Talk:Juan Fernández (explorer)

A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the On this day section on November 22, 2023.

This  level-5 vital article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Biography This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles Spain This article is within the scope of WikiProject Spain, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Spain on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.SpainWikipedia:WikiProject SpainTemplate:WikiProject SpainSpain articles ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.

This article states "It was reviewed in the 19th century by the Chilean biographer José Toribio Medina who is one of the main sources for the claim in South American literature". It should be made clear that Medina did not necessarily believe the claim that Juan Fernández discovered New Zealand. This is what he said (El piloto Juan Fernándezp. 169): 'nos parece ... se descubrieron algunas islas, entra ellas la Nueva Zelandia, o más probablemente, a nuestra ententer, las islas de Tahiti' ('it appears to us ... he discovered some islands, among others those of New Zealand, or more probably, by our understanding, the islands of Tahiti'). The real reason for the claim is that Medina's book included as appendices hitherto unpublished Spanish archives which made the claim, and which the proponents of the claim use as sources.

Further, the primary Spanish document (transcribed by Medina) which makes the claim is a memorandum from a Dr. Arias to the King of Spain in 1621 requesting funds to convert the natives of the lands of Terra Australis; most of this document is taken up with the theoretical reasons why such a continent must exist (quoting the Bible to establish the necessity for a centre of gravity), and very little on the supposed discoveries of Juan Fernández which he considered verified his theories. MisterCDE (talk) 02:21, 21 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I worked that info in. Endlesspumpkin (talk) 13:08, 27 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]