The Nao Victoria, The first voyage around the world

The first voyage around the world and its relationship with Santa María de la Victoria, patron saint of Málaga.

Nao Victoria, Replica in the port of Malaga

On September 6, 2022, it will be 500 years since the completion of the first circumnavigation of the world, begun by Ferdinand Magellan and completed by Juan Sebastián el Cano.

Five hundred years ago, on September 6, 1522, the Nao Victoria arrived in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, a voyage that began almost three years earlier, on September 19, 1519, from the same town in Cádiz mentioned above.

Upon arrival in Sanlúcar, Antonio Pigafetta, the expedition's official chronicler, wrote: "From the time we left the Bay of San Lúcar until we returned, we traveled, according to our count, more than fourteen thousand four hundred and sixty leagues, and we circumnavigated the entire world, always going from east to west."

But why was the only one of the five ships that managed to complete the first circumnavigation of the world named Nao Victoria?

The first captain of the expedition, Ferdinand Magellan, was very devoted to Santa María de la Victoria, patron saint of Málaga, but when he found himself in Seville he went to the Convent of La Victoria in Triana to ask permission to name one of the Naos after the patron saint of Málaga from the nuns of the congregation of the Minims who were there and who guarded an invocation of Santa María de la Victoria.

Unfortunately for Ferdinand Magellan, this permission was denied, not because the Minim nuns did not want to give such an honor to one of the Naos, but because they responded to Ferdinand Magellan that such permission could only be given by the mother convent, the original one, the one that was adjacent to the Sanctuary of the Victory in Malaga city and that guarded the original image of Santa María de la Victoria, the convent of the Minim Friars of Santa María de la Victoria.

Ferdinand Magellan sent the request to name one of the ships Santa María de la Victoria to the mother convent in Málaga, and the request was accepted by the Minim Friars of San Francisco de Paula, who were the custodians of the original Marian image. Thus, one of the five ships that began the voyage to complete the first circumnavigation of the globe was finally christened Nao Victoria by Ferdinand Magellan. But as you may know, the curious thing about this story is that only this ship, the one named after this Marian devotion from Málaga, was the only one that managed to complete the first circumnavigation of the globe.

Therefore, the name of the Patron Saint of Málaga was carried around the Earth between 1519 and 1522, completing the greatest nautical feat in history: the first circumnavigation of the globe.

Ferdinand Magellan died during the 27th voyage in April 1521 on Mactan Island, Philippines, after a confrontation with indigenous people, which is why Juan Sebastian el Cano took the reins of the voyage once the captain died.

When Juan Sebastián el Cano and the 17 men who completed this tortuous but admirable voyage arrived in Sanlúcar de Barrameda on September 6, 1522, upon leaving the Nao Victoria, they headed to the Convent of La Victoria in Sanlúcar to pay homage to the patron saint of Santa María de la Victoria, who was there carrying candles. Five hundred years ago, these sailors, after completing the first circumnavigation of the world, gave thanks to Santa María de la Victoria, patron saint of Málaga, for completing such a feat.

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