Alejandro Malaspina

Alejandro Malaspina
Alejandro Malaspina
Birth name	Alessandro Malaspina
Other name(s)	Alexandro Malaspina
Born	November 5, 1754; Mulazzo, Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Died	April 9, 1810 (aged 55); Pontremoli, French Empire
Allegiance	Spain
Service/branch	Navy of Spain
Years of service	1774–1795
Rank	Brigadier
Commands	Malaspina Expedition
Battles/wars	Great Siege of Gibraltar

Alejandro Malaspina (November 5, 1754 – April 9, 1810) was a Tuscan explorer who spent most of his life as a Spanish naval officer. Under a Spanish royal commission, he undertook a voyage around the world from 1786 to 1788, then, from 1789 to 1794, a scientific expedition (the Malaspina Expedition) throughout the Pacific Ocean, exploring and mapping much of the west coast of the Americas from Cape Horn to the Gulf of Alaska, crossing to Guam and the Philippines, and stopping in New Zealand, Australia, and Tonga.

Malaspina was christened Alessandro, the Italian form of Alexander. He signed his letters in Spanish Alexandro, which is usually modernized to Alejandro by scholars.^[1]

^ Kendrick, John (2003). Alejandro Malaspina: Portrait of a Visionary. McGill-Queen's Press. p. xi. ISBN 0-7735-2652-8.; online at Google Books; Malaspina usually spelt his name “Alexandro”, a form which, as well as being standard orthography in his day, would have had the advantage for him of being pronounceable in both Italian and Spanish. On occasion, he also used the forms “Alessandro” or “Alejandro”. When he wrote in English, he signed himself “Alexander”, and when writing in French, “Alexandre”: this was in accord with the convention of the day, where names were translated into the language being used. He used the variant spellings according to the language in which he was writing. Changes in Spanish orthography made since his time by the Real Academia Española have made “Alejandro” the standard form in Spanish, and likewise the orthographic rules of the Accademia della Repubblica Italiana make the modern standard Italian form “Alessandro”. for writers in English, “Alexandro” has the convenience of obviating the need to choose between the exclusively Italian and Spanish versions of his name.

[1] Kendrick, John (2003). Alejandro Malaspina: Portrait of a Visionary. McGill-Queen's Press. p. xi. ISBN 0-7735-2652-8.; online at Google Books; Malaspina usually spelt his name “Alexandro”, a form which, as well as being standard orthography in his day, would have had the advantage for him of being pronounceable in both Italian and Spanish. On occasion, he also used the forms “Alessandro” or “Alejandro”. When he wrote in English, he signed himself “Alexander”, and when writing in French, “Alexandre”: this was in accord with the convention of the day, where names were translated into the language being used. He used the variant spellings according to the language in which he was writing. Changes in Spanish orthography made since his time by the Real Academia Española have made “Alejandro” the standard form in Spanish, and likewise the orthographic rules of the Accademia della Repubblica Italiana make the modern standard Italian form “Alessandro”. for writers in English, “Alexandro” has the convenience of obviating the need to choose between the exclusively Italian and Spanish versions of his name.

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