Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa

Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa was a sixteenth-century Spanish explorer, navigator, and cosmographer who holds no established place in the literature concerning UFOs, UAPs, or unexplained aerial phenomena. Best known for his ambitious voyages across the Pacific Ocean, his meticulous charting of the Strait of Magellan, and his ethnographic writings on the Inca Empire, he represents a figure of the European Age of Discovery rather than modern aerial anomaly research. During his maritime expeditions between 1555 and 1590, he recorded numerous celestial and atmospheric events—including St. Elmo's fire, luminous meteors, and mirages—that subsequent historians and UAP enthusiasts have occasionally scrutinized for potential pre-modern sightings of anomalous objects, though Sarmiento interpreted these through the scientific and theological frameworks of his era. His enduring legacy rests upon his contributions to Pacific geography, his failed attempt to establish a permanent Spanish settlement at the Strait of Magellan, and his detailed chronicle "History of the Incas," rather than any association with unidentified aerial craft. While researchers of historical anomalies sometimes examine the logs of Renaissance explorers for unexplained observations, Sarmiento de Gamboa himself documented only conventional nautical phenomena according to the understanding of sixteenth-century cosmography.