Diego García de Moguer

Diego García de Moguer (1484 or 1496–1544) was a Spanish explorer who also sailed for the Portuguese Crown later in life. The Diego Garcia island, the largest of the Chagos Archipelago, is named after him.

Biography

Spanish sources indicate that Diego García was born in Moguer in 1484 (or 1496 ), but there are Portuguese sources say he was born in Lisbon. However, his first expedition, in 1515, was with Juan Díaz de Solís in search of an oceanic passage leading to the Far East, returning to Spain after the death of Díaz de Solís in the Río de la Plata basin in 1516.

García received approval for a new voyage. According to his own account, Diego García set sail on 15 January 1526, but historians have doubted the accuracy of this date, and are more inclined to accept 15 August 1527 (suggested by chronicler Herrera) as the actual departure date. Diego García sailed from A Coruña, Cape Finisterre, in command of an expedition with three ships. The voyage was financed by merchants to find a suitable spice route, intended to follow Elcano's route and passing through the Magellan Strait. After voyaging through the Atlantic Ocean, García arrived on the south coast of Brazil.

As he navigated through the Paraná River in early 1528, he met men from the Sebastian Cabot group. He was informed that Cabot was at the fort of Sancti Spiritu located at the confluence of the Paraná River in Carcarañá. With a ship and a barquentine, The dispute arose as García claimed full control of the area he had explored. In the court case which was held in Spain the verdict went in favour of García. The reason was that Cabot who was assigned to go to the Spice Islands never went there but explored the Sierra de la Plata which was a violation. As a punishment he was exiled for two years to Oran. In late September or early October 1529, García's caravel traveled to the Ducks Bay (in southern Brazil), picked up Francisco García (who belonged to Cabot's expedition) and traveled to Spain, arriving there on 28 July 1530. Instead, on 21 May 1534, Diego García de Moguer sailed his caravel Concepción back to Río de la Plata. He passed the Cape Verde island of Santiago, then continued to Brazil and on to the estuary of the Uruguay and Paraná rivers.

He re-discovered the island of Diego Garcia in the 16th century, then in the service of Portugal.