If you look at the history of Oregon, Vancouver Island and other territories in Russian, English or almost any other language, it will seem that these territories were explored by the same British and Americans, which determined the ownership of these lands by the United States and Britain in the future. There is simply no mention of any third party in most of the readily available sources on the network; at best, Russian expeditions to Alaska and its environs, Fort Ross, etc. are mentioned. However, there was another player in this region who came there earlier than others, and for centuries lay claims to these territories, sending settlers, building forts and sending scientific expeditions. This player was Spain, and one of the most ambitious and productive voyages, whose route also passed through these territories, was the expedition led by Alejandro Malaspina.
Tuscan in the service of the Armada
Alejandro (or, in Italian, Alessandro) Malaspina was born in 1754 in the town of Mulazzo in Tuscany. His family was a lateral branch of the dynasty d'Este known in Italy. Once she was quite influential and wealthy, but by the middle of the 18th century it was already in deep decline. Malaspina's parents, although they were marquises, were not very rich, as a result of which they were forced to leave Tuscany and settle in Naples, where their richer and more successful relatives lived. To study young Alejandro entered the Roman Collegio Clementino, and had to go to serve in the church, but in his youth he developed such a rejection of religion that he had to abandon these plans. As a result, Alejandro's relatives sent to Malta, where he became a knight of the Order of Malta, and first became acquainted with the service in the navy.
In 1774, when his father died, Malaspina went to his uncle, who served at that time in the Armada, and became a midshipman. Due to his high origin and connections at the court, Alejandro's career developed rapidly, he received more and more titles. However, one should not assume that he was an ordinary noble careerist - sooner or later he worked out all his promotions, and with a margin. Already in 1775-1776, he took part in the hostilities at Melilla against the Moroccans, the next year he set off on a semicircular voyage to the Philippines, and a few years later distinguished himself in the battle lost by the Spaniards at Cape Saint-Vicente, serving under the command of Admiral Juan de Langara …
Once captured, very soon Malaspina returned under the Spanish flag, and under very interesting circumstances. He remained on his ship San Julian, while most of the officers were transferred to British ships, and when a storm broke out at night after the battle and the British crews lost control, Alejandro was one of the initiators of the Anglo-Spanish "agreement": the Spaniards take control of the ship and save it from imminent death on the rocks, and the British humbly concede this right to them, and become prisoners themselves. As a result, the flag of the Armada was raised over the San Julian again, and he successfully returned to Cadiz, where Malaspina was raised out of turn and honored as a hero. By this, he again proved that he was not a simple sailor, and he was not a man either.
In the future, Malaspina continued to serve in the navy and show himself as a skillful and proactive subordinate, and a good commander. So, during the general assault on Gibraltar, he commanded one of the floating batteries, and quite successfully, although the assault was repulsed with heavy losses. It was not without problems - due to a negative attitude towards religion, he came to the attention of the Inquisition in 1782, was accused of heresy, but, thanks to the intervention of friends, was acquitted. This was followed by a promotion, sailing on the frigate "Asuncion" to the Philippines and work on the compilation of detailed high-precision maps of the coast of Spain. In the years 1785-1786, he became one of the shareholders of the trading company of Cadiz, making a profit from trade with the colonies, but all this was not the case - he was attracted by distant seas, unexplored shores and America. It is in this field that he will be destined to achieve his greatest success.
Alejandro Malaspina and his voyages around the world
Strictly speaking, there was only one round-the-world expedition during Malaspina's life - made in 1786-1788, funded by the commercial Royal Company of the Philippines, during which he, commanding the frigate Astrea, visited the Spanish colonies of South America, visited Manila, and then through The South China Sea and the Cape of Good Hope returned home. On the way back, there was an outbreak of scurvy on the ship, which killed 16 crew members, which was taken extremely painfully by Malaspina, and in the future he will become an active fighter against this disease in the fleet. In addition, this trip around the world gave him valuable experience, and raised a number of issues that required sending a new expedition, this time much more serious.
Arriving in Spain, he immediately went to Madrid, where he was treated kindly at the court of King Carlos III. He immediately "got sick" with the idea of sending several ships to the next expedition, and immediately began a large-scale preparation. In La Carraque (Cadiz), in a matter of weeks, two sloops were built, named after the ships of James Cook - "Descubierte" ("Discovery") and "Atrevida" ("Courage"). Malaspina himself was appointed to command the first and the entire expedition, and José de Bustamante and Guerra became the captain of the second. He was equal in rank with the head of the expedition, and de jure had equal rights with him, but did not harbor jealousy on the basis of this and, of his own free will, completely obeyed Malaspina, which had a beneficial effect on the success of the expedition. The expedition staff was staffed not only by sailors, but also by cartographers, botanists, geologists and many other specialized specialists up to the royal examiners, who had to thoroughly examine the documentation of the colonial administrations, identifying violations and determining the real possibilities of overseas possessions.
