Friday, July 25, 2008

'March 15, 1521 Magellan "discovered" the Philippines' ni ka tony

...or the Pilipinos discovered Magellan and suffered 400 years of cruelty under Spain’s colonization. Instead of losing to the revolution initiated both by Cuba and the Philippines, Spain sold her four remaining island colonies, including Guam and Puerto Rico for $20,000,000. to the Americans - in 1898 Treaty of Paris. The church and the colonial government of Spain, positioned and glued in our mind, that the reason for their colonization is to “save our soul.” A lot of people really don't know much about Magellan...he was a great explorer, "discovered the Philippines" he was Portuguese and the rest we don’t really know.

Just like Columbus’ past and remains which still a big unsolved mystery. Most history books stated that Columbus was born in the coastal town of Genoa, Italy. Some researchers now are saying that he was Catalan from Catalonia, Spain after a long investigation and research basing on his choice of words, style of writing in Spanish of the day to day accounts he wrote in his diary. Was he Italian, Spanish or Catalan? His remains is more mysterious than his origin, a lighthouse called “Faro a Colon” (Lighthouse of Columbus), in Hispaniola now the Island of Santo Domingo house a box said to contain his bones. Santo Domingo’s government claimed that this box came from Seville, Spain in 1542, was requested by Don Diego, son of Columbus who was the Governor during that time. There are also Columbus’ bones in a box inside a tomb made of ornate bronze, in Seville’s Cathedral, Spain, claiming his remains.

Why do most of these "great explorers" have questionable or little known past? Simple, most of them were mercenaries, criminals, ex-convicts, pirates, thieves or treasure hunters. By bringing looted goods, treasures and new colonies to their King, their past were forgiven or covered. Instead they were given titles and power by the King or Queen who sponsored their exploration. Sir Francis Drake was a pirate, his ship “The Golden Hind” was the second ship in history that sailed around the globe, looting Dutch, French cargos, Spanish galleons, even English ships. Drake was responsible for the ignominious slave trade. Trading rum (which was part of crew's ship compensation) and sugar from Cuba, selling the goods in Europe, using the profit to purchase African slaves in slave markets of West Africa, then sold and traded slaves in Cuba! He and his crew were fugitive by The English Navy, until he brought gold from Spanish colonies and looted goods to the Throne of England, Sir Francis Drake was knighted.

Before Magellan, the China Sea functioned as a Mediterranean. The people along its littoral were long in contact with each other, which had of course, cultural consequences. It was possible that the Philippines was visited and traded with the famous Chinese-Muslim Admiral Zheng He, a great sailor historians credited that he was the first person to reach the Americas. The Philippines was one of the most important centers of Chinese commerce. Chinese chronicles and old maps refer to the country as MA-I ("The Three Islands") that may well refer to the three big islands. Pasig River was a long stretch highway used in trading between the Taga Ilog (Tagalog) and the Chinese. Arabs traded with the natives of Mindanao and shared their Muslim faith. The Hindus from India traded in southern Philippines and shared their titles “Raja” with us. All these exchanged of goods, faith, culture and ideology happened before the time of Magellan and none of these traders claimed they “Discovered the Philippines”

Magellan having lived in India and the Portuguese colony Malacca or Moluccas, must have heard or knew the Philippines from Hindu, Chinese and Malay traders. Magellan was in Cochin in 1512, participated in the attack on Goa, India, sailed as far as Moluccas in Malaya, where he purchased a 13 year old slave latter, named him ENRIQUE or “Enrique de Malacca.” Magellan is like a father to Enrique and Magellan was fond of his page. Magellan wrote in his will that when he dies, Enrique would be a freeman. Magellan and Enrique took part in fighting the Moors in Morocco, fighting English pirates at sea which made Enrique famous for his courage, pirates called him "BLACK HENRY" Enrique or HENRY in English, BLACK - because of his skin color. At the battle of Azamor, Magellan received wounds, slashes of sword left him scars on his face and a deadly cut in his knee that left him permanently lame. Afterwards, he entered the customary claim for a larger allowance from the king of Portugal. It was refused, with the imputation that Magellan was entirely cured. His honor was insulted; he not only left his country but published a formal renunciation of his Portuguese citizenship.

