Between the 15th and 17th centuries, colonial powers desperately sought a route connecting the global East and West. The era was referred to as the Age of Exploration (also called the Age of Discovery). It was fueled by extensive and costly overseas imperialism and a competitive drive to conquer land among European powers including Spain, France, England and Portugal. Famous and arduous expeditions propelled the era into motion, such as Christopher Columbus’s journey to the Americas or Ferdinand Magellan’s discovery of the Strait of Magellan.
Some notable adventures have fallen under the radar. Take Lope Martín, for example. Though the name may not ring any bells, this Afro-Portuguese pilot became the first formerly enslaved Black man to complete the West to East return. Andrés Reséndez, a historian at the University of California, Davis, provides him proper credit and delves into his remarkable adventure in his upcoming book, Conquering The Pacific: An Unknown Mariner and the Final Great Voyage of the Age of Discovery. Reséndez not only recounts the Black mariner's riveting tale, but also explores the Age of Discovery’s impact on navigation technology and details the hardships that came with the grueling travels across the Pacific. To find a route to the Far East and surge ahead of the competition, Spain funded a costly expedition out of a port in Navidad, Mexico. Four ships were built in secrecy from their rivals and a multinational crew was recruited to set sail in 1564.
Among this crew of 380 people were the Augustine friar mariner Andrés de Urdaneta, who served as pilot of the flagship, and Afro-Portuguese pilot Lope Martín. Reséndez narrates Martín and Urdaneta’s subsequent journeys, which include a near shipwreck and bewildering (and sometimes violent) interactions with Pacific Islanders. He also examines the prejudices faced by Martín, who is suspected of treason after becoming the first man to complete the round trip across the Pacific. While Martín was investigated in Mexico and later sentenced to hanging (he later escaped), Urdaneta was allowed to return to Spain and receives all the glory for the expedition. Martín's tale has been long swept under the rug — until now.
Discover spoke to Reséndez to learn more about Martín's history-defining adventure and the inventions that made it possible.
