Edmund Halley Edmund Halley, an astronomer and polymath aged 30, presents at the Royal Society a map of the Trade Winds also known as Easterlies. As for the Atlantic ocean, they have been known by the Portuguese since the beginning of the exploration, that is in the first half of the 15th century. As for the Pacific ocean, this is Andrés de Urdaneta (†1568) who brought them to light in 1565 and plotted a map for the Manila galleon route between the Philippines and Acapulco.