<P> This is a list of circumnavigations of the planet Earth . Sections are ordered by ascending date of completion of voyage . </P> <Ul> <Li> The 18 survivors, led by Juan Sebastián Elcano, of Ferdinand Magellan's Castilian (' Spanish') expedition (which began with 5 ships and 270 men); 1519--1522; westward from Spain; in Victoria . After Magellan was killed by natives in 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 in a single expedition . </Li> <Li> 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 a few of his men returned to Spain in 1536 aboard Portuguese ships via India, the Cape of Good Hope and Portugal, and completed the second world circumnavigation in history . </Li> <Li> Francis Drake; 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 . </Li> <Li> Martín Ignacio de Loyola; 1580--1584; westward from Spain . </Li> <Li> Thomas Cavendish; 1586--1588; westward from England; in Desire . </Li> <Li> Martín Ignacio de Loyola; 1585--1589; eastward from Spain (via Macau, China, and Acapulco, Mexico); First person to circumnavigate the world twice, first one to do so eastwards and both westwards and eastwards (1580--1584 westward and 1585--1589 eastward), and first to use overland routes in his circumnavigation . </Li> <Li> João da Gama; 1584 (or 1585)--1590; eastward from Portugal; from Lisbon to India, Malacca, Macau (China) 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 do eastwards, mostly by sea . </Li> </Ul> <Li> The 18 survivors, led by Juan Sebastián Elcano, of Ferdinand Magellan's Castilian (' Spanish') expedition (which began with 5 ships and 270 men); 1519--1522; westward from Spain; in Victoria . After Magellan was killed by natives in 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 in a single expedition . </Li> <Li> 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 a few of his men returned to Spain in 1536 aboard Portuguese ships via India, the Cape of Good Hope and Portugal, and completed the second world circumnavigation in history . </Li>

Who was the first explorer to (successfully) circle the entire globe