Andrés de Urdaneta

Andrés de Urdaneta (1508–1568) was a Basque explorer who became an Augustinian friar. Aged seventeen he joined the Loaísa expedition to the Spice Islands and spent over eight years in Asia before settling in New Spain and taking the Augustinian habit in 1552.

At Philip II's request he sailed with Legazpi to the Philippines in 1564, and in 1565 mapped the eastward return route across the Pacific to Acapulco. The tornaviaje became the path of the Manila galleons for more than two centuries. He reported on the voyage in Spain, and died in Mexico City in 1568.