Martín Ignacio Martínez de Mallea, known as Martín Ignacio de Loyola (c. 1550 in

Eibar Eibar ( eu, Eibar, es, Éibar) is a city and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country of Spain. It is the head town of Debabarrena, one of the '' eskualde / comarca'' of Gipuzkoa. Eibar has 27,138 inhabitants ( Eustat ...

Guipuzcoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

, Spain – 1606 in Buenos Aires), was a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...

, best known for his two travels around the world in 1580–1584 and 1585–1589, being the first person to complete the world circumnavigation twice in different directions, and for his

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

effort in China. He was a grandnephew of

Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola, Society of Jesus, S.J. (born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; eu, Ignazio Loiolakoa; es, Ignacio de Loyola; la, Ignatius de Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spain, Spanish Catholic ...

, and was ordained a priest in

Alaejos Alaejos is a municipality located in the province of Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2011 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 1,467 inhabitants. History Even though the origins of the town remain uncertain ...

in 1572.

Circumnavigations of the world

In both of his travels Loyola took advantage of Spain and Portugal being united under the crown of

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

First circumnavigation: 1582–1584

Loyola's first circumnavigation was made in a westerly direction. Departing Cadiz on 21 June 1582, he sailed for the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

, then crossed the Atlantic to

La Désirade La Désirade is an island in the French West Indies, in the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean. It forms part of Guadeloupe, an overseas region of France. History Archaeological evidence has been discovered that suggests that an Amerindian popu ...

, Puerto Rico, and

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

, to arrive in San Juan de Lúa (modern

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

), in México. After crossing to the Pacific Ocean coast of Mexico at

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has bee ...

he sailed once again in a westerly direction, visiting the

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...

, and the Philippines, before eventually reaching the

Empire of China The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...

, where he landed in

Fujian province Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

. There he and his companions were considered to be spies and were sent to

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

. After a year they were set free and sent to

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

. After travelling on to Japan, he departed once again in a westerly direction to return to Europe at Lisbon via the

Straits of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connec ...

Portuguese India The State of India ( pt, Estado da Índia), also referred as the Portuguese State of India (''Estado Português da Índia'', EPI) or simply Portuguese India (), was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of a se ...

, the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

and

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

. Loyola's account of his first journey around the world was first published in Rome in 1585, included in

Juan González de Mendoza Juan González de Mendoza, O.S.A. (1545 – 14 February 1618) was a Spanish bishop, explorer, sinologist, and writer. He was the author of one of the earliest Western histories of China. Published by him in 1585, ''Historia de las cosas más ...

's ''Historia de las cosas más notables, ritos y costumbres del gran reyno dela China''.

Second circumnavigation: 1585–1589

Loyola's second circumnavigation was made in an easterly direction. It is not clear how or when Loyola made his eastward journey to China; in 1587, from Macau, China, Loyola continued eastward across the Pacific Ocean to Acapulco, Mexico,The characters on the galleon Esperanza
in a ship commanded by

Pedro de Unamuno Pedro de Unamuno was a Spanish soldier and sailor who was active in New Spain and Spanish East Indies, particularly the Philippines, in the second half of the 16th century. He is known for commanding the galleon ''Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza' ...

. From there he crossed Mexico to Veracruz, from where he finally set sail across the Atlantic to Spain.

Other journeys

In 1595, six years after his second return to Spain, he went to Paraguay, that he reached via

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

, and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

– whose Spanish governor by then, Martín García de Loyola, was his cousin – and

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and fo ...

. He went back to Spain again in 1600 and returned to Paraguay in 1603, this time as

Bishop of Asunción A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...

. ''(in Latin)'' He had been consecrated as such in

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

Juan Bautista Acevedo Muñoz Juan Bautista de Acevedo y Muñoz (1555 – 8 June 1608) was Bishop of Valladolid from 1601 to 1606 and Grand Inquisitor of Spain from 1603 to 1608. Biography Juan Bautista de Acevedo y Muñoz was born in Hoz de Anero, Trasmiera in 1555, the s ...

Bishop of Valladolid The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Valladolid ( la, Archidioecesis Metropolitae Vallisoletanus) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Spain.

Notes

References

* J. Ignacio Tellechea Idígoras (ed.), ''Martín Ignacio de Loyola. Viaje alrdedor del mundo'', Madrid, 1989. * * Martin Ignacio de Loyola,

External links and additional sources

* (for Chronology of Bishops) * (for Chronology of Bishops)
Santos, Hector. "The characters on the galleon Esperanza" in Sulat sa Tansô. US, April 3, 1997.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loyola, Martin Ignacio de Year of birth uncertain 1550 births 1606 deaths Basque explorers 16th-century Spanish Roman Catholic priests 17th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Paraguay Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries Spanish Franciscans Circumnavigators of the globe 16th-century travel writers Spanish travel writers People from Eibar Year of birth unknown Roman Catholic missionaries in China Franciscan missionaries Basque Roman Catholic priests Roman Catholic bishops of Paraguay