Sebastián Vizcaíno
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Sebastián Vizcaíno (1548-1624) was a Spanish soldier, extrepreneur, explorer, and diplomat whose varied roles took him to New Spain, the Philippines, the Baja California peninsula, California, and Japan.
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[edit] Early Career
Vizcaíno was born in Extremadura, Spain. He saw military service in the Spanish invasion of Portugal during 1580-1583. Coming to New Spain in 1583, he sailed as a merchant on the Manila galleon to the Philippines in 1586-1589.
[edit] The Californias
In 1593 the disputed concession for pearl fishing on the western shores of the Gulf of California was transferred to Vizcaíno. He succeeded in sailing with three ships to La Paz, Baja California Sur in 1596. He gave this site (known to Hernán Cortés as Santa Cruz) its slightly misleading modern name ("peace") and attempted to establish a settlement. However, problems of resupply, declining morale, and a fire soon forced its abandonment.
Vizcaíno returned to the Californias in 1602-1603 when he was commissioned to explore and map in detail the western coast that Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo had first reconnoitered 60 years earlier. Vizcaíno completed the task, again redesignating many of the landmarks (including San Diego) with their ultimate names. One result of Vizcaíno's voyage was a flurry of enthusiasm for establishing a Spanish settlement at Monterey, but this was ultimately deferred for another 167 years.
[edit] Japan
Vizcaíno travelled from Mexico to Japan in 1611 as an ambassador, and returned Japanese men who had come to Mexico earlier with the embassy of Luis Sotelo. He met with Tokugawa Ieyasu and Date Masamune during his stay in Japan.
He then left the country to accomplish a mission to discover a fabled "Island of gold and silver" supposed to be in the sea East of Japan. His ship, the San Francisco, was crippled in bad weather, and he was forced to rally Uraga, his original point of departure. The following year, Sebastián Vizcaíno left for Mexico on a boat the Bakufu had built for him, but he once again met with bad weather, and had to come back to Uraga.
Because of these two failures, it was decided that Date Masamune, the Daimyo of Sendai would build a stronger ship. This ship became the San Juan Bautista, a 500-ton galleon which was used on the same occasion to dispatch a Japanese embassy to Mexico and then Europe, led by Hasekura Tsunenaga. It is said Sebastián Vizcaíno contributed his knowledge of ship technology and navigation skills to the building of the ship and the success of its mission.
Sebastián Vizcaíno wrote a report entitled "Account of the search for the gold and silver islands" in which he related his adventures in Japan.
[edit] References
- Mathes, W. Michael. 1965. Californiana I: documentos para la historia de la demarcación comercial de California, 1583-1632. José Porrúa Turanzas, Madrid.
- Mathes, W. Michael. 1968. Vizcaino and Spanish Exploration in the Pacific Ocean, 1580-1630. San Francisco Historical Society.
