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Who was Luis Vaez de Torres?
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Torres Strait Islander peoples
A Torres Strait Islander boy performing a traditional dance.
Luis Vaez de Torres was a 17th-century Spanish navigator and explorer. In 1606, he participated in a voyage alongside the Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernández de Quirós with the objective of finding the "great southern continent".123
After departing from the New Hebrides, Torres sailed toward New Guinea and navigated through the passage that now bears his name, the Torres Strait. During this journey, he coasted along the southern shore of New Guinea and continued on to Manila in the Philippines. Although he successfully traversed the strait, he remained unaware that the Australian continent lay to his south. His discovery of the strait was kept secret until 1764.13