Andrés de Urdaneta, OSA (1508 – June 3, 1568) was a Basque maritime explorer for the Spanish Empire who later became an Augustinian friar.

At the age of 17, he formed part of the Loaísa expedition to the Spice Islands, where he spent more than eight years. Around 1540, he settled in New Spain and became an Augustinian friar in 1552. At the request of Philip II, he joined the Legazpi expedition to the Philippines. In 1565, Urdaneta discovered and plotted an easterly route across the Pacific Ocean, from the Philippines to Acapulco in the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The route made it practical for Spain to colonize the Philippines and was used as the Manila galleon trade route for more than two hundred years.

Urdaneta played an important role in establishing the Catholic faith in the Philippines and was considered a "protector of the Indians" for his treatment of the Philippine natives.

Early life

Andrés de Urdaneta was born in 1508, near Ordizia, a Basque town then known as Villafranca, in the Crown of Castile. He was well-connected in society. His father, Juan Ochoa de Urdaneta, served as mayor of Villafranca and his mother, Gracia de Cerain, came from a family of good standing in the region. He received his education in Ordizia.

Loaísa expedition

When he was seventeen, Urdaneta was invited to join the Loaísa expedition, serving as a page to Juan Sebastián Elcano, the Basque mariner who had recently captained the first ship to circumnavigate the globe. Almost as soon as Elcano returned from his historic voyage in 1522, a second expedition was commissioned by Emperor Charles V to return to the Spice Islands and secure a Spanish foothold in the lucrative spice trade. García Jofre de Loaísa was appointed commander of the expedition and Elcano was appointed pilot-major of the fleet and captain of the second-largest ship.

thumb|left|300 px|Detail of the 1529 Padron Real illustrating the Spanish claim that the Spice Islands actually fell within the Spanish rather than Portuguese sphere.

The seven-ship fleet left the harbor of A Coruña on July 24, 1525. Much of what is known about the expedition and its aftermath comes from Urdaneta's detailed journals and charts. The voyage was long and difficult. Two ships deserted rather than risk passage through the Magellan Straits and four ships were lost to terrible storms encountered in the Pacific. A year into the voyage the crew suffered from scurvy and both Loaísa and Elcano died. By the time the one remaining ship, Santa Maria de la Victoria, reached the Spice Islands in October 1526, only 105 of the original 450 crewmen remained.

The expedition found that the Portuguese had already established a presence on Ternate. For the next several years, the Spaniards and Portuguese contended for control of the islands and the lucrative spice trade. Despite his relative youth, Urdaneta was assigned a variety of important roles. He acted as an emissary to the local leaders in hopes of building alliances against the Portuguese; he was sent on numerous reconnaissance missions to gain an understanding of the geography, trade, and sailing routes of the region; and he led numerous sorties against the Portuguese. During one fight, a keg of gunpowder exploded, severely burning Urdaneta and permanently disfiguring him. Urdaneta took no part in either venture, but remained in New Spain working for the viceroy on a variety of assignments. In 1543 he was appointed corregidor (commissioner) of a district in Michoacán. In the same year Urdaneta was appointed visitador (auditor), an important office that reported directly to the viceroy and was responsible for investigating official corruption, mistreatment of the natives, or other misdeeds.

Urdaneta also remained interested in maritime activities in the Pacific. In 1543, when the survivors of the Cabrillo expedition returned from California, Urdaneta interviewed them about the journey and wrote what became the only surviving manuscript account of the voyage.

URDANETA Satellite

The Urdaneta satellite, the first high-resolution optical satellite developed by the Basque Space Technology company SATLANTIS, is named after the Augustinian friar Andrés de Urdaneta, in honour of his spirit of discovery regarding the return route from the Philippines across the Pacific Ocean. It carries the iSIM-90, a small high-resolution binocular telescope for Earth observation. The satellite consists of 16 cubes, each 10 cm wide, measuring 20 cm in width and 40 cm in height, with deployable solar panels. It was successfully launched on May 25, 2022, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station as part of SpaceX's Transporter-5 mission. Subsequently, the satellite became part of an agreement with Armenia's Geocosmos company, adopting the name Armsat-1.

Ref. https://www.satlantis.com/urdaneta-launch/

See also

  • Exploration of the Pacific
  • Manila galleon
  • North Pacific Gyre
  • Volta do mar

Notes

References

English

  • McDougall, Walter (1993). Let the Sea Make a Noise: Four Hundred Years of Cataclysm, Conquest, War and Folly in the North Pacific. New York: Avon Books.
  • "Expedition of García de Loaisa 1525-26." In The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898. Cleveland, Ohio: A.H. Clark Company, 1903–9. Vol. 2, 1529–1561. Pp. 33.

Spanish