Antonio de Alaminos

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Portrait of Antón de Alaminos, medallion in the Plaza de España in Palos de la Frontera.

Antón de Alaminos ( Palos de la Frontera * 1482; † 1520?) Was a Spanish helmsman and explorer from the 16th century.

Life

Alaminos began his career as a helmsman on the last voyage from Columbus (1502-1504) to Panama . He then settled on Hispaniola . He later moved to Cuba . From there he accompanied the conquistadores on their journeys to the mainland.

In 1513 he went to Florida with Juan Ponce de León . On this voyage on April 22nd, Alaminos discovered a strong ocean current in the Floridan “Narrows”, which was later named the Gulf Stream . In 1517 he accompanied Francisco Hernández de Córdoba to Yucatán . In 1518 he went to Yucatán again, this time with Juan de Grijalva . In 1519 he was on the trip to Mexico with Hernán Cortés . Cortéz mentions him several times in his first letter to Emperor Karl. Alaminos sailed from Veracruz to the Florida Strait on July 26, 1519through the “narrows” of the Gulf Stream, headed north and, taking advantage of the Gulf Stream, reached Spain in what was then an extremely short time of two months to bring the news of the discovery of the Aztec Empire. Apparently that same year he drove with Francisco de Montejo to a stretch of coast between that of Cortéz and that of Ponce de Leon. There were arguments between people from Cortéz and those from Montejo. Alaminos mediated this dispute.

In contrast to his clients, he was only interested in mapping the American coastline from Florida in the north to Panama in the south. Apparently he left no written record, but is regularly mentioned in the reports of the Conquistadores. Its importance lies in the fact that after he had delivered the conquistadores to the mainland and left them there to their fate, he was the first to report on the respective trip immediately after his return to Cuba and suggested further trips.

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.retrobibliothek.de/retrobib/seite.html?id=127592
  2. ↑ Gulf Stream . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 7, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 501.
personal data
SURNAME Alaminos, Antón de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish helmsman and explorer
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century
DATE OF DEATH 16th Century