Born c. 1508, Villafranca de Oria, Spain
Died June 3, 1568, Mexico City, Hew Spain (Mexico)

In 1494 the Treaty of Tordesillas divided the non-Christian world between the two great maritime powers of Spain and Portugal to explore, convert, and colonize. The division essentially gave North and South America to Spain, and Africa, India, and the Orient to the Portuguese. Although the treaty allowed Portugal a trade monopoly with islands in the western Pacific, Spain still hoped to claim some of these countless islands as their own. Thus King Philip II (1527–1598) of Spain launched an expedition to the Philippines in 1564 to found a colony there and to convert the native population. Andrés de Urdaneta—one of the few survivors of a Spanish-led second voyage around the world begun in 1525—piloted the mission; on his return voyage he pioneered the...