Martín Ignacio Martínez de Mallea, known as Martín Ignacio de Loyola (c. 1550 in Eibar, Guipuzcoa, Spain – 1606 in Buenos Aires), was a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

, 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 who 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.Thoma ...

effort in China. He was a grandnephew of

Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola ( ; ; ; ; born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Basque Spaniard Catholic priest and theologian, who, with six companions, founded the religious order of the S ...

, and was ordained a priest in Alaejos 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 (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...

First circumnavigation: 1582–1584

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

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

, crossed the Atlantic to

La Désirade La Désirade (; or ) is an island in the French West Indies, in the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean. It forms part of Guadeloupe, an Overseas region, overseas regions of France, region of France. History Archaeological evidence has been disc ...

, Puerto Rico, and

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

, before arriving 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, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

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

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...

he sailed to the

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st pa ...

, and the Philippines, before eventually reaching the Empire of China, where he landed in

Fujian province Fujian is a province in southeastern 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 capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefecture city by population is Qua ...

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

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

. After a year they were set free and sent to

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

. After travelling on to Japan, he returned to Lisbon via the

Straits of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, long and from wide, between the Malay Peninsula to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connecting the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pa ...

Portuguese India The State of India, also known as the Portuguese State of India or Portuguese India, was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded seven years after the discovery of the sea route to the Indian subcontinent by Vasco da Gama, a subject of the ...

, the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

and

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

. 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 he left Macau, China, and crossed the Pacific Ocean to Acapulco, Mexico,The characters on the galleon Esperanza
in a ship commanded by Pedro de Unamuno. From there he crossed Mexico to Veracruz, and then crossed 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, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

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

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (; ), 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, Colonia, Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and ...

. He went back to Spain again in 1600 and returned to Paraguay in 1603, this time as Bishop of Asunción. ''(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 pr ...

by Juan Bautista Acevedo Muñoz, Bishop of Valladolid, the year before.

References

Notes

:First overall was Maestre Anes.

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 1550 births 1606 deaths 16th-century Spanish 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

Circumnavigations of the world

First circumnavigation: 1582–1584

Second circumnavigation: 1585–1589

Other journeys

See also

References

Notes

References

External links and additional sources