Which Spanish explorer discovered the Solomon Islands in 1568?

Álvaro de Mendaña discovered the Solomon Islands in 1568. The Spanish navigator led an expedition that sailed from Peru in 1567, searching for the fabled southern continent and islands associated with the biblical riches of King Solomon.

Mendaña’s expedition sighted the islands in January 1568 and explored parts of the archipelago. He named them the Solomon Islands, believing they might be the source of Solomon’s legendary wealth. The expedition also encountered the Santa Isabel and Guadalcanal regions, although the Europeans did not establish a lasting settlement there.

The discovery is sometimes confused with later Spanish voyages. Pedro Fernández de Quirós took part in Mendaña’s later expedition and searched for other Pacific lands, while Luis Váez de Torres sailed through the strait now bearing his name. Ferdinand Magellan explored the Pacific earlier, but he did not discover the Solomon Islands.

Mendaña returned decades later in an attempt to colonize the islands, dying during the 1595 expedition in the Solomon Islands region.