The ships set sail on July 30, 1789, when another king (Carlos IV) ruled in Spain, and the Bastille recently fell in France. Their route passed through the Canary Islands to Montevideo, where they arrived in September, followed by a long voyage along the shores of the Spanish colonies to Cape Horn, and then north, along the Pacific coast until Acapulco, where Malaspina arrived only in April 1791. … The reason for such a long journey was simple - the ships not only mapped the exact outlines of the coast of South America, but also carried out many other scientific studies. Perhaps the most interesting were the studies of Alejandro himself, which concerned the establishment of the exact state of affairs in the colonies, local order, customs, development trends and aspirations of the colonial elite.
Plunging deeply into politics, Malaspina understood more and more the essence of what was happening in the Americas, and began to put his thoughts and considerations on paper. Having reached Panama, he temporarily distracted from these matters and made a detailed survey of the isthmus between the Americas in order to determine the route of the channel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans - later it will form the basis of the constructed Panama Canal.
In Acapulco, Malaspina was waiting for the order of Carlos IV - to find the Northwest Passage, which was supposed to significantly shorten the path from Europe to China. Therefore, instead of further exploring the western shores of New Spain, the expedition was forced to go further north, putting more and more shores on the world map. It was not possible to find a passage, but a large-scale amount of work was carried out, a dictionary of local dialects was compiled, friendly relations were established with the Tlingits, some of whom recognized themselves as vassals of the Spanish king.
Returning to Acapulco, Malaspina requisitioned two small ships (Sutil and Mexicana), appointed two commanders (Alcalo Galiano and Caetano Valdes and Flores) and sent them north with the task of clarifying the outlines of the North American coast in this place. From that moment, the expedition actually split up - Galiano and Valdes remained to explore America, and the two main ships went further west, across the Pacific Ocean. On the way across the ocean, Malaspina visited the Marshall and Mariana Islands, specifying their coordinates and coastlines.
The expedition arrived in Manila in April 1792, after which it split up - "Atrevido" under the command of Bustamante went to Macau, and "Descubierta" at that time was conducting research work on the islands of the Philippine archipelago. Reunited in November, the ships sailed south, past Celebes (Sulawesi) and the Moluccas, visited New Zealand (South Island) and Sydney, and then headed home. However, having reached Malvin (Falklands), the ships divided again, and the Atrevida, under the command of Bustamante, set out to explore the islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. After some time, he returned to Malviny, teamed up with Malaspina, and together the ships of the expedition returned home, reaching Cadiz on September 21, 1794.
This is just a short retelling of a long voyage that lasted five years, because one article will not be enough for details, and the resulting story will be worthy of its section in a collection like "Frigate Drivers", which were once read by children in our habitats. As a result of this expedition, a colossal amount of materials on the topic of botany, zoology, geology was accumulated, the exact outlines of many shores of the Pacific Ocean were mapped on the world map.
Malaspina carried out a large amount of work in the field of politics - in 1794 he published his works entitled "Scientific and political trip around the world", in which he described in detail the state of affairs in the colonies, analyzed it and proposed a plan for the improvement and development of Spain's overseas possessions. The preliminary route of the future Panama Canal was marked, some navigation methods were improved, the shape of the Earth was refined. Finally, despite two outbreaks of scurvy during a long voyage, no one died of it - using his own experience and the advice of the chief physician of the expedition, Pedro Gonzalez, Malaspina introduced citrus fruits into the daily ration of sailors, and regularly replenished them as they entered the Spanish ports. Also, the specialists taken on board the Descuberta and Atrevida conducted a complete audit of everything and everyone in the colonies, establishing exact figures for income, expenses, mining, exports, etc., which for some time allowed to reduce to to a minimum, various frauds on the basis of the supply of resources to the metropolis.
The volume of work done was so great that it made it possible to compare Malaspina's expedition with the voyages of other great navigators of the 18th century, such as James Cook or La Perouse. It goes without saying that such an expedition, according to the results of the work, became the largest in the history of Spain. It remained only to systematize the information received (more than 70 detailed maps were compiled alone), and publish it, after which the results of the expedition were to become known to the world, and the Spanish navigators would deserve universal recognition ….
