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Which ship returned to Spain after completing the first circumnavigation of Earth?
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Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan, detail of a painting by an unknown artist; in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
The ship that successfully returned to Spain on September 8, 1522, to complete the first circumnavigation of the Earth was the Victoria.12
Although Ferdinand Magellan led the expedition, he died in the Philippines in 1521. Following his death, the Basque navigator Juan Sebastián del Cano took command of the Victoria and navigated the vessel across the Indian Ocean and around the coast of Africa to reach Spain. While the Trinidad also reached the Moluccas, it was deemed unseaworthy and failed to complete the return journey.21