Placa a Ruy López de Villalobos
The Placa a Ruy López de Villalobos stands on Calle Compañía in Málaga, at the birthplace of the Spanish explorer. Villalobos was born in the early 1500s and led the first Spanish expedition to the Philippines. The islands took their name from the Prince of Asturias, the future King Philip II.
The expedition served a wider Spanish strategy: a base in Asia for trade with Japan and China. Scarce resources and harsh conditions dogged the voyage. The toll came in 1546, when Villalobos died in a prison on the island of Ambon, in Indonesia. His work mapping the Pacific outlasted him, and so did the name the Philippines still carries.
The plaque belongs to 'Málaga Makes History', an initiative that spotlights local figures who shaped events far beyond Spain. Every year, on the Day of Hispanic-Filipino Friendship, Spain and the Philippines celebrate a connection that begins at this address.
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