March 22, 1518

Magellan expedition

The Spanish Crown authorizes Magellan and Faleiro’s Spice Islands expedition

The Crown promised five ships, 234 people and food for two years — before anyone knew how vast the Pacific crossing would turn out to be.

Valladolid, 22 March 1518

At Valladolid on 22 March 1518, Juana I and her son Charles I concluded a capitulation with the Portuguese mariner Ferdinand Magellan and the cosmographer Rui Faleiro, covering exploration on the Spanish side of the oceanic demarcation.

The agreement authorized them to seek islands, continental lands and valuable spices, and expressly forbade intrusion into the Portuguese sphere established by the Iberian demarcation.

Charles was Charles I of Spain that day. He did not become Holy Roman Emperor Charles V until the following year.

What the Crown promised, and what it kept

The Crown promised to equip five ships with artillery, crews and provisions for two years, while reserving places aboard the fleet for royal financial officers.

Magellan and Faleiro received a ten-year preference over competitors using the same route, a share of royal profits, and hereditary titles as adelantados and governors of the lands they discovered, subject to specified conditions.

Those governorships came with strings: their heirs would have to be Castilian-born and married within Castile to inherit them.

Two Portuguese made captains of a Spanish armada

A separate royal provision issued the same day appointed both men captains of the planned armada and required its officers and crews to obey them.

Faleiro was an equal contracting party and a captain from that day, although he ultimately did not sail.

What was signed was a legal undertaking, not a departure. The armada still had to be organized, and it would not leave until 1519.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources not yet audited

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