María de Lajara or Laxara, or also María de La Jara, was a 17th-century Spanish woman, known for her tragic fate aboard the Manila Galleon and for her name having been attributed to a Pacific Ocean island.
The story of María de Lajara's fate was published in 1699 by Gemelli Careri, in his work Giro del Mondo (Around the World).
Careri wrote (in James Burney's translation): "Donna Maria de Lajara, a young Spanish woman, who in returning from Manila [to New Spain], not having patience to endure longer the inconveniences of the passages, threw herself into the sea".
Since the late 17th century up to the early 19th century, Pacific Ocean charts registered an island named Dona Maria de Lajara, or de Laxara, or even Maria Laxar around 27 degrees North latitude and 140 West from Greenwich longitude (that is East-northeast from Hawaii).
As Gemelli wrote, such an island was supposedly near the place were María de Lajara hurled herself into the sea.