Juan de Bermúdez (; ; died 1570) was a Spanish

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...

of the 16th century.

Early life

Juan Bermúdez was born in

Palos de la Frontera Palos de la Frontera () is a town and municipality located in the southwestern Spanish province of Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is situated some from the provincial capital, Huelva. According to the 2015 census, the cit ...

Province of Huelva Huelva () is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by Portugal, the provinces of Badajoz, Seville, and Cádiz, and the Atlantic Ocean. Its capital is Huelva. Its area is 10,1 ...

, Crown of Castile.

Voyages

In 1505, while sailing back to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

from a provisioning voyage to Hispaniola in the ship ''La Garça'' (or ''Garza''), he discovered

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

(historically rendered by various authors as ''la Bermuda'' (''Peter Martyr d'Anghiera'' on his map of 1511), ''Barmvdas'' or ''Bermudas'' (''Sylvester Jordain'' in ''A DISCOVERY OF THE BARMVDAS, OTHERWISE called the Ile of DIVELS'', London, 1610), ''Bermoodos'' (''John Jacob Berlu'' in ''The Treasury of Drugs Unlock'd'', London, 1690), ''Bermoothes'' (

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, borrowing the name for a fictional island in his 1611 play The Tempest), ''Bermudes'' (Henry Chatelain in the 1720 edition of his ''Atlas Historique'', Bellin of Paris in his map of 1764, and various others)) which was later named after him. ''Legatio Babylonica'', published in 1511 by Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, lists "La Bermuda" among the Atlantic islands. In 1515 he returned to Bermuda, landing a dozen pigs and sows for any unlucky mariners who might later be castaway there. Bermúdez made 11 registered trips to the New World from 1495 to 1519.

References

15th-century births 1570 deaths Year of birth unknown Spanish explorers of North America Spanish navigators History of Bermuda People from Palos de la Frontera {{Bermuda-stub