Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón

Álvaro de Saavedra (d. 1529) was one of the Spanish explorers in the Pacific Ocean. It is unknown the exact date and place of his birth, but he was born in the late 15th century or early 16th century in Spain. Hernán Cortés was his relative, whom he accompanied to Mexico (New Spain) in 1526.

In 1527, Hernán Cortés prepared a new expedition to search for the missing fleet of the Loaísa expedition and commissioned his cousin Alvaro to command the new expedition. However, the true purpose of the expedition was to find new lands in the South Sea (Pacific Ocean) and to bring back spice plants.

On October 31, 1527, they sailed from Zihuatanejo,Guerrero. On 15 December, after having sailed 1170 leagues, the Espiritu Santo and the Santiago swept on ahead, after a sudden squall, never to be heard of again. On 29 December the La Florida sighted the Utirik-Toke atoll complexes, and on 1 January 1528 the Rongelap-Ailinginae atolls, both in the Marshall Islands, which were jointly charted as "Islas de los Reyes" (Islands of the Three Wise Kings due to the proximity to the festivity of Epiphany). On 2 February 1528 the "La Florida" sighted the Philippines and the following day anchored at a small island off the north coast of Mindanao, after 95 days since its departure and having sailed 1923 leagues. This makes Saavedra the first navigator to cross the Pacific Ocean from the Americas.

On 30 March 1528 the "La Florida" arrived to Tidore, the Spanish stronghold in the Moluccas where the men remaining from the Loaisa expedition were found, and they joined them to fight the Portuguese in the neighbouring Ternate.

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