EARLY SPANISH NAVIGATORS 27 



is not precisely known, but it is safe to disregard the 

 legends of navigators having found the island before 

 the Portuguese reached the Moluccas and founded a 

 trading centre at Ternate in 15 12. The earliest authentic 

 record is of the Portuguese Don Jorge de Mcneses, who 

 was driven out of his way on a voyage from Goa to 

 Ternate in 1526, and took refuge in the island of Waigiu. 

 Two years later a Spaniard Alvaro de Saavedra taking 

 spices from the Moluccas to Mexico appears to have 

 reached the Schouten Islands in Geelvink Bay. From 

 there he sailed North and discovered the Carolines and 

 the Mariana Islands, but unfavourable winds drove 

 him back to the Moluccas. In 1529 he set out again, 

 and sailed along a long expanse of coast, which was 

 doubtless the North coast of New Guinea. 



In 1546 Ynigo Ortiz de Retes sailed from Ternate 

 to Mexico in his ship San Juan. He touched at several 

 places on the North coast where he hoisted the Spanish 

 flag, and called the island Nueva Guinea, because the 

 natives appeared to him to resemble the negroes of 

 the Guinea coast of Africa. The name, spelt Nova 

 Guinea, appears printed for the first time on Mercator's 

 map of 1569. 



The last important Spanish Expedition was that of 

 Luis Vaz de Torres, who sailed with two ships from 

 Peru, and in 1606 reached the south-east corner of 

 New Guinea. He sailed along the South coast from 

 one to the other end of the island, of which he took 

 possession in the name of the King of Spain. Torres' 

 voyage through the strait which now bears his name 

 was the first to show that New Guinea was an island, 



