Juan de Fuca

This article is about the 16th-century explorer. For the ocean strait between Vancouver Island, BC, Canada and Washington, USA, see Strait of Juan de Fuca. For other uses, see Juan de Fuca (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with John Phokas or Jean Focas.
Juan de Fuca
Born
Ioannis Fokas

(1536-06-10)10 June 1536
Cephalonia, Venetian Ionian Islands (now Greece)
Died23 July 1602(1602-07-23) (aged 66)
Cephalonia
NationalityGreek
OccupationSailor

Juan de Fuca (10 June 1536, Cefalonia – 23 July 1602, Cefalonia)[1][2] was a Greek sailor who served Philip II of Spain. He is best known for his claim to have explored the Strait of Anián—now known as the Strait of Juan de Fuca—between Vancouver Island (now part of British Columbia, Canada) and the Olympic Peninsula (northwestern Washington state in the United States).

  1. ^ Dunbabin, Thomas (1979) [1966]. "Fuca, Juan de". In Brown, George Williams (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. I (1000–1700) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  2. ^ Greek Consulate of Vancouver, "Greek Pioneers: Juan de Fuca". Archived March 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine