Monument to the First Circumnavigation of the World

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Art · Subcategory: Sculpture · Year: 2022

In July 2022 the Santa Cruz City Council installed on Anaga Avenue a commemorative monument for the 500th anniversary of the passage of the expedition commanded by Magellan, on its mission to reach the Spice Islands (Moluccas), and which Juan Sebastián Elcano completed with the first circumnavigation of the world.

The expedition, made up of five ships, departed from Seville on 10 August 1519, sailed down the Guadalquivir to its mouth at Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where it stayed for more than a month before finally departing on Tuesday 20 September. It headed southwest until supposedly reaching the port of Santa Cruz on the 26th, where the fleet stocked up on water, firewood and meat. Three days later they set sail towards the south of the island, anchoring near Montaña Roja, where they also loaded pitch for caulking the ships, and took on board four locals who joined the crew. From here: a two-year circumnavigation of the world from which 18 men returned on a single ship ( Victoria ) out of the 239 who set sail at the start of the expedition.

The monument on Anaga Avenue is configured by means of a concrete prism 6 metres long and just over one metre high. On both faces there are a series of inscriptions alluding to the historic feat and a representation of maps from the time of the epic. Santa Cruz, with this monument, feels part of this fundamental event in the History of Humankind.

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