Juan Sebasti?n Elcano, Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, 1519-1522 expedition. At the behest of the Spanish crown Magellan led the first expedition to circumnavigate the world, sailing between August 1519 and April 1521. However, he was killed in a battle in the Philippine island of Cebu on April 27, 1521. His second in command, the Spanish Basque Juan Sebasti?n Elcano, from Getaria, Basque Country, completed the journey to Spain in 1522. __