Ruy López de Villalobos

Who was Ruy López de Villalobos?

Ruy López de Villalobos, not to be confused with Heitor Villa-Lobos, was a Spanish explorer who sailed the Pacific from Mexico to establish a permanent foothold for Spain in the East Indies, which was near the Line of Demarcation between Spain and Portugal according to the Treaty of Saragossa in 1529. Villalobos gave the Philippines their name, after calling them Las Islas Filipinas in honor of the Infante of Asturias at the time, Philip II of Spain. In 1542 he also discovered a Pacific group of islands, most likely Hawaii, but the Spaniard kept the discovery secret.