Quirós << kee ROHS >>, Pedro Fernández de (1565?-1615), was a Portuguese explorer who sailed in the service of Spain. In Portuguese, his name is spelled Pedro Fernandes de Queirós (pronounced kay ee RAWSH). Quirós took part in the European discovery of the Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. In 1606, he led the first European expedition that reached what is now Vanuatu, also in the South Pacific.
Quirós was born about 1565 in Évora, Portugal. After Portugal came under Spanish rule in 1580, Quirós became a Spanish subject. As a young man, he worked as a clerk on merchant ships. He also gained recognition as a skilled navigator. In the early 1590’s, Quirós relocated to Peru, which was then a Spanish colony.
In 1595, Quirós was chosen as the chief pilot (navigator) for an expedition led by the Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña. Mendaña’s mission was to sail to the Solomon Islands, which he had reached in 1568, and to colonize them for Spain. The expedition sailed from Peru in April 1595. Due to a navigational error made by Mendaña, the expedition never reached the Solomon Islands, which lie northeast of Australia. The explorers stopped at another group of islands and named them Las Marquesas de Mendoza. These islands, far east of the Solomons, are now called the Marquesas Islands. Despite Quirós’s objections, members of the expedition killed many of the Indigenous (native) islanders.
The expedition sailed west from the Marquesas. It then encountered the Santa Cruz Islands, southeast of the Solomons and north of Vanuatu. Mendaña died in October 1595, leaving Quirós in command of the voyage. Quirós decided to abandon the mission, due to the poor condition of the ships and crew. Despite extreme hardship and strong resistance to his leadership, Quirós docked in Manila, in the Philippines, in February 1596.
Quirós came to believe that a great continent existed in the South Pacific. Determined to find it, he convinced King Philip III of Spain to let him lead an expedition. This group sailed from Peru in 1605. In May 1606, Quirós and his crew became the first Europeans to reach an island that he called Espíritu Santo. It is the largest island of what is now the nation of Vanuatu. Quirós founded a Christian colony on Espíritu Santo. But he was forced to break up the settlement due to conflict with the island’s Indigenous people and an outbreak of disease.
After sailing southeast from Vanuatu, Quirós’s ship became separated from the rest of the expedition. Quirós then headed northeast to Mexico, docking there in November 1606. The rest of the expedition, led by the Spanish navigator Luis Vaez de Torres, became the first Europeans to discover the Torres Strait, a narrow waterway between the northern tip of Australia and the island of New Guinea.
Quirós sailed to Spain, where he begged the king to support another expedition. In 1614, the king finally granted Quirós permission for another trip. However, Quirós died in Panama in 1615, on his way to Peru.
