Historedia
Episode 2 of 3

Naming Nueva Guinea

When
20 June 1545
Where
Mamberamo River mouth
Part of
Ortiz de Retez Expedition to New Guinea

On 20 June 1545, Ortiz de Retez claimed the land for Spain and named the island Nueva Guinea at the Mamberamo River.

At the mouth of the Mamberamo River, charted as San Agustin, Ortiz de Retez took possession of the territory for the Spanish Crown. He bestowed the name Nueva Guinea due to the resemblance of the local people to those of Guinea.

Sources

  1. Yñigo Ortiz de Retez Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-14
  2. New Guinea Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-16

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.