Alessandro Malaspina (November 5, 1754 – April 9, 1810) was an
Italian explorer who spent most of his life as a
Spanish naval officer. Under a Spanish
royal commission, he undertook a
voyage around the world from 1786 to 1788, then, from 1789 to 1794, a scientific expedition (the
Malaspina Expedition) throughout the
Pacific Ocean, exploring and mapping much of
the west coast of the Americas from
Cape Horn to the
Gulf of Alaska, crossing to
Guam and the
Philippines, and stopping in
New Zealand,
Australia, and
Tonga.