Took his page Enrique, his friend Ruy Faleiro, a geographer and astronomer of Lisbon, whom from him, Magellan learned his navigational skills all went to Spain in 1517 and became Spanish citizens. While in Seville Magellan married Beatriz Barbosa and fathered a son Rodrigo.

With Magellan's experience in Malacca, courage, and his navigational skills, the king of Spain was impressed by Magellan's qualities and agreed in 1518 to supply him with men, supplies and 5 ships, Trinidad, Magellan’s flagship, San Antonio, Concepcion, Victoria and Santiago. In return, over half the profits from any products Magellan might bring back were reserved for the Crown. Juan de Cathergena – captain of San Antonio, Luis Mendoza – captain of Victoria, Gaspar Quesada – captain of Concepcion and Magellan’s Portuguese cousin, Joao Serrao – captain of Santiago. Luckily Magellan had a passenger, a civilian tourist, going along simply for the adventure of the trip. He was the 28 year old ANTONIO PIGAFFETA, a native of Vicenza, Italy. The only person who documented the trip, which the journal he wrote was the only basis of the first circumnavigation of the world of the ship "VICTORIA." August 10, 1519 the crewmen, all 270 or so assembled at dawn for a solemn Mass. Before reaching the Pacific, the smallest ship Santiago having been wrecked on a scouting mission. The ship San Antonio, sailed behind one of the islands in South America, turned back to Spain. The 3 remaining ships left South America on November 28, 1520, entered an unknown ocean to continue the voyage that answered the question "is the world round?" Discovered unknown countries, territories, straights, International Date Line and the world largest body of water the "Pacific Ocean."

After 3 months of sailing an endless but calm ocean, Magellan named it “Pacifico” meaning peaceful. Dying of hunger and thirst, the crew ate their last worm-filled biscuits and went hunting for rats. Luckily they came across a small island, where they landed get food and water. The natives of the island traded with the crew, but stole one of their life boat and goods. Magellan being mad with what happened, ordered his crew to burn the village and named the island “LADRONES” or Island of Thieves. March 6, 1521, ten days after leaving Ladrones, now Guam, Magellan landed in Limasawa held thanks giving mass. He named the place "San Lazaro", for it was St Lazarus day. The crew was amazed with Magellan's page ENRIQUE, the natives were able to communicate with him and acted as an interpreter.

Six weeks later, sailed to the island of Cebu, where they were welcomed by the natives lead by their king Raja Humabon. Being the first two Pilipino collaborator/balimbing in Philippine history, Raja Humabon and Datu Zula convinced Magellan joined them in battle with the neighboring island, Mactan ruled by Lapu Lapu. Magellan to show the power of “modern weapon and warfare” promised to lead the raid himself taking only 60 men. Being low tide during the time of the battle of Mactan, Magellan’s ships failed to be close to shore to be able to fire and reach Lapu Lapu’s village.

*from Pigaffeta’s diary…


Magellan lost his life along with forty of his crew on April 27, 1521. After Enrique’s master, Magellan’s death, the remaining Spanish Captain refused to give Enrique his freedom. Enrique sought out the disillusioned Raja Humabon and Datu Zula, convinced the two “balimbing” about his plot to get the Spanish goods and kill the crew, which the two agreed. Enrique told the Spanish crew that Raja Humabon is giving them a farewell banquet and gift of jewels. Greedy, 29 officers came ashore for the party for food, wine and favors from Humabon’s women. Enrique’s vengeance was completed in the massacre that followed. The remaining crew, scared, confused and not knowing what to do, sail southward. Enrique was left behind by the 3 remaining ships; one of them was leaking and was destroyed.

