Kuka on löytänyt Tuvalun?
Tuvalu was first sighted by Europeans on 16 January 1568 during the voyage of Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira from Spain who sailed past the island of Nui, and charted it as "Isla de Jesús" (Spanish for "Island of Jesus") because the previous day was the feast of the Holy Name. Mendaña made contact with the islanders but was unable to land. During Mendaña's second voyage across the Pacific he passed Niulakita on 29 August 1595, which he named "La Solitaria".
Captain John Byron passed through the islands of Tuvalu in 1764 during his circumnavigation of the globe as captain of the . Byron charted the atolls as "Lagoon Islands".
Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira