Juan Sebastián Elcano (1476, Getaria – 4 August 1526, Pacific Ocean) was a Spanish explorer of Basque ethnicity who completed the first circumnavigation of the world. As Ferdinand Magellan's second in command, Elcano took over after Magellan's death in the Philippines.
Elcano was born in 1476 to Domingo Sebastián Elcano I and Catalina del Puerto. He had three brothers: Domingo Elcano II, a Christian priest, Martín Pérez Elcano, and Antón Martín Elcano. He fought in the Italian Wars under orders of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba in Italy, and in 1509 he joined the Spanish expedition organized by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros against Algiers. He later settled in Seville and became a merchant ship captain. After violating Spanish laws by surrendering a ship to Genoan bankers in repayment of a debt, he sought a pardon from the Spanish king Charles I, by signing on as a subordinate officer for the Magellan expedition to the East Indies. He was spared by Ferdinand Magellan after taking part in a failed mutiny in Patagonia, and after five months of hard labour in chains, he was made captain of the galleon.