The Victoria and Trinidad set out for Borneo. In November reached the Moluccas-Tadores. In December, they sailed southwest and separated. The Trinidad tried to recross the Pacific, but was forced back by headwinds to the Moluccas, where she was captured by a Portuguese squadron. Victoria with her valuable cargo, under a Basques captain Sebastian Del Cano, had touched Timor, and then crossed the Indian Ocean early in 1522. She rounded Cape of Good Hope in May. In a final run to Spain the Victoria anchored in Seville on September 8, 1522, after 3 years at sea. The cargo of the Victoria was sold for enough money to pay for the expedition! Del Cano was rewarded with a pension. Pigaffeta presented to Charles V his diary, or a copy of it, whereabouts is not known today. He visited Portugal, where he gave the king a manuscript, then to France and gave it to Marie Louise, regent and mother of Francis I.

ENRIQUE, Enrique de Malacca or Black Henry as he was called, was the first man to circumnavigate the world. Magellan's journal described Enrique's origin, as not a native of Malaya, but from somewhere else. According to Tome Pires's "Summa Oriental", people from Luzon and other parts of the islands, was living in the Malay Peninsula when the Portuguese conquered Malacca in 1511. Enrique was a captive warrior in Malaya and was sold as a slave, possibly a victim of the practice of slave-raiding. Was the knowledge of Enrique about the area made Magellan confident, convinced King Charles I of Spain and was sure of the expedition? Was this the reason why Magellan “knew the area” so well? Not like Columbus who sailed west to reach India failed, reached America instead, and still believing he made it to India called the Native Americans “Indians.” Like Columbus, Magellan sailed west and reached Asia, as he expected. Was it with the help of Enrique, like his people from Asia who sailed east on their simple and small boat and reached tiny islands of Micronesia and Polynesia? Was Enrique then a Pilipino? Pigaffeta, the Italian scribe of Magellan's expedition was quite explicit in his observation that Enrique spoke and understood Visayan, had familiarity of the geography, rejoined the natives after the battle of Mactan. With the Cebuanos he led a plot to kill more Spaniards, stayed in Cebu and blended with his roots. Pilipino? I really think he was.

ka tony

the 16th of March, 2007


FilMasons NSW said...

Most likely, Ka Tony; that Enrique was a native of the islands. I would not however, label him Pinoy as such. But obviously he was one of our ancestors. Even nowadays, if you go to Cebu and don't know a word of Cebuano, you can't communicate. So I must agree that Enrique, based from Pigafetta's journal; must be a local.

Congrats on your blog...

ka tony said...

Hello NSW,
Thanks for you comment & best regards to the land down under. You are right there is no such thing or country called "Philippines" back then for me to call him a "Pinoy" There are 97 dialects and 4 languages in our country. The same as the barangay or small boats that have different rules & customs.
Thanks again,
ka tony

BCS said...

Very very VERY interesting :)

ka tony said...

Yeaahhh bcs,

Very interesting indeed!!! and as usual a Pinoy was eliminated in the higher league books of world history!

Vic de Jesus said...

"First mass" was held at Limasawa?

Magellan didn't go to Limasawa. Or Butuan.

The place where Magellan’s fleet anchored and where an Easter mass was celebrated on March 31, 1521 was not Butuan. Or, Limasawa.

It was in the island-port named Mazaua. Being an island, it was surrounded by sea water.

There is an article at Wikipedia on Mazaua where all the properties of Mazaua–its location, size, kind of port, shape, the name of its king, its flora and fauna, distances from Homonhon to the port, latitude, etc. etc.–are explicitly defined. Click

A fairly comprehensive but not exhaustive historiography of the Mazaua issue is contained in an article published in the website of the Italian nuclear scientist and Italian translator of Dr. Jose Rizal, Dr. Vasco Caini, at When the page opens scroll down to the article Mazaua.

