Ferdinand Magellan (1480 – 1521), born in Portugal and killed in Cebu, Philippines, was a Portuguese seafarer and navigator who worked most of his life for Castille, the Spanish throne. In 1520-1521, Magellan commanded an expedition of five ships whose mission was to find a passage around the American continent to the Spice Islands (Moluku, Indonesia).
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The rise of the Dutch maritime commercial activities in the Pacific and Asia in the early 17th century is based on a series of events between the independent Netherlands merchant towns and King Philip II of Spain. The resistance of the Netherlands proved the undoing of Spanish dreams of a world empire.
Andrés de Urdaneta (1498-1568), a Spanish Augustinian friar born in Villafranca de Ordizia in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, Spain, was a seaman, sailor, navigator and author who became the most knowledgeable European navigator of the Pacific, best known for his discovery of the Tornaviaje, or return sea route from the Philippines to the Americas.
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Although there are Chinese records from 1226 mentioning islands located in the area of the Philippines, no Chinese map referring to the area now called “Micronesia” is known to have survived the passage of the centuries.
Mapping the Pacific Read Post »
Louis Claude de Freycinet (1779 – 1841) was born in France, and at the age of 14, he joined the French navy. His early stint with the navy occurred during the tumultuous years of the French Revolution. He was an ardent supporter of Napoleon Bonaparte and shared Napoleon’s interests in science, exploration, and cartography.
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French explorer Jules Sébastien César Dumont d’Urville lead two French Navy expeditions into Oceania. Beginning in April 1826 to February 1829, d’Urville accompanied the corvette Astrolabe through Australia and Oceania.
Jules Sébastien César Dumont d’Urville Read Post »
Early European observations of the CHamorus people represent a significant source of ethnographical and historical information. Many comments made by visitors to the Marianas focus on visible realities such as nudity, body ornaments, structures and watercraft.
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The Victoria was one of five ships of Ferdinand Magellan’s fleet during the expedition to find the Spice Islands (now the Moluccas) in the early 16th century. The expedition set sail from Spain in 1519, with the flagship Trinidad, the Victoria and the other three ships Concepcion, Santiago, and San Antonio.
The Trinidad was the flag ship of Ferdinand Magellan’s fleet in its expedition for the Spice Islands. It was the best and also the most inexpensive of the five ships (Victoria, Concepcion, Santiago, Trinidad and San Antonio), since its price (270,000 maravedies) was 65 percent lower than the Victoria.
The Nuestra Señora de la Concepción was a Spanish galleon operating as part of the lucrative Manila-Acapulco galleon trade when she wrecked off the southern coast of Saipan, an island north of Guam, in what is today the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Galleon: Concepción Read Post »
