Alfonso Vestriña
Alfonso Vestriña | |
|---|---|
_-_An%C3%B3nimo.jpg) Anonymous 19th century painting of Alfonso Vestriña. | |
| Born | 17 March, 1448 |
| Died | 3 September, 1511 (aged 63) Opal Ocean |
| Resting place | La Catedral del Emendo, Tolvas, Veleaz |
| Occupation | Geographer, explorer |
| Era | Early Modern Period |
| Spouse(s) | Beatriz Boullé (m. 1471) |
| Parent(s) | Diego Vestriña Maria Hidalgo |
Alfonso Vestriña (17 March, 1448 - 3 September 1511) was a Veleazan explorer and geographer who widely travelled the New world of Vestrim. Over a period of thirty years, Vestriña visited and discovered many lands from modern day Liberimery to New Velacruz under the Veleazan crown. His efforts to survey and map the continent enabled future cartographers and explorers to understand the continent better. His efforts immortalized him as the discoverer of many parts of the new world, and also led to Vestrim being given its name.
Early life
Alfonso Vestriña was born on 17 March 1448 in the Tolvas. His father was Diego Vestriña, a low ranking naval officer turned privateer, and Maria Hidalgo. Vestriña'S father had managed to accrue a sizable fortune for himself and his family during both his time in the Navy, where he commanded a handful of trade ships to Sifhar and Catai, while his time as a successful privateer had allowed him to benefit from increasingly wealthy patronage, as well as prestige as a fighter for Veleaz. Despite the wealth and status that his family enjoyed, Vestriña was noted to be child who frequently suffered bouts of illness and consistently on death's door. Fear of losing the child led his parents to send the 5 year-old boy to the Escuela de Curación del Rey, where he spent the next three years under the care of both expert medical professionals and their students. When his time at the Escuela ended, he returned home in much greater health, however he was quickly sent away to the King's School in Velacruz.
It was at the King's School that Vestriña gained an insight into both courtly life, which he had missed much from due to his extended illness, but also into the Veleazan fleet, then in the midst of its first expansion period. While at school, many biographers have found that Vestriña was considered an odd child, not beholden to the typical activities of adolescent men his age, and preferred the arts and sea to the brutal socialisation that the young aristocracy of Veleaz endured. When he left the King's School, he exploited his father's patronage and fame to gain a commission into the Veleazan Fleet, earning a place on the carrack Suerte, a name that he would go on to use for all his future ships.