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.

The collection allows us to revisit the journey they had and also to note that the crew was composed of people from different parts of the world, not only Spanish sailors. It shows us how the various injuries, attacks from the native population and, various circumstances substantially reduced the members of the crew, up until the point when only 18 people arrived in Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

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

Portulano de Jorge Reinel, 1519

This portolan chart is dated 1530 d.C., it 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 there was between Sevilla and Moluccan island, just like Magallanes did at his time.