Yñigo, Íñigo, or Iñigo Ortiz de Retes ( ''fl.'' 1545) was a 16th-century Spanish maritime explorer of

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

origin, who navigated the northern coastline of the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five 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 bounded by the cont ...

–

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Vanu ...

n island of

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 is credited with bestowing its current name (; ).

Life

Early life

Yñigo Ortiz de Retes was born in Retes de Llanteno ( Alava, Spain) in a non-titled nobility family ( hidalgos) in the first decade of the 16th century. The first accounts we have of him are as part of Alvarado's expedition of 1538 to take the governorship of

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

and

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. He participated in the expedition to relieve the siege of Nochistlán in 1541 during the Mixtón war, led by Alvarado.

Villalobos Expedition

In 1542, he was appointed to the expedition of López de Villalobos to the ''Islas de Poniente'' (

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

). Upon his arrival in

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in February 1543, Ortiz de Retes was promoted to '' Maestre de Campo''. After the unsuccessful attempt of Bernardo de la Torre in 1543 to return to Mexico along a northern route, López de Villalobos commissioned Ortiz de Retes for the same mission but going south. On 16 May 1545, Ortiz de Retes, in command of the , left port in Tidore, an island which was Spain's stronghold in the

Maluku Islands The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonics, Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West ...

and going by way of the Talaud Islands and the Schoutens, reached the northern coast of New Guinea, which was coasted till the end of August when, having got to the 5° S. latitude, contrary winds and currents forced a return to Tidore where he arrived on 5 October 1545. Many islands were encountered and first charted, along the northern coast of New Guinea, and in the Padaidos, Le Maires, Ninigos, Kaniets and

Hermits A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

, to some of which Spanish names were given. On 20 June 1545, at the mouth of the

Mamberamo River The Mamberamo (''Indonesian: Sungai Mamberamo'') is the second-longest river on the island of New Guinea, after Sepik River (1,126 km) and the second largest in Oceania by discharge volume after Fly River, Fly. It is located in the Indonesia ...

(that was charted as ''San Agustin''), he took possession of the land for the Spanish Crown, in the process giving the island the name by which it is known today. He called it or owing to the supposed resemblance of the local inhabitants to the peoples of the

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

coast in

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The main source for Retes's voyage is that of Garcia de Escalante Alvarado, who was part of the Villalobos expedition, and who, after his return to Spain, wrote a chronicle that he sent to Antonio de Mendoza, viceroy of

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 ...

. Ortiz de Retes was later imprisoned by the Portuguese in the Moluccas along with the remaining members of Villalobos's expedition. According to Escalante, he was one of the 117 who were later repatriated by the Portuguese in 1548.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ortiz De Retez, Ynigo Explorers of New Guinea Spanish explorers of the Pacific 16th-century Spanish explorers People from New Spain Spanish East Indies