Juan de Fuca
Juan de Fuca | |
---|---|
Venetian Ionian Islands (now Greece) | |
Died | 23 July 1602 Cephalonia | (aged 66)
Nationality | Greek |
Occupation | Sailor |
Juan de Fuca (10 June 1536,
Name
"Juan de Fuca" is a
Family and early life
De Fuca's grandfather Emmanouil Fokas (Ἐμμανουὴλ Φωκᾶς) fled Constantinople during its fall in 1453, accompanied by his brother Andronikos (Ἀνδρόνικος). The two settled first in the Peloponnese, where Andronikos remained, but in 1470 Emmanouil moved to the island of Cefalonia. Ioannis's father Iakovos (Ἰάκωβος) established himself in the village of Valerianos on the island and came to be known as "the Valeriano Fokas" (Φωκᾶς ὁ Βαλεριάνος, Fokas ho Valerianos) to distinguish him from his brothers.[2] De Fuca was born in Valerianos on June 10, 1536. Little is known about his life before he entered the service of Spain some time around 1555.[3]
Early career
De Fuca's early voyages were to the Far East, and he claimed to have arrived in New Spain in 1587 when, off Cabo San Lucas in Baja California, the English privateer Thomas Cavendish seized his galleon Santa Ana and deposited him ashore. He was a well-traveled seaman, perfecting his skill as a pilot in the Spanish fleet. The King of Spain, he also claimed, recognized him for his excellence and made him pilot of the Spanish navy in the West Indies (a title he held for forty years), but there is no record in Spanish archives of his name or position or of his visit to the royal court.[4] Before he made his famous trip up the northwest coast of the North American continent, he sailed to China, the Philippines and Mexico. The Strait of Juan de Fuca between the United States of America and Canada was named for him by British Captain Charles Barkley because it was at the same latitude that Juan de Fuca described as the location of the Strait of Anián.[5]
Voyages to the north
According to de Fuca's account, he undertook two voyages of exploration on the orders of the
In 1592, on his second voyage, De Fuca enjoyed success. Having sailed north with a
Despite Velasco's repeated promises, however, De Fuca never received the great rewards he claimed as his due. After two years, and on the viceroy's urging, De Fuca travelled to Spain to make his case to the court in person. Disappointed again and disgusted with the Spanish, the aging Greek determined to retire to his home in
Controversy
Because the only written evidence for De Fuca's voyages lay in Lok's account — researchers being unable to find records of the expedition in Spanish colonial archives — there was long much controversy over his discovery and, indeed, whether he had ever even existed as a real person; several scholars have dismissed Juan de Fuca as entirely fictitious, and the 18th-century British explorer Captain Cook strongly doubted that the strait De Fuca claimed to have discovered even existed[7] (although Cook actually sailed past the Strait of Juan de Fuca without entering it and did stop at Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island). With later English exploration and settlement of the area, however, De Fuca's claims seemed much more credible.
Finally, in 1859, an American researcher, with the help of the U.S. Consul in the Ionian Islands, was able to demonstrate not only that De Fuca had lived but also that his family and history were well known on the islands.[2] While we may never know the exact truths that lay behind the account published by Lok, it must be considered unlikely that the man himself was fictional.
Legacy
When the
The
Juan de Fuca Provincial Park on Vancouver Island's West Coast is named for the strait, as is the hiking trail of the same name.
See also
References
- ^ Dunbabin, Thomas (1979) [1966]. "Fuca, Juan de". In Brown, George Williams (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. I (1000–1700) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
- ^ a b c d e Greek Consulate of Vancouver, "Greek Pioneers: Juan de Fuca". Archived March 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Fokas in 1596 claimed to have been some forty years in the king of Spain's service.
- ^ "British Columbia: From the Earliest Times to the Present, Chapter II, The Apocryphal Voyages, pp. 19-31, Ethelbert Olaf Stuart Scholefield, publ. S.J. Clarke, Vancouver, 1914". Archived from the original on 2012-09-12. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
- ^ Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest
- ^ ISBN 9780300098662.
- ^ Gough, Barry M. (1987). "Barkley, Charles William". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. VI (1821–1835) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
Further reading
- A note made by me, Michael Lok the Elder, touching the strait of sea commonly called Fretum Anian, in the South Sea, through the northwest passage of Meta Incognita, in Samuel Purchas, Pilgrims, London, 1625, Vol III, page 849
- Memoir, Historical and Political, on the Northwest Coast of North America, Robert Greenhow, 1840, P 174
- Memorials of Juan de Fuca, A. S. Taylor, in Hutchings' California Magazine, Sep.-Oct. 1859, pp116-122, 161-167
- British Columbia: From the Earliest Times to the Present, Chapter II, The Apocryphal Voyages, pp. 19-31, Ethelbert Olaf Stuart Scholefield, publ. S.J. Clarke, Vancouver, 1914
- "Ioannis Apostolos Focas Valerianos (Juan de Fuca). The Kefallonian adventurer of the 16th c.", by Evridiki Livada Duca, Kefallonia 2001, published by the Municipality of Elios - Pronnoi.
- "The Straits of Chimera", by Evridiki Livada Duca, New York 2014, published by the FEDERATION OF CEPHALONIAN AND ITHACIAN SOCIETIES and presented in Queens College (CUNY), and Rutgers University in October and November 2014. (In English and in Greek as: "Στα Στενά της Χίμαιρας", Ευρυδίκη Λειβαδά Ντούκα, Αθήνα 2007, Έκδοση: ΚΕΔΡΟΣ. Spanish translation by Pedro Olalla ("El Paso de la Quimera", 2017) for the Ouranis Foundation, unpublished)