Gabriel de Castilla (c. 1577 – c. 1620) was a Spanish
explorer
Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...
and navigator. A native of
Palencia
Palencia () is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Palencia.
Located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, in the northern half of ...
, it has been argued that he was the early explorer of
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
.
[Vázquez de Acuña, Isidoro. ''Don Gabriel de Castilla primer avistador de la Antártica'' en Revista de Marina 1993 N° 2, Valparaíso: Armada de Chile (p. 4).]
Biography
In March 1603, Castilla was at the head of an expedition that weighed anchor from
Valparaiso. Under his control were three ships: the galleon ''Jesús María'', of 600 tons and 30 cannons, ''Nuestra Señora de la Visitación'' (which had belonged to
Richard Hawkins) and ''Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes''. The expedition was entrusted by the
Viceroy of Peru,
Luis de Velasco, marqués de Salinas, to suppress the incursions of
Dutch privateers in the seas to the south of
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
.
Historians conjecture that they penetrated to a latitude of (64° S) in the
Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...
, south of
Drake Passage.
[ If correct, this would be the farthest south that anyone had travelled, at that time. Subsequently, several merchant vessels reported being blown south of 60° S rounding ]Cape Horn
Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...
in severe weather.
See also
* List of Antarctic expeditions
* Gabriel de Castilla Base
References
External links
The Spanish Antarctic station Gabriel de Castilla
Don Gabriel de Castilla, primer avistador de la Antártica
by Chilean historian Isidoro Vázquez de Acuña (Spanish language)
Revista Hidalguia num. 232-233 1992 p.356 et seq
This links to another, incomplete but substantial, version of the above.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castilla, Gabriel de
1570s births
1620s deaths
Spanish explorers
Spanish maritime navigators
Explorers of Antarctica
Spanish polar explorers
17th-century Spanish people
People from Palencia
Spain and the Antarctic
Spanish people in the Viceroyalty of Peru