Ruy López de Villalobos

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Ruy López de Villalobos (Template:IPA; Template:C. – 23 April 1546) was a Spanish explorer who led a failed attempt to colonize the Philippines in 1544, attempting to assert Spanish control there under the terms of the treaties of Tordesillas and Zaragoza. Unable to feed his men through barter, raiding, or farming and unable to request resupply from New Spain due to poor knowledge of the Pacific's winds and currents, Villalobos abandoned his mission and fled to the Portuguese-held Moluccas, where he died in prison. He is chiefly remembered for some sources crediting him with naming Leyte and Samar "Las Islas Filipinas" in 1543 in honor of the Spanish crown prince Philip (later King PhilipTemplate:NbspII). The name was later extended across the entire Philippine Archipelago and its nation. (Other sources credit the name to one of his captains, Bernardo de la Torre.)

Background

Ruy López de Villalobos was born in Málaga, Spain sometime between 1505 and 1510. He was a member of a distinguished family and his father was a close associate of the king, Ferdinand II of Aragon. He was well educated and may have studied law. At some point he became an experienced sailor and Pedro de Alvarado referred to him as "a very expert and practical gentleman in things of the sea."Template:Sfn

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Philippine expedition

The plaque in Málaga, Spain, Villalobos's home town, commemorating his naming of the Philippines.

Villalobos was commissioned in 1541 by Antonio de Mendoza, the viceroy of New Spain and first colonial administrator in the New World, to send an expedition to the Philippines, then known to the Spanish as the "Islands of the West" (Template:Lang). They lay at the far western frontier of the division of the world between Spain and Portugal established by the treaties of Tordesillas and ZaragozaTemplate:Mdashin fact they lay over the line within the Portuguese areaTemplate:Mdashand there was a need to establish a larger Spanish presence there as a base for trade with the Spice Islands and China. If possible, the goal was to extend Spanish control over the Moluccas in the Portuguese East Indies.<ref name=onfirst/><ref name=spat>Template:Harvp.</ref> Villalobos was chosen for the command because he was related to De Mendoza by marriage.<ref name=onfirst>Template:Harvp.</ref>

Villalobos's fleet of six ships left Barra de Navidad, Jalisco, in New Spain (now Mexico) with 370–400 men on 1 November 1542:<ref name=onfirst/>

The large number of passengers included a unit of soldiers and a number of gentlemen, who brought black slaves and about 40 Indian men and women as servants.Template:Sfnp Martín de Islares acted as factor and interpreter; Guido de Lavezaris, later governor of the Philippines, as treasurer; Maestre Anes ("Master Hans"), previously part of both the Magellan and Loaísa expeditions, as chief gunner; and Gerónimo de Santisteban as head of the voyage's clergy, which included 3 other Augustinian priests and 4 or 5 deacons.Template:Sfnp

The fleet first encountered the Revilla Gigedo Islands off the west coast of New Spain, among which the sighting of Roca Partida was reported for the first time. On 26 December 1542 they sighted a group of islands in the Marshalls that they called the Corals (Template:Lang), which most probably are those of the Wotje Atoll. They thought these to be the Islands of the Kings (Template:Lang) previously charted by Álvaro de Saavedra in his 1528 expedition. They anchored at one of the islets, which they named San or Santo Esteban ("St. Stephen").<ref name=onfirst/> They left on 6 January 1543 and that same day they sighted several small islands on the same latitude as the Corals, which they named the Garden Islands (Template:Lang),<ref name=onfirst/> now the Kwajalein Atoll. On 23 January 1543,<ref name=onfirst/> the expedition found Fais in the Carolines, which they charted as the Sailors (Template:Lang).Template:Efn On 26 January 1543, they charted some new islands as the Reefs (Template:Lang) which have since been identified as the Yaps, also part of the Carolines.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

According to Spate, Villalobos's crew included the pilot Juan Gaetan, credited by La Perouse for the discovery of Hawaii.Template:Sfnp Gaetan's voyage was described in similar terms in 1753 with the same sequence of islands and no identification of any others known by the time of the account.Template:Sfnp In 1825, the Portuguese geographer Casado Giraldes stated that the "Sandwich Islands"Template:Mdashi.e. the Hawaiian IslandsTemplate:Mdashwere discovered by Gaetan in 1542 and did not even mention James Cook.Template:Sfnp

From 6–23 January 1543, the galley Template:LangTemplate:Mdashnow piloted by De MafraTemplate:Mdashwas separated from the other ships after a severe storm. It eventually reached the island of Mazaua, where Magellan had anchored in 1521.

