Juan Fernández

Juan Fernández (1536-1602?), Spanish explorer and navigator. He became a sailor when he was about 14 years old. After making repeated voyages between Panama and Spanish settlements in Peru and Chile, he became familiar with oceanic conditions in the southern Pacific. He took advantage of the trade winds off the coast of South America and thereby shortened his sailing time so much that he was suspected of witchcraft, for which he was tried but not convicted. In the course of his voyages Fernández arrived at the islands of San Ambrosio and San Félix in 1574, and is reputed to have landed on (1576) either the continent of Australia or the islands of New Zealand. He attempted, unsuccessfully, to establish a colony on the Juan Fernández Islands, Chile, which are named for him.