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, made a voyage around the world (1781).
On 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 estuary of the Plata, where he carried out the first hydrographic surveys; then, having rounded Cape Horn and entered the Pacific, he proceeded along all the American coasts as far as 60° north latitude, with frequent stops for observations, measurements, and research. He carried out hundreds of surveys of little-known coastal sections (e.g., of the Galápagos Islands), as well as measurements of the elevations of mountains near the sea, gravity measurements, and hydrographic investigations of various kinds. After returning to Acapulco, the expedition crossed the Pacific, visiting the Marianas and the Philippines, where approximately 100 original coastal charts and plans were drawn; then, by way of the New Hebrides, Australia, New Zealand, and Tonga, it returned to Callao (23 July 1793), and finally made its way back to Spain in Sept. 1794. At first received with the greatest honors and having become an influential court favorite, he was confined in the fort of S. Antonio della Coruña because of the hostility he had shown toward the inept minister of Charles IV, Godoy, who accused him of conspiring against the state. Released only in 1802 at Napoleon’s request, M. withdrew to Italy and died at Pontemoli on 9 April 1810. M.’s imprisonment and repatriation prevented the immense material collected by him and his collaborators from being processed and published. The account of the voyage was published only in 1885; of the cartographic material, some was lost and some remained unpublished; only a portion of the materials was published or served as the basis for works in which M. is often not even mentioned.
BIRL.: C. Caselli, A. M. e la sua spedizione scientifica intorno al mondo, Milano 1929; E. Bona, A. M. Sue navigazioni ed esplorazioni, Roma 1935. Roberto Almagià