MALASPINA, ALESSANDRO di MULAZZO. – Navigator. Born in 1754 at Mulazzo in Lunigiana, he entered the service of the Spanish navy and, after a visit to the Philippines, undertook a voyage around the world (1781).
Upon his return, he proposed to the Spanish government a major scientific expedition in the Pacific Ocean. Departing from Cádiz on 30 July 1789, he headed for the Río de la Plata estuary, where he conducted the first hydrographic surveys. After rounding Cape Horn and entering the Pacific, he sailed along the entire American coast up to 60° north latitude, making frequent stops for observations, measurements, and research. He carried out hundreds of surveys of poorly known coastal sections (e.g., the Spalapagos Islands), as well as measurements of the heights of mountains near the sea, gravity measurements, and various hydrographic investigations. Returning to Acapulco, the expedition crossed the Pacific, visiting the Mariana Islands and the Philippines, where about 100 original coastal charts and plans were drawn up. Then, via the New Hebrides, Australia, New Zealand, and Tonga, it returned to Callao (23 July 1793) and finally to Spain in September 1794.
Initially received with great honors and becoming a trusted courtier, he was confined to the fortress of San Antonio in La Coruña due to his hostility toward the prime minister of Charles IV, Godoy, who accused him of conspiring against the state. Released only in 1802 at Napoleon’s request, Malaspina retired to Italy and died at Pontremoli on 9 April 1810. His imprisonment and repatriation prevented the immense scientific material collected by him and his collaborators from being processed and published. The account of the voyage was published only in 1885; part of the cartographic material was lost, part remained unpublished; only some materials were published or served as the basis for works in which Malaspina is often not even cited.