Although he was attempting to reach Cebu, Villalobos ignored the advice of his pilot to lead the ships north of Mindanao.<ref name=spat/> Instead, on 2 February, the fleet reached northeastern Mindanao, exposed to the weather coming from the open ocean and separated from any Chinese or Malay traders.<ref name=spet>Template:Harvp.</ref> Stuck in place, they repaired their ships after the voyage.<ref name=onfirst/> Bernardo de la TorreTemplate:Sfnp or Villalobos<ref name=spet/> named Mindanao Cesarea Karoli (Template:Langx) in honor of the Habsburg emperor Charles V, who was also king of Spain as Carlos I. They resorted to eating grubs, unknown plants, land crabs that sickened the crew, and a phosphorescent gray lizard which killed most of those who ate it.<ref name=spet/> After several days, they reached Sarangani, where they lost six men while raiding a local village for supplies. During this period, either Bernardo de la TorreTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp or Villalobos<ref name=spet/> named Leyte and Samar the Philippines (Template:Lang) in honor of Charles's son the crown prince Philip (later King PhilipTemplate:NbspII).

On 7 August a Portuguese ship arrived with a letter from Jorge de Castro, governor of the Moluccas. De Castro demanded an explanation for the presence of the Spaniards in Portuguese territory, in response to which Villalobos drafted a letter dated 9 August. His letter repeated the Spanish claims to the islands, saying they were within the Demarcation Line of the Crown of Castile under the relevant treaties.Template:Sfnp

On 27 August the Template:Lang left for New Spain under De la Torre, directed to explain the expedition's difficulties and request additional supplies and reinforcements. A second letter from De Castro arrived in the first week of September; Villalobos's reply dated 12 September repeated the same claims as before. The Template:LangTemplate:Mdashhaving passed the Volcano Islands and possibly the Bonins without being able to replenish its waterTemplate:Mdashreturned in mid-October without completing its mission.Template:Efn (No attempt to cross the Pacific from west to east would be successful for another two decades.) Villalobos again attempted to depart for Cebu<ref name=spet/> with the Template:Lang and Template:Lang, but again failed to make headway against unfavorable winds. The natives refused to provide any supplies even for sail, fearing Portuguese retribution.<ref name=spet/>

De la Torre having died, the Template:Lang was refitted for another attempt to reach New Spain under Yñigo Ortiz de Retez using a southerly route instead.<ref name=spet/> This left on 16 May 1545 and hugged the coast of New GuineaTemplate:Mdashwhich Ortiz de Retez namedTemplate:Mdashuntil 12 August, when the ship was forced to turn back once again.<ref name=spet/> It reached Tidore in October.<ref name=spet/> Repulsed by hunger, hostile natives, and further shipwreck, Villalobos finally abandoned the remaining goals of the expedition. He and his crew members sought refuge in the Moluccas but, quarrelling with the Portuguese, were imprisoned.

Villalobos died of a tropical fever on Good Friday 23 April 1546,<ref name=spet/> in his prison cell on Ambon Island. The Portuguese described him dying "of a broken heart".Template:Sfnp Popular legend made his deathbed nurse the Jesuit missionary and later saint Francis Xavier.<ref name=onfirst/><ref name=spet/>

Some 117 of the crew survived, including De Mafra, Juan Gaetan, and Guido de Lavezaris. Juan Gaetan's account of the Villalobos voyage was published in 1550Template:Ndash1559 by Giovanni Battista Ramusio, an Italian historian, in his Navigations and Travels (Template:Lang).Template:Sfnp De Mafra produced a manuscript on Magellan's voyage and had this delivered to Spain by a friend. ThirtyTemplate:Mdashincluding De MafraTemplate:Mdashelected to remain instead. His manuscript remained unrecognized for many centuries until being rediscovered in the early 20th century. The survivors who had left Spain or Portugal and returned home were individually circumnavigators of the world, although the expedition itself did not accomplish that.

The inaccurate accounts of Villalobos and his men led Spain to believe that the Pacific was much smaller than it actually was for the rest of the 16th century.<ref name=spit>Template:Harvp.</ref>

Notes

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References

Citations

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Bibliography

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