Martín Ignacio Martínez de Mallea, known as Martín Ignacio de Loyola (c. 1550 in Eibar, Guipuzcoa, Spain – 1606 in Buenos Aires[1][2][3][4]), was a Franciscan friar, best known for his two travels around the world in 1580–1584 and 1585–1589, being the first person to complete the world circumnavigation twice in different directionsA, and for his missionary effort in China.
Departing Cadiz on 21 June 1582, he sailed to the Canary Islands, crossed the Atlantic to La Désirade, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo, before arriving in San Juan de Lúa (modern Veracruz), in México.
After crossing to the Pacific Ocean coast of Mexico at Acapulco he sailed to the Mariana Islands, and the Philippines, before eventually reaching the Empire of China, where he landed in Fujian province.
[5] After travelling on to Japan, he returned to Lisbon via the Straits of Malacca, Portuguese India, the Cape of Good Hope and Saint Helena.
In 1587 he left Macau, China, and crossed the Pacific Ocean to Acapulco, Mexico,[7] in a ship commanded by Pedro de Unamuno.