Spanish East Indies chief consort, and his subjects. Seeking to develop trade between the East Indies and the Americas across the Pacific Ocean, Antonio de Mendoza encouraged the exploration of these Asian territories and commissioned the expedition of Ruy López de Villalobos to the Philippines in 1542–1543. Miguel López de Legazpi set out from Mexico, and established the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines in 1565, which became the town of San Miguel in present-day Cebu. That same year, another member of the expedition, Andrés de Urdaneta discovered a maritime route from the Philippines to Mexico, across the Pacific, leading to the important
Netherlands East Indies Forces Intelligence Service for censoring the mail of Royal Netherlands Navy and Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) personnel. It also checked whether the spouses of Dutch troops in Australia presented a security risk. It was not involved in carrying out secret intelligence operations. That was the task of the Inter-Allied Services Department (ISD), which was set up in April 1942 on the instructions of US General Douglas MacArthur, and was responsible for sending out agents to commit sabotage and gather intelligence in occupied areas. Two Dutch officers were assigned to the Dutch East Indies section, which, like NEFIS, was based in Melbourne.