Álvaro De Saavedra Cerón
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Álvaro de Saavedra (d. 1529), fully Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón, was one of the Spanish explorers of the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
.


Life


Early life

The exact date and place of his birth are unknown, but he was born in the late 15th century or early 16th century in
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
.
Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (December 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions o ...
was his relative, whom he accompanied to
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
(
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...
) in 1526.


1527 Expedition

In 1527, Hernán Cortés prepared a new expedition to search for the missing fleet of the Loaísa expedition and commissioned his cousin Álvaro to command the new expedition. However, the true purpose of the expedition was to find new lands in the South Sea (
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
) and to bring back spice plants. On 31 October 1527, they sailed from
Zihuatanejo Zihuatanejo (), and/or Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, is the fourth largest city in the Mexican state of Guerrero. It was known by 18th-century English mariners as Chequetan and/or Seguataneo. Politically the city belongs to the municipalities of Mexico, m ...
,
Guerrero Guerrero, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guerrero, is one of the 32 states that compose the administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guerrero, 85 municipalities. The stat ...
. On 15 December, after having sailed 1,170 leagues (roughly 3,000 miles or 4,890 km), the ''Espiritu Santo'' and the ''Santiago'' swept on ahead, after a sudden squall, never to be heard of again. On 29 December the ''La Florida'' sighted the Utirik- Toke atoll complexes, and on 1 January 1528 the
Rongelap Rongelap Atoll ( ; , ) is an uninhabited coral atoll of 61 islands (or motu (geography), motus) in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is . It encloses a lagoon with ...
- Ailinginae atolls, both in the
Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...
, which were jointly charted as "Islas de los Reyes" (Islands of the Kings, referring to the Three Wise Kings due to the proximity to the festivity of Epiphany). On 2 February 1528 the "La Florida" sighted the Philippines and the following day anchored at a small island off the north coast of
Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...
, after 95 days since its departure and having sailed 1923 leagues. On 30 March 1528 the "La Florida" arrived to Tidore, the Spanish stronghold in the
Moluccas The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West Melanesi ...
where the men remaining from the Loaisa expedition were found, and they joined them to fight the Portuguese in the neighbouring
Ternate Ternate (), also known as the City of Ternate (; ), is the List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city with the largest population in the province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. It was the ''de facto'' provi ...
. To carry out the instructions of the expedition and bring further assistance to the Spaniards in Tidore, Saavedra set sail for New Spain on the 14 June 1528. On 24 June 1528, the "La Florida" discovered the
Schouten Islands The Biak Islands (, also Schouten Islands or Geelvink Islands) are an island group of Southwest Papua province, eastern Indonesia in the Cenderawasih Bay (or Geelvink Bay) 50 km off the north-western coast of the island of New Guinea. Th ...
and landed on
Yapen Yapen (also Japen, Jobi) is an island of Papua (province), Papua, Indonesia. The Yapen Strait separates Yapen and the Biak Islands to the north. It is in Cenderawasih Bay off the north-western coast of the island of New Guinea. To the west is ...
. These were charted respectively as "Islas de Oro" (Golden Islands) and "Payne" island. They continued coasting western
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
and on 15 August discovered the
Admiralty Islands The Admiralty Islands are an archipelago group of 40 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-cov ...
landing on Manus that they charted as "Urays La Grande" (Urays the Big). They then sailed north and discovered the
Nomoi Islands The Nomoi Islands, also known as the Mortlock Islands, are a group of three atolls in the state of Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia. They are located approximately southeast of Chuuk Lagoon. Islands The Mortlock Islands are made up of th ...
in the Carolines. Then they were diverted by the northeast trade winds that threw them back to the
Moluccas The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West Melanesi ...
, returning to Tidore on 19 November 1528. On 3 May 1529, Álvaro de Saavedra tried again the second time by navigating back down south. Again he toured the western part of New Guinea getting to Manus, then heading north and discovering on 14 September
Pohnpei Pohnpei (formerly known as Ponape or Ascension, from Pohnpeian: "upon (''pohn'') a stone altar (''pei'')") is an island of the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group. It belongs to Pohnpei State, one of the fou ...
and
Ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...
in the Carolines. On 21 September they discovered
Ujelang Atoll Ujelang Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is an uninhabited coral atoll of 30 islands in the Pacific Ocean, in the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is , and it encloses a lagoon of . It is the westernmost island in the Marshall I ...
, in the Marshalls that they charted as "Los Pintados" (The Painted Ones) because of its inhabitants being tattooed. On 1 October they discovered
Enewetak Atoll Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; , , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with its 296 people (as of 2021) forms a leg ...
, that they named "Los Jardines" (The Gardens) because of their beauty and the friendliness of their inhabitants. Soon after Saavedra died, and Pedro Laso took command. They sailed north up to the 31N but not finding westerly winds and also after the death of Pedro Laso, they finally decided to turn around the ship and again return to the Moluccas, arriving to
Halmahera Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coa ...
next to Tidore on 8 December 1529. They were captured there by the Portuguese and held in captivity for five years. In 1534, the surviving eight members of his crew made it back to Spain.


Hawaii

There are some questions as to whether Spanish explorers did arrive in the
Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...
two centuries before Captain
James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...
's first recorded visit in 1778. For two and a half centuries Spanish galleons crossed the Pacific along a route that passed south of Hawaiʻi on their way to Manila. The exact route was kept secret to protect the Spanish trade monopoly against competing powers. In the case of the Saavedra expedition, the sighting of Hawaiʻi could have happened when on 28 November 1527, land was sighted to the north, approximately in the longitude of Hawaiʻi but not found again after a two-days search. Also, the later disappeared ''Santiago'' and ''Espíritu Santo'' could have arrived in Hawaiʻi. There is an old Hawaiʻian oral story of white people arriving on the islands many generations ago, and welcomed by Chief Wakalana. It is possible that these visitors were crew members from Saavedra's expedition.


References


External links

* Filipiniana.net - The Premier Digital Library of the Internet
Voyage of Alvaro de Saavedra 1527-28


Alvaro Saavedra y Ceron in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Our history. Official website of Zihuatanejo Hotels {{DEFAULTSORT:Saavedra Ceron, Alvaro De Year of birth unknown 1529 deaths 16th-century Spanish explorers Explorers of Indonesia People from New Spain Spanish conquistadors Spanish explorers of the Pacific