Francisco de Orellana

Orellana, Francisco de (c.1511–46), Spanish soldier and explorer of the Amazon River. On an expedition with Pizarro east of Quito, Ecuador, Orellana and a group of soldiers left to search for provisions but never returned. Instead, they continued to the Atlantic Ocean, floating down the river later named the Amazon, after his comparison of tribal women he had seen there to those in Greek myths. On a subsequent expedition to the Amazon, his boat capsized and he drowned.