Ixtapa Zihuatanejo - History, Alvaro Saavedra y Ceron

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ALVARO SAAVEDRA Y CERON
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(unknown) - 1529†
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It
is not known the exact date and place of birth but it is estimated that
he was born in Spain at the end of the XV century. It is known that he
was a
cousin of Hernan Cortez to whom he accompanied on his trip to
the New Spain
(Mexico). Alvaro Saavedra y Ceron became one of the first European
explorers of the Pacific Ocean.
It
is said that during one of his explorations in the Pacific Ocean between
1525 and 1526 he reached Panama and he suggested that a connection to
the Atlantic Ocean could be made at that point. Curiously
enough, today the Panama Canal is located
around the area he suggested
almost 500 years ago.
When
he departed from Zihuatanejo under orders of Hernan Cortez on October
31st. 1527, the main
purpose of his mission was to find the ship Trinidad sent by
Magellan and to aid the Armadas of Loaisa and Caboto who were considered
lost near the Philippines and as secondary objective, to look for new
lands in the so called South Sea.
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The trip of Alvaro Saavedra y Ceron in the
Pacific Ocean after leaving Zihuatanejo |
During
this voyage he reached New Guinea and traveled along its north coast
giving it the name of Golden Island and on October 3rd. of 1528, almost
a year after leaving Zihuatanejo, he
arrived at Moluccas Island with only one of his three ships.
This
trip is really admirable because he was the first to go across the
whole Pacific Ocean and some historians compare it with the prowess of
Columbus voyage through the Atlantic a few years before, however, he
hasn't have a significant historical recognition for that feat.
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What is believed to be a painting of the
ship Espiritu Santo
(Holy Spirit) and in front the ship La Florida or Santiago |
He
made two attempts to return to New Spain (Mexico) but the strong winds took him
back to the islands. During these failed attempts, he discovered the
Carolinas, Mindanao,
Marshall and Admiralty
Islands, and traded water
and supplies with the natives in his persistent effort to discover new
lands and get back to Mexico.
In
1529 in his third attempt to return home (Zihuatanejo) they were caught by a
very heavy storm and died in the shipwreck. According to some documents
that refer to Alvaro Saavedra y Ceron, it is
estimated that at the time of his death he was in the middle thirties.
There
are not known paintings that represent him, although some historians
speculate that because of his kinship with Hernan Cortez
it might be among the hundreds of paintings that up to today they have
not been able to identify who they are.

There
are some doubts as to whether Spanish explorers arrived in the Hawaiian
Islands two centuries before the first recorded visit by Capt. James Cook
in 1778. A Hawaiian legend tells that many years before the arrival of
Cook, white men were received by Chief Wakalana
and if that's the case, there is the possibility that these people were crew
members of one of the ships of Alvaro Saavedra y Ceron on their way to the
Philippines. |
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One
fact that suggests that the above could have been true, is that in the
year 1743 Admiral George Anson captured the
Spanish ship "Nuestra Señora de Covadonga" and he found in it, an old map showing a group of islands
in the North Pacific (Hawaii) when supposedly no one knew yet of
their existence.
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