Arrest and oblivion
Alas, Malaspina left one Spain and returned to a completely different one. If under Carlos III, and in the first months of the reign of Carlos IV, it was, although not without problems, but a completely modern and developing state, then in 1794 the sailor was greeted by something completely different. The king actually withdrew from power, everything was ruled by the mediocre Queen Maria Luisa of Parma, along with her lover Manuel Godoy. Corruption and intrigue flourished everywhere, professionals in the state administration were replaced by sycophants, the positions of Afransesados (Francophiles) were strengthened so much that even during the war with France, no one wanted to make efforts to defeat her. All more or less prominent statesmen were dismissed or fell into disgrace.
The project for the reorganization of the colonies proposed by Malaspina turned against its creator, and it was only thanks to a miracle that the trial was avoided, but problems immediately began with the publication of the results of the expedition. Only a few of the participating scientists published their own research on their own behalf, but no systematic work was carried out - politics was henceforth more important than science. The attempt to intervene in politics and propose a quick plan for the defeat of France by the forces of Spain met with a very cold reception.
Deeply offended by all this, being, if not a patriot of his second Fatherland, then clearly sympathizing with her fate, Malaspina decided that the time had come to save Spain, and this required overthrowing the almighty Valido - Manuel Godoy. A conspiracy was drawn up, the leaders of which included the most progressive circles of the state, the "old guard" of Carlos III, who did not harbor much love for France. However, the conspiracy was uncovered, and Malaspina, as its actual head, was accused of all mortal sins, up to the desire to overthrow the Bourbons and establish a Jacobin dictatorship, as well as anarchism, separatism (they recalled the project of granting autonomy to the colonies of Spain), and many other -isms that only the queen's lover could think of.
A number of arrests followed, including titled nobles up to and including dukes. The Duke of Alba, who was to become the new Secretary of State after the coup, died unexpectedly on his estate shortly before his arrest, which some considered highly suspicious. The participants in the conspiracy were awaited by the courts and execution. But Godoy outplayed himself, accusing the conspirators of all mortal sins, but never providing a single sane proof of even one of them. Even the repeated accusation of heresy did not help - the clergy did not find a single sign of it.
As a result, in 1796, the cases had to be quietly closed, and the participants in the conspiracy were sent into exile or put under arrest. Yesterday's head of a large research expedition was imprisoned without a court sentence under a 10-year arrest in the castle of San Antoine de la Coruña, finding himself in almost complete isolation from the outside world. However, Malaspina had many sympathizers, and he was able to convey the news of himself to his relatives in Italy, who began to fight for his release. Alas, the struggle was successful, but very long - only in 1802, with the intervention of Napoleon himself, Malaspina was released and went home to Italy. Over the years, he did not lose his mind and energy, and, having settled in the town of Pontremoli, he became actively involved in local political life, proposing to the authorities projects of tax, administrative and other reforms, fighting the outbreak of yellow fever, working to create the coastal defense of the puppet Italian Republic … After the transformation of the republic into the Kingdom of Italy, he lost its former significance and influence, coupled with fame, and began to live a quiet private life, not really appearing in public. He died on April 9, 1810, at the age of less than 56 years, about which was made a note in the local newspaper.
The story of Alejandro Malaspina's expedition turned out to be very characteristic of that era of the sharp, almost instantaneous transformation of Spain from one of the leading research countries into a second world power. He left the first Spain as the head of a promising research mission; in the second he returned, and it was in it that he could not really publish the results of his expedition. This, as well as the persecution by Godoy, predetermined the uncertainty of Malaspina not only in the world, but also in Spain itself - after the story with the conspiracy, no one dared to somehow associate himself with the disgraced researcher.
The results of the expedition were systematically published only at the end of the 19th century, when they were already a little late, and a beautiful and well-structured story was written long ago about the drivers of frigates who explored the oceans, in which there was no place for an Italian in the Spanish service. However, this does not mean that Alejandro was completely forgotten. In Canada, on Vancouver Island, there is a Malaspina College, a glacier in Alaska, a strait, a peninsula is named after him, on Nootka Island there is a mountain and a lake named after him. Spain, along with some Italian enthusiasts, is making serious efforts to make Alejandro Malaspina famous enough and allow him, two centuries later, to take its rightful place along with Cook, La Perouse and Bougainville. Recently, some of them even set sail on two modern ships in the wake of the Descubert and Atrevida, in an effort to popularize the explorer's name.
The success of all this activity seems to me unlikely, and the very fate of this researcher and the result of his labors will forever remain an example of how the world history we know can be at least incomplete, and how the fall of a strong state can bury along with itself the merits of one of the most great adopted sons.
