Álvaro de Saavedra (d. 1529), fullyÁlvaro de Saavedra Cerón, was one of theSpanishexplorers of thePacific Ocean.
The exact date and place of his birth are unknown, but he was born in the late 15th century or early 16th century inSpain.Hernán Cortés was his relative, whom he accompanied toMexico (New Spain) in 1526.
In 1527, Hernán Cortés prepared a new expedition to search for the missing fleet of theLoaísa expedition and commissioned his cousin Álvaro to command the new expedition.[1][2] However, the true purpose of the expedition was to find new lands in the South Sea (Pacific Ocean) and to bring back spice plants.[3]
On 31 October 1527, they sailed fromZihuatanejo,[4]Guerrero. On 15 December, after having sailed 1,170leagues (roughly 3,000 miles or 4,890 km), theEspiritu Santo and theSantiago swept on ahead, after a sudden squall, never to be heard of again. On 29 December theLa Florida sighted theUtirik-Toke atoll complexes, and on 1 January 1528 theRongelap-Ailinginae atolls, both in theMarshall Islands, which were jointly charted as "Islas de los Reyes" (Islands of the Kings, referring to theThree Wise Kings due to the proximity to the festivity ofEpiphany). On 2 February 1528 the "La Florida" sighted the Philippines and the following day anchored at a small island off the north coast ofMindanao, after 95 days since its departure and having sailed 1923 leagues.
On 30 March 1528 the "La Florida" arrived toTidore, the Spanish stronghold in theMoluccas where the men remaining from theLoaisa expedition were found, and they joined them to fight the Portuguese in the neighbouringTernate.
To carry out the instructions of the expedition and bring further assistance to the Spaniards in Tidore, Saavedra set sail for New Spain on the 14 June 1528. On 24 June 1528, the "La Florida" discovered theSchouten Islands and landed onYapen. These were charted respectively as "Islas de Oro" (Golden Islands) and "Payne" island. They continued coasting westernNew Guinea and on 15 August discovered theAdmiralty Islands landing onManus that they charted as "Urays La Grande" (Urays the Big). They then sailed north and discovered theNomoi Islands in theCarolines. Then they were diverted by the northeast trade winds that threw them back to theMoluccas, returning toTidore on 19 November 1528.[5]
On 3 May 1529, Álvaro de Saavedra tried again the second time by navigating back down south. Again he toured the western part of New Guinea getting to Manus, then heading north and discovering on 14 SeptemberPohnpei andAnt in the Carolines. On 21 September they discoveredUjelang Atoll, in the Marshalls that they charted as "Los Pintados" (The Painted Ones) because of its inhabitants being tattooed. On 1 October they discoveredEnewetak Atoll, that they named "Los Jardines" (The Gardens) because of their beauty and the friendliness of their inhabitants. Soon after Saavedra died, and Pedro Laso took command. They sailed north up to the 31N but not finding westerly winds and also after the death of Pedro Laso, they finally decided to turn around the ship and again return to the Moluccas, arriving toHalmahera next to Tidore on 8 December 1529. They were captured there by the Portuguese and held in captivity for five years. In 1534, the surviving eight members of his crew made it back to Spain.
There are some questions as to whether Spanish explorers did arrive in theHawaiian Islands two centuries before CaptainJames Cook's first recorded visit in 1778.[6] For two and a half centuries Spanish galleons crossed the Pacific along a route that passed south of Hawaiʻi on their way to Manila. The exact route was kept secret to protect the Spanish trade monopoly against competing powers.
In the case of the Saavedra expedition, the sighting of Hawaii could have happened when on 28 November 1527, land was sighted to the north, approximately in the longitude of Hawaii but not found again after a two-days search. Also, the later disappearedSantiago andEspiritu Santo could have arrived in Hawaii.
There is an old Hawaiian oral story that describes white people arriving in the islands many generations ago, who were welcomed by ChiefWakalana. It is possible that these visitors were crew members from Alvaro de Saavedra's expedition.
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