Elcano's Day
On September 6, Juan Sebastián Elcano's around the world is commemorated, and it is celebrated in the Basque Country, in Asturias and Extremadura it is celebrated on the 8th, and in Cantabria on the 15th.
And it is that on September 6, 1522, Juan Sebastián Elkano, commander of Getaria, returned from circumnavigating the world for the first time together with Magellan, and docked in Sanlúcar Barrameda in Cádiz, and for this reason, every four years his people natal celebrates it with a re-enactment of the landing. That beauty!
The theatrical performance takes place at 5:00 p.m., and therefore from 3:30 p.m. the entrances to the town will be closed. Twenty-one people participate in the dramatized landing, 18 will represent the sailors, and 3 will represent the aborigines who arrived at the port with the sailors. Everything and that in the real feat there were 17 survivors and Elcano.
The return of the Nao Victoria to Sanlúcar de Barrameda confirmed the milestone: the first circumnavigation of the world completed, which clearly meant a geographical and economic success, where a Spanish sailor from Guipúzcoa had also been captain. A world tour that lasted almost three years.
Elcano was born in the coastal municipality of Getaria, where there is a statue in commemoration of this great historical feat, and it is that this man paved the way for globalization, from Getaria to every corner of the planet, crossing vast oceans. An important attribution to the evolution of humanity that is given to a Spaniard, and that is that Juan Sebastián Elcano is among those illustrious remembered in street maps throughout the country and institutions, such as the Elcano Royal Institute, and of course, the Ship Elcano School.
Who is Juan Sebastian Elcano?
This historical hero was born in 1486 in Getaria, belonging to the Crown of Castile. He enrolled at a very young age in various fishing and commercial boats, where he gradually gained extensive seafaring experience.
In 1509, Elcano participated in the expedition against Algiers, and later in another campaign in Italy with his 200-ton ship, which he had to sell in order to pay his crew, thereby committing a crime by selling an armed ship. foreigners in times of war.
In 1518 he settled in Seville, where he learned that Magellan was looking for a new maritime route to reach the Indies. The Gipuzkoan was appointed master of the Nao Concepción.
Around the world by boat
On August 10, 1519, the expedition began in Seville, descending the Guadalquivir to Sanlúcar de Barrameda. On September 20, they set out in search of the maritime passage to the East Indies, crossing Castilian seas to the Spice Islands on the route to the west, as Christopher Columbus tried to do at the time.
In 1520 they discovered the first passage between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, in the extreme south of Chile, called the Strait of Magellan by the navigator Fernando de Magallanes.
In 1521 Magellan died in the Philippines after a skirmish with indigenous people, after which they chose Gonzalo Gómez de Espinosa as expedition leader, and Juan Sebastián Elcano as captain at the head of the Nao Victoria.
After arriving at the Moluccan Islands, which was the objective of the trip, the return to Spain was undertaken.
What did Elcano do?
The Trinidad ship remained to repair in the Port of Tidore and return to Panama through the Pacific, but Elcano took command to return to Spain through the Portuguese seas, bordering Africa and along known routes, instead of returning through the Pacific through routes unknown.
Thus, on September 6, 1522, the Nao Victoria returned to Sanlúcar de Barrameda with Elcano and 17 other survivors, after having circumnavigated the Earth. A great historical feat to remember for the times of the times, and to commemorate.