Juan Fernández (c. 1536 – c. 1604) was a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

explorer and navigator in the Pacific regions of the

Viceroyalty of Peru The Viceroyalty of Peru ( es, Virreinato del Perú, links=no) was a Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in South America, governed fro ...

and

Captaincy General of Chile The Captaincy General of Chile (''Capitanía General de Chile'' ) or Governorate of Chile (known colloquially and unofficially as the Kingdom of Chile), was a territory of the Spanish Empire from 1541 to 1817 that was, for most of its existenc ...

west of colonial South America. He is best known for the discovery of a fast maritime route from Callao (

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

) to

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

(

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

) as well as for the discovery of the

Juan Fernández Islands The Juan Fernández Islands ( es, Archipiélago Juan Fernández) are a sparsely inhabited series of islands in the South Pacific Ocean reliant on tourism and fishing. Situated off the coast of Chile, they are composed of three main volcanic i ...

off the coast of Chile.

Discoveries and theories

Juan Fernández Islands

In 1574 he discovered an alternative maritime route from Callao to

, much faster than the old route which bordered the coastline. By taking a detour west from the coast, he managed to avoid the northernly Humboldt Current which used to slow down ships sailing south along the coast. In doing so, he discovered the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arc ...

, located west of present-day Valparaíso in the southeastern Pacific Ocean. He also discovered the Pacific islands of San Félix and San Ambrosio in 1574. The speed with which this discovery allowed him to complete the voyage led to him being brought in front of the Inquisition in Peru, and was the reason he became known as ''el brujo del Pacífico'' or "the witch of the Pacific".

New Zealand

Early historians such as

Alexander Dalrymple Alexander Dalrymple FRS (24 July 1737 – 19 June 1808) was a Scottish geographer and the first Hydrographer of the British Admiralty. He was the main proponent of the theory that there existed a vast undiscovered continent in the South P ...

and

James Burney James Burney (13 June 1750 – 17 November 1821) was an English rear-admiral, who accompanied Captain Cook on his last two voyages. He later wrote two books on naval voyages and a third on the game of whist. Family Burney was born in London, ...

claim that Juan Fernández was the first European to reach New Zealand. In 1575 the governor of Cuyo,

Juan Jufré Juan Jufré de Loayza y Montesa (1516–1578) was a Spanish conquistador who participated in the 1541 expedition of Pedro de Valdivia to Chile. He was the first alcalde of Santiago, Chile (in 1541) and held the position of governor of the Argent ...

, organized an expedition to ''

Terra Australis (Latin: '"Southern Land'") was a hypothetical continent first posited in antiquity and which appeared on maps between the 15th and 18th centuries. Its existence was not based on any survey or direct observation, but rather on the idea that ...

'' under the command of Juan Fernandez. The expedition was authorized by the governor of

but not the

Viceroy of Peru The viceroys of Peru ruled the Viceroyalty of Peru from 1544 to 1824 in the name of the monarch of Spain. The territories under ''de jure'' rule by the viceroys included in the 16th and 17th century almost all of South America except eastern Braz ...

. As a result, Jufré changed the official itinerary and pretended his expedition would only sail to the islands discovered by Fernández in 1574. In fact, the real destination of the expedition was still ''Terra Australis''. Soon Juan Fernandez set sail from Valparaíso. After heading west for one month along the 40th parallel south, in the spring of 1576 they arrived in an island described as "mountainous, fertile, with strong-flowing rivers, inhabited by white peoples, and with all the fruits necessary to live". Later, the expedition set sail for

and Juan Fernández wished to convey his discovery to government officials. However, Juan Jufré refused. He requested that the discovery be kept a secret as the expedition had not been authorized by the Viceroy of Peru. Later, after Jufré's death in 1578, Fernández finally shared the discovery with the authorities and tried to convince them of the need to return to the islands and establish a colony. The idea was scrapped due to lack of interest. A record exists in the Spanish Admiralty libraries which describes this discovery. It was reviewed in the 19th century by the Chilean bibliographer

José Toribio Medina José Toribio Medina Zavala (; October 21, 1852 - December 11, 1930) was a Chilean bibliographer, prolific writer, and historian. He is renowned for his study of colonial literature in Chile, printing in Spanish America and large bibliographies su ...

who is one of the main sources for the claim in South American literature. A transcription of the record in question is included in an appendix Medina's book. It is a memorandum from one Dr. Arias to the King of Spain in 1621, which requested funds to convert the natives of the lands of ''

''. The document is primarily concerned with theoretical reasons as to why such a continent must exist, and uses the supposed discoveries of Juan Fernández to bolster his theories. Medina's own opinion on the subject is that it is more likely that the islands which Fernández are those of Tahiti: Mainstream historians do not accept these claims.

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

history professor James Belich said that similar claims that the French and Chinese discovered New Zealand prior to

Abel Tasman Abel Janszoon Tasman (; 160310 October 1659) was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first known European explorer to reach New ...

in 1642 have also been put forward. "I think there are a number of theories of this kind and all are highly unlikely.". New Zealand

film maker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...

Winston Cowie's books
Conquistador Puzzle Trail
' (2015) and
Nueva Zelanda, un puzzle histórico: tras la pista de los conquistadores españoles
' (2016), published with th
support of the Embassy of Spain
to New Zealand, propose that th
Ruamahnga skull
and oral tradition may support the theory, with more evidence required to take it from possibility to probability.

References

* See J. L. Arias, Memoir recommending to the king the conversion of the new discovered islands (in Spanish, 1609; Eng. trans., 1773); Ulloa, Relation del Viaje, bk. ii. ch. iv.; Alexander Dalrymple, An Historical Collection of the several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean (London, 1769-1771); Freville, Voyages de la Mer du Sud par les Espagnols.
Síntesis sobre algunos navegantes españoles transpacíficos, relacionados con el Reyno de Chile
Liga Maritima de Chile (in Spanish) *Hooken, T. M. (1894).

', Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 27, Article 71, 616–634. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez, Juan Explorers of Chile Spanish explorers of the Pacific Spanish explorers of South America 16th-century explorers 16th-century Spanish people 16th-century South American people 1530s births 1600s deaths Juan Fernández Islands Military personnel from Cartagena, Spain People of the Spanish colonial Americas

Discoveries and theories

Juan Fernández Islands

New Zealand

See also

References