ScSc12n – Readings in Philippine History

Department of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences

Visayas State University

Lesson 2.2: Historical Source during the

Early Contacts with Colonizers

Lesson Summary
This lesson deals with early colonial contacts in the Philippines. As we
have discussed earlier, there are only limited accounts written detailing the pre-
colonial Philippines. One of the most reliable and comprehensive primary
sources regarding the pre-colonial Philippines and the first circumnavigation of
the world is Antonio Pigafetta’s “Voyage Round the World”. Here, we will
attempt to analyze Pigafetta’s account translated by Lord Stanley of Alderley
in understanding the ancient Philippines.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, you are expected to:
1. Name and familiarize facts from the Magellan voyage which tells
about the Filipino culture of the time
2. Dissect and analyze primary source information about the initial
contacts between the Spaniards and the natives.

Motivation Questions
Have you heard the song “Magellan” by Yoyoy Villame?
Look at the whole lyrics of the song
(from: https://genius.com/Yoyoy-villame-magellan-lyrics):

Magellan
By: Yoyoy Villame
On March 16, 1521
When Philippines was discovered by Magellan
They were sailing day and night, across the big ocean
Until they saw a small Limasawa island
Magellan landed in Limasawa at noon
The people met him very welcome on the shore
They did not understand the speaking they have done
Because Kastila gid at Waray-Waray man
When Magellan landed in Cebu City
Rajah Humabon met him, they were very happy
 ScSc12n – Readings in Philippine History
Department of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences
Visayas State University

All people were baptized and built the church of Christ

And that's the beginning of our Catholic life
When Magellan visited in Mactan
To Christianize them everyone
But Lapu-Lapu met him on the shore
And drive Magellan to go back home
Then Magellan got so mad
Ordered his men to camouflage
"Mactan island, we could not grab
'Cause Lapu-Lapu is very hard"
Then the battle began at dawn
Bolos and spears versus guns and cannons
When Magellan was hit on his neck
He stumbled down and cried and cried
Oh, mother, mother, I am sick
Call the doctor very quick
Doctor, doctor, shall I die?
Tell my mama, do not cry
Tell my mama, do not cry
Tell my mama, do not cry
That's the end of Magellan
In the island of Mactan long time ago
Ladies and gentlemen

Have you ever wondered how accurately the song recounts the story of the
so-called “discovery” of the Philippines?
How well do you know the “discovery” of the Philippines?

Discussion
In this particular lesson, you will be exposed to the chronicles of the
Magellan voyage in 1519 by Antonio Pigafetta. Pigafetta is a famous Italian
chronicler and traveler who joined Magellan’s expedition to look for an
alternative route going to the Moluccas. He went to Spain in 1519 after learning
the announcement of Magellan’s voyage. Throughout the voyage, he had lost
a day because of taking down notes. Based on his journal, he was wounded at
the battle of Matan (Mactan, Philippines) in which Magellan died. Together with
Juan Sebastian del Cano (Elcano), he was one of the 18 survivors out of 237
men in all of their five ships. Their journey began on August 10, 1519, and
finished on September 