How many days did Magellan’s expedition take to circle the globe?

How to get close to this number

Estimate from sailing speed, not from history. A sixteenth-century ship made a modest daily run under favourable winds and often none at all under bad ones, and the route is a full circumference of the planet plus long detours and long stops for repair and resupply. Divide the distance by a realistic daily average and you get years, which is the right unit to be thinking in.

What people underestimate is the waiting. The voyage was not continuous sailing: it included a winter spent anchored on the South American coast, weeks feeling for a passage through the strait, and extended stays in the Pacific islands. Expedition durations are dominated by the time not spent moving, which is true of polar journeys and space missions as much as of age-of-sail voyages.

The survival figures in the explanation are the part worth sitting with — five ships and hundreds of men out, one ship and eighteen back — and they reframe the duration as a cost rather than an achievement. Note too that Magellan did not complete the voyage, so the expedition is named for a man who died partway through it, which is a reminder to read what a historical figure actually counts.