José Manuel de Moraleda y Montero (1750 - 1810) was a Spanish naval officer and cartographer known for his explorations of Chiloé and the archipelagos of

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...

in the late 18th century. During his lifetime he gained a reputation of sorcerer in Chiloé and is remembered so in local folklore. The first-order waterway of

Moraleda Channel Moraleda Channel () is a body of water separating the Chonos Archipelago from the mainland of Chile. It is located at , leading to Gulf of Corcovado. Southward from the mouth of the Aisén Fjord, Moraleda Channel divides into two arms. The east a ...

is named after him.

Biography

He was born in 1750 in Pasajes San Pedro in the Spanish Basque country, he was son of navy officer Manuel de Moraleda, and grew up in a family related to maritime activities. At young age José Moraleda attended naval courses at Real Escuela de Navegación in

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

, which later led him to work as naval officer in Spain's American possessions. Moraleda arrived to Chiloé Archipelago in 1786 being commissioned by Viceroy of Peru

Teodoro de Croix Teodoro de Croix (June 20, 1730, Prévoté Castle, near Lille, France – 1792, Madrid) was a Spanish soldier and colonial official in New Spain and Peru. From April 6, 1784 to March 25, 1790 he was viceroy of Peru. Background Teodoro de Croi ...

to help local intendant Francisco Hurtado del Pino in making accurate maps of the archipelago. The Patagonian maps of José de Moraleda are the first known improvement in Spanish cartography of western Patagonia since the

Antonio de Vea expedition The Antonio de Vea expedition of 1675–1676 was a Spanish naval expedition to the fjords and channels of Patagonia aimed to find whether rival colonial powers—specifically, the English—were active in the region. While this was not the first ...

of 1675–1676. In 1804 he obtained the grade of "teniente de navío", the highest of one of his category. Moraleda died in the port of El Callao in 1810 in the

Viceroyalty of Peru The Viceroyalty of Peru ( es, Virreinato del Perú, links=no) was a Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in South America, governed fro ...

at an age of 60 years.

Legacy

Moraleda wrote and drew a series of diaries on navigation diaries, courses, maps, as well as varied commentaries on ethnography and coastal fortifications. These diaries are: * Viage al puerto del Callao o de Lima, en la urca afragatada del Rey, del porte de 40 cañones, nombrada Nuestra Señora de Monserrat, año de 1772 * Viage de reconocimiento de las Yslas de Chiloé. Año de 1786, que relata sus comisiones en el archipiélago entre 1786 y 1790 * Diario de la navegación desde el puerto de Callao de Lima al de San Carlos de Chiloé y de este al reconocimiento del Archipiélago de los Chonos y costa occidental patagónica comprendida entre los 41 y 46 grados de latitud meridional. Entre los años 1792 y 1796. * Diarios de los viages desde el puerto del Callao a los de Guayaquil y Panamá, y de estos al reconocimiento y demarcación de las costas de Veragua, Rica, Nicaragua y Guatemala, entre 1803 y 1804 en la costa de América Central. These works were partly edited by

Diego Barros Arana Diego Jacinto Agustín Barros Arana (; August 16, 1830 – November 4, 1907) was a Chilean professor, legislator, minister and diplomat. He is considered the most important Chilean historian of the 19th century. His main work ''General History of ...

in 1888 as "Esploraciones jeográficas e hidrográficas de José de Moraleda i Montero". Between 1887 and 1888 these works were edited again, this time in two volumes in the Chilean Navy's "anuarios hidrográficos" by Francisco Vidal Gormaz. Cartel_hitos_históricos_de_Tenaún

(Canal Moraleda) in

Aysén Region The Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region ( es, Región de Aysén, , '), often shortened to Aysén Region or Aisén,Examples of name usage1, official regional government site refers to the region as "Región de Aysén"., Chile's of ...

in Chile is named after him, honoring his explorations in the late 18th century. Moraledas works as well as professional qualities are praised by

Alessandro Malaspina Alejandro Malaspina (November 5, 1754 – April 9, 1810) was a Tuscan explorer who spent most of his life as a Spanish naval officer. Under a Spanish royal commission, he undertook a voyage around the world from 1786 to 1788, then, from 1789 t ...

in his extensive letter to the Spanish interior minister Antonio Valdés. Moraleda is the subject of Hugo O'Donell's book ''El viaje a Chiloé de José de Moraleda (1787-1790)'' which was published in 1990 in Madrid. Twenty years later he was the subject of an essay named ''Moraleda, explorador del Pacífico insular'' in a publication of Untzi Museoa-Museo Naval of Donostia.

Legend of Moraleda as sorcerer

In the oral traditions of Chiloé Archipelago Moraleda is attributed mythical characteristics. He is alleged to have had a magical skills competition with the

Huilliche The Huilliche , Huiliche or Huilliche-Mapuche are the southern partiality of the Mapuche macroethnic group of Chile. Located in the Zona Sur, they inhabit both Futahuillimapu ("great land of the south") and, as the Cunco subgroup, the north hal ...

witch Chillpila in which she made Moraleda's ship run aground. She would then have received in exchange a book on European witchcraft by Moraleda. There is no trace of this supposed duel in Moraledas writings, but he did notice that local witches and sorcerers considered him "more machi, fortune teller, or sorcerer than all of them" ("''más machi, adivino o brujo que todos ellos''"). The mythical encounter with Chillpila would have occurred in 1786 and served later as founding myth for the secret Huilliche society of La Mayoría or Recta Provincia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moraleda, José 1750 births 1810 deaths Basque explorers Chilote mythology Explorers of Chile History of Chiloé 18th-century explorers Spanish explorers of South America Spanish explorers of the Pacific 19th-century explorers History of Aysén Region Witchcraft in folklore and mythology People from Pasaia Pages with unreviewed translations Basque sailors