Pacific return route (Urdaneta's tornaviaje)
Tornaviaje del Pacífico (ruta de Urdaneta)
- Date
- 1565 · confidence high
- Place
- Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico
- Credited to
- Andrés de Urdaneta and Felipe de Salazar (Legazpi expedition)
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
A return route from the Philippines to New Spain that climbs to about 38° N to catch the westerlies and the Kuroshio current, then descends the Californian coast. It closed the Pacific circuit, which could now be crossed both ways.
Alonso de Arellano, commanding the pataché San Lucas, returned to New Spain in 1565 before Urdaneta (landing at Navidad, not Acapulco) but left no documented route; tradition therefore credits Urdaneta's route, which reached Acapulco on 8 October 1565. Earlier attempts (Saavedra, Villalobos) had failed.
What it led to
- The Manila galleon (Acapulco–Manila), active from 1565 to 1815
- The first regular transpacific trade, carrying American silver to Asia
- Charting of the Californian coast as a stage of the return voyage