Martín Ignacio de Loyola

Martín Ignacio Martínez de Mallea, known as Martín Ignacio de Loyola (c. 1550 in Eibar, Guipuzcoa, Spain – 1606 in Buenos Aires[1][2][3][4]) was a Franciscan friar, best known for his two travels around the world in 1580–1584 and 1585–1589, being the first person to complete the world circumnavigation twice in different directions, and for his missionary effort in China.

Most Reverend

Martín Ignacio de Loyola
Bishop of Paraguay
ChurchCatholic Church
DioceseDiocese of Paraguay
In office1601–1608
PredecessorThomas Vásquez de Liaño
SuccessorReginaldo de Lizárraga
Orders
Consecration1602
by Juan Bautista Acevedo Muñoz
Personal details
Born1550
Eibar, Guipuzcoa, Spain
Died1606 (age 56)
Buenos Aires

Taking in account his two world circumnavigations and his two trips from Europe to South America, Loyola was probably the most widely traveled man in history up to the 17th century.

He was a grandnephew of Ignatius of Loyola, and was ordained a priest in Alaejos in 1572.

Circumnavigations of the world

In both of his travels Loyola took advantage of Spain and Portugal being united under the crown of Philip II of Spain.

First circumnavigation: 1582–1584

Loyola's first circumnavigation was made in a westerly direction.

Departing Cadiz on 21 June 1582, he sailed for the Canary Islands, then crossed the Atlantic to La Désirade, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo, to arrive in San Juan de Lúa (modern Veracruz), in México. After crossing to the Pacific Ocean coast of Mexico at Acapulco he sailed once again in a westerly direction, visiting the Mariana Islands, and the Philippines, before eventually reaching the Empire of China, where he landed in Fujian province. There he and his companions were considered to be spies and were sent to Guangzhou. After a year they were set free and sent to Macau.[5] After travelling on to Japan, he departed once again in a westerly direction to return to Europe at Lisbon via the Straits of Malacca, Portuguese India, the Cape of Good Hope and Saint Helena.

Loyola's account of his first journey around the world was first published in Rome in 1585, included in Juan González de Mendoza's Historia de las cosas más notables, ritos y costumbres del gran reyno dela China.[6]

Second circumnavigation: 1585–1589

Loyola's second circumnavigation was made in an easterly direction.

It is not clear how or when Loyola made his eastward journey to China; in 1587, from Macau, China, Loyola continued eastward across the Pacific Ocean to Acapulco, Mexico,[7] in a ship commanded by Pedro de Unamuno. From there he crossed Mexico to Veracruz, from where he finally set sail across the Atlantic to Spain.

Other journeys

In 1595, six years after his second return to Spain, he went to Paraguay, that he reached via Panama, Peru, Chile, whose Spanish governor by then, Martín García de Loyola, was his cousin, and Río de la Plata.

He went back to Spain again in 1600 and returned to Paraguay in 1603, this time as Bishop of Asunción.[8] He had been consecrated as such in Valladolid by Juan Bautista Acevedo Muñoz, Bishop of Valladolid, the year before.[9]

Other comparable early globe-spanning journeys and travelers
  • 1551–(d. 1557) - Bernardo, the Japanese; the first Japanese to visit Europe; travelled westward from Japan, via India and Portugal, to Rome and other European destinations; died in Portugal, at the start of his return to Japan.
  • 1582–1590 - Tenshō embassy; Japanese embassy to Europe; travelled westward, from Japan, via India and Portugal, to Rome and other European destinations; and eastward, back to Japan.
  • (b. 1564 – d. 1620) - William Adams; an Englishman who, after journeying to Japan via the Straits of Magellan and the Pacific Ocean, spent the last 20 years of his life living in Japan and trading extensively in the Far East.
  • 1600–(d. 1624) - Luis Sotelo Spanish priest; travelled to the Philippines and Japan, then travelled with the Keichō embassy to Europe, and back to Japan; murdered in Japan.
  • 1614–1620 - the Keichō Embassy led by Hasekura Tsunenaga in the Japanese warship Date Maru, known to the Spanish as San Juan Bautista; Pacific Ocean, Mexico, Atlantic Ocean, Europe, and back to Japan by a similar route.
  • 1670–1679 - Pedro Cubero; Spanish priest; eastward circumnavigation of the world; travelled by both land and sea from Europe via Russia, Iran, India, China, and Mexico, back to Europe.

See also

Notes
  1. Raúl A. Molina: Fray Martín Ignacio de Loyola: cuatro obispo del Paraguay y Río de la Plata (1603-1606). Ediciones Jura, 1953 (online at Google Books).
  2. Charles E. O'Neill, Joaquín María Domínguez (eds.): Diccionario histórico de la Compañía de Jesús. Band 1: AA-Costa Rica. Univ. Pontifica de Comillas, 2001, ISBN 84-8468-037-1, p. 109 (online).
  3. Iglesia del Paraguay: 1er. Período de 1547 a 1620
  4. William Shurtleff, Akiko Aoyagi: History of Soybeans and Soyfoods in Southeast Asia. Soyinfo Center, 2010, ISBN 978-1-928914-30-3, S. 17 (online).
  5. "Macao as the non-entry point to China: The case of the Spanish Dominican missionaries (1587-1632)" (PDF). International Conference on The Role and Status of Macao in the Propagation of Catholicism in the East. Retrieved 2011-12-31.
  6. Lach, Donald F (1965). Asia in the Making of Europe. I:The Century of Discovery. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 562, 569.
  7. The characters on the galleon Esperanza Archived 2011-12-31 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Gauchat, Patritius (Patrice) (1935). HIERARCHIA CATHOLICA MEDII ET RECENTIORIS AEVI Vol IV. Münster: Libraria Regensbergiana. p. 97. (in Latin)
  9. Cheney, David M. "Bishop Martín Ignacio de Loyola". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. Retrieved June 16, 2018.self-published

References
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Thomas Vásquez de Liaño		 Bishop of Paraguay
1601–1608		 Succeeded by
Reginaldo de Lizárraga
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