavigation. ; 1845–1851; Discovered Herald Island in the Bering Straits while searching for the Sir John Franklin Expedition. The screw frigate Amazonas; 1856–1858; first Peruvian circumnavigation. ; 1857–1859; first Austrian circumnavigation. ; 1864–65; only Confederate ship to circumnavigate. Captain James Iredell Waddell. Casto Méndez Núñez; 1865–1868; aboard Numancia; first ironclad warship circumnavigation; "Enloricata navis que primo terram circuivit". Ulysses S. Grant; 1877–1879; included the first meeting of a former United States president (Grant) and a monarch of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria. The corvette Vital de Oliveira; 19 November 1879 – 21 January 1881; commanded by Júlio César de Noronha; first Brazilian circumnavigation. King Kalākaua; 1881; first monarch to circumnavigate the globe. Nellie Bly; 1889–1890; one of the first female journalists to solo circumnavigate the globe at the record-breaking 72 days. Fernando Villaamil; 1892–1894; aboard Nautilus; first training ship circumnavigation. Joshua Slocum; 1895–1898; first single-handed circumnavigation.

20th century The Great White Fleet; 1907–1909; first fleet to circumnavigate the world. HMS New Zealand 1913, first by a Dreadnought era battleship or battlecruiser. Harry Pidgeon; 1921–1925; second single-handed circumnavigation. Conor O'Brien; 1923–1925; in Saoirse, a 20-ton 42 ft ketch, designed by himself and built in Baltimore, Ireland. First small private craft to circumnavigate west to east and south of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin SW Australia – the Clipper route. , , and the rest of the Special Service Squadron; 1923–24; in the Empire Cruise, a tour of the British Empire after World War I. Francesco Aurelio Geraci; 1932–1935; first Italian to circumnavigate the globe with his little wooden ship M.A.S. (Memento Audere Semper). Harry Pidgeon; 1932–1937; third single-handed circumnavigation, first person to circumnavigate solo twice (1921–1925 and 1932–1937). Electa and Irving Johnson; 1934–1958; sail training pioneers, circumnavigated the world seven times with amateur crews.