Ruy López de Villalobos

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Ruy López de Villalobos (* around 1500 in Málaga , † 1544 in Ambon ) was a Spanish explorer who crossed the Pacific in search of the Spice Islands , discovered Palau and reached the Philippines in 1543 . He is known for naming the Philippines after Philip II of Spain .

In 1541 López de Villalobos was commissioner for Antonio de Mendoza , the first viceroy of New Spain , to lead an expedition to the East Indies in search of new trade routes. He started the expedition on November 1, 1542 in the port of Barra de Navidad in Mexico .

While exploring new routes in the Pacific, he also discovered Inocentes Island off the Revillagigedo Islands and renamed it La Anublada . Today this island is called San Benedicto .

In 1543 the fleet reached Luzon , where it anchored for a short time. From there they drove on to the southeast until they reached the islands of Samar and Leyte , which Villalobos called the "Philippines". Because of the hostility of the locals, hunger and the loss of a ship, the expedition members had to abandon the settlement they had built in the Philippines and ended the expedition trip.

They sought protection on the Moluccas , which were ruled by the Portuguese , which caused another battle in which López de Villalobos died in 1544 on Amboyna (presumably today's Ambon). The rest of the crew escaped and returned to New Spain.