Within the context of the 500th anniversary of the first Circumnavigation and on the occasion of the annual diner, the New York organization announced that it will dedicate year 2020 to paying homage to the Spanish monarchy and its relevant role in the history of exploration. Kitín Muñoz, promoter of the initiative, Admiral José Luis Urcelay, second Chief of Staff of the Spanish Navy and Vice admiral Ignacio Horcada Rubio, Secretary of the Commission of Spanish Ministry of defense in charge of the 500th anniversary of the first Circumnavigation attended the dinner. They presented The Explorers Club with a silver replica of the Nao Victoria, the famous ship that had completed the first Circumnavigation. The Club will also give one of their flags to the Spanish Army in order that it can be raised on the Juan Sebastián Elcano school-ship during its next circumnavigation. It is a great honor to receive one of the 202 Club’s flags.

The New York Explorers Club was founded in 1904 on the initiative of Henry Collins Walsh. Since then, the Club has been a meeting place for some of the most prominent explorers and scientists of our time.

During this 115th annual dinner celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first man’s step on the Moon on 20 July 1969, President of the Club Richard Wiese compared the first step on the Moon and the first circumnavigation as two major events in the history of exploration. Therefore, ten astronauts who participated in missions of NASA attended the dinner.

Between the 15th and the 18th centuries, and especially during the Great Discoveries period, the Spanish crown organized numerous expeditions led by Spanish explorers or sponsored by the crown. Hence, between 1519 and 1522, the expedition started by the Portuguese sailor Magellan, on behalf on the Spanish crown, and achieved by the Spaniard Juan Sebastián Elcano – autochthons of the island of Mactan in the Philippines killed Magellan in 1521 – became the first circumnavigation of the history.

Kitín Muñoz is a Spanish explorer born in the middle of the Sahara from a military father. He made himself known for his Pacific and Atlantic Oceans crossings with primitive boats. In particular, when he was 26, he got to French Polynesia from Peru with a 20-meters long raft.