Andres de Urdaneta “The discoverer of the Asian-American route of the Pacific”

Andrés de Urdaneta y Cerain (Ordizia, Basque Country, possibly 1582 – México City, 3 June 1568) was a Basque soldier, cosmographer, sailor, explorer and Augustinian friar. He participated in the dangerous expeditions of García Jofre de Loaísa and Miguel López de Legazpi, and reached universal fame for discovering and documenting the route through the Pacific Ocean from the Philippines to Acapulco, known as Urdaneta’s Route or tornaviaje (the Way Back).