40 Euros Circumnavigation

This issue commemorates the 500th anniversary of the first circumnavigation of the globe, completed in 1522 when the Victoria — the sole surviving vessel of Magellan's original fleet of five — limped into Seville under Juan Sebastián Elcano with just 18 men aboard, down from the roughly 270 who had departed three years earlier. Magellan himself had died in the Philippines in April 1521, leaving Elcano to finish what became the defining voyage of the age of exploration.

Spain issued a substantial commemorative program across 2019–2022 to mark the anniversary, of which this 40-euro silver piece forms part.