The notion the March 31, 1521 mass was held at Butuan comes from the garbled account by Giovanni Battista Ramusio. It is such a corrupted translation of the original that the account is not Antonio Pigafetta’s at all. In this translation, which Henry Harrisse says is a plagiarism by Ramusio of an anonymously published book that saw print in 1534 (no one has seen this edition) and republished in 1536 (which is extant), Ramusio removed “Mazaua” and replaced it with Butuan.

The Butuan error stayed uncorrected for 266 years from 1534 or 1536 until 1800. The error was detected in a book containing the authentic Pigafetta narration of the Magellan voyage, edited by the ex-Augustinian polymath Carlo Amoretti.

But in correcting the error, Amoretti made a colossal blunder which was only detected in 1996 by the author. Amoretti in two footnotes surmised that Mazaua (his exact names for the island was Massana and Mazzana) MAY be the “Limassava” island in the 1734 map of the Philippines by French mapmaker Jacques N. Bellin. This map was an exact copy of the most famous map ever made in the Philippines by Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde, the edition of 1734.

Amoretti, by way of offering proof to support his assertion, states Limasawa and Mazaua are in the latitude given by Pigafett, 9 degrees and 40 minutes North. This is wrong on three points: 1) Limasawa’s latitude is 9 deg. 56 min. N; 2) There is no island at Pigafetta’s latitude; 3) There are two other readings of latitude for Mazaua, 9 degrees North by The Genoese Pilot which is supported by the Portuguese squadron leader, Antonio de Brito, who embargoed all objects found at the flagship Trinidad including a number of logbooks and other papers, and 9 deg. 20 min. North by Francisco Albo, the Greek mariner who piloted the Victoria back to Spain on Sept. 6, 1522.

The notion Combes’ Limasawa was Magellan’s Mazaua where the “first mass” was held is a false notion. Combes nowhere says his Limasawa is the port where the fleet moored on March 28-April 3, 1521. Nowhere does Combes say there was any mass held in his Limasawa or anywhere in the Philippines for that matter on March 31, 1521. To verify this, go to the English translation of the 3-paragraph story by Combes of Magellan’s sojourn in Philippine waters. Click,M1. The original Spanish text may be accessed at;cc=philamer;q1=Limasaua;rgn=full%20text;idno=ahz9273.0001.001;didno=ahz9273.0001.001;view=image;seq=00000134

Where then is Magellan’s port today? The answer may be found at the ff. Wikipedia articles:

1. First mass in the Philippines –

2. Carlo Amoretti —

3. Gines de Mafra —

4. Mazaua —

5. Francisco Combes —

6. Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas —

7. Andres de San Martin —

8. Ruy Lopez de Villalobos —

No serious scholar of Magellan historiography today still thinks Limasawa is Mazaua. Only the National Historical Institute and fanatic advocates (not scholars) of Amoretti’s Limasawa hypothesis still think the southern isle is or can be Mazaua.

Ironically, some writers from Butuan think in the same way as NHI itself. For what unexplained reason, it’s not clear.

The only remaining problem is whether the suspect isle of Pinamanculan-Bancasi is really Mazaua. This issue is not historiographical. It is archaeological, i.e., there is need to come up with artefacts directly traceable to Magellan, Gines de Mafra, and a number of other recorded visits by Europeans in the 16th century.

These artefacts cannot be produced by further historiographical conversation. It is only by digging that concrete evidence may be found.


Vic de Jesus said...

Enrique de Malacca...a Cebuano?

Magellan's slave has acquired fame because of the notion he was first to round the globe.
The slave’s name is "Henrich" in Antonio Pigafetta's account (Page 89, R.A. Skelton English edition of the French Nancy-Libri-Phillipps-Beinecke-Yale codex, click,M1). It's "Henrich" as well in the extant Italian manuscript, called Ambrosiana, and found in the English translation of James Alexander Robertson, Page 183, click;cc=philamer;q1=Henrich;rgn=full%20text;idno=afk2830.0001.033;didno=AFK2830.0001.033;view=image;seq=189;page=root;size=s;frm=frameset.

