Alonso de Camargo

Alonso de Camargo (b. Trujillo, Crown of Castile, 1500 – d. Viceroyalty of Peru, Spanish Empire, 1546) was a 16th-century Spanish naval officer and navigator who, in 1539, commanded one of the three ships—its name now lost but later renamed Incógnita—in the expedition known as the Armada of the Bishop of Plasencia. The expedition was financed by the bishop himself, who was his relative, and led by friar Francisco de la Ribera. Its objective was to settle in Tierra del Fuego and cross to the Pacific Ocean. Although the settlement attempt failed, Camargo's ship, the Incógnita, is believed to have accidentally discovered the Falkland Islands, which he named the Islands of Samson, in early 1540. He is also believed to have reached the Pacific coast later that same year after successfully navigating through the Strait of Magellan to arrive in Peru. He was the son of Luis de Camargo and Beatriz Álvarez, and a relative of Francisco de Camargo.