The first sighting by Europeans of Kaniet islands was by the Spanish navigator Iñigo Órtiz de Retes on 19 August 1545 when on board of the carrackSan Juan tried to return from Tidore to New Spain. He charted them as Hombres Blancos (White Men in Spanish) because of the color of the skin of its inhabitants that contrasted with that of the population of New Guinea. In 1780 and 1800 they received visits of new Spanish expeditions commanded respectively by Francisco Mourelle de la Rúa and Juan Antonio de Ibargoitia.[2]