He is "Henry" in the English translation by Lord Stanley of Alderley of the French extant MS 5650, click



Malaccan? Sumatran? Moluccan? What was his language?
Pigafetta states explicitly Henrich was Sumatran. The episode where Henrich was identified to be from Sumatra, that he spoke his native tongue, Malay, and was understood was at Mazaua, see Ambrosiana codex, edition of Theodore J. Cachey, Page 34,,M1. This is on Page 113 of Blair & Robertson, Vol. 33, at This is corroborated in Stanley’s English translation of the extant French MS 5650 at

Captured or bought?


Was Henrich Cebuano?






The fallacy of the hypostatized proof









What happened to Enrique after Cebu massacre?
Quirino's last stab at his Enrique brainstorm was a short piece in his book Who's Who in Philippine History. See cover,; attached is the Jpeg image of the article.

Here Quirino completes the fairy tale, gives a date of Enrique's demise, what happened to him on May 1. 1521 after the massacre at Cebu took place and the remnant of the fleet left. Enrique's year of death Quirino tells us was 1563; he was from an specific place in Cebu, Carcar; he was caught by pirates while fishing off the coast of Cebu [Quirino could not make up his mind what time of day, and if it was sunny and if he had company]. After May 1, 1521 Henrich served at the court of Humabon as Spanish and Portuguese interpreter. Enrique got married [name of wife hadn’t occurred to Quirino’s mind] and raised a family [number of children unspecified]. Enrique died in his seventies—why not 80s? Or 90s? Or better still 150?--just before Legazpi arrived in Cebu. If he had lived long enough, Quirino would probably have him meet McArthur at the beaches of Leyte, why not?
What does the record say?
Here are what contemporary accounts say what happened to Henrique:
This is also found in the Ambrosiana MS in the edition of Theodore J. Cachey Jr., click,M1.
2. Accdg. to the Genoese Pilot, Henrique “had been killed with Fernan de Magalhaes.” Click This is obviously wrong. He survived the April 27 battle of Mactan.

Wikipedia tackles Enrique

Can fairy tales ever end?
At Wikipedia, there’s one sucker born every day who defends Quirino’s tall tale. A number of sensible minds have been seduced by this enthralling tale—Laurence Bergreen, William Manchester, John Keay, Chitang Nakpil, Alejandro Roces, Perry Diaz, and countless other lesser lights. It’s time we end this fairy tale before it claims any more victims.
To the credit of the linguistics world, no expert has even bothered to comment on Quirino’s basic assertion. It’s on its face a fatuous inanity.

mcneil88888 said...

Very interesting: Who is Enrique De Mallaca? Is he really a Cebuano?... If not, why he could communicate the local from Limasawa and made him as there interpreter. They pressumed that Enrique are capable of interpreting dialects from locals because he is from Sumatra or Mallaca which in a Malay race...Which they have considered Malay as a universal tongue before...SO.. SO.. UNCONSIDERABLE! ... Considering not all Filipinos can speak or understand Cebuano dialect, you could not serve as an interpreter unless you are locals from Visayas or in Mindanao, but an interpreter locals from Sumatra and in Mallaca I don't think so...
So I must also agree that Enrique was a native from the island whos capable to speak Cebuano...Maybe he is from Junquera? Who knows?....

ka tony said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ka tony said...

Hi mcneil88888,

Well said!!!!!! There's only one source of Magellan's voyage to the Philippines & that is Antonio Pigafetta's journal & the rest are all conclusions of "historians." There's no use to challenge other people's conclusion by just reading; one or two, or three or more articles & stating their source & makes one so well verse. No matter what, all these came from Pigaffeta.

Thank you mcneil88888, a great one liner, and you said it all. My kudos!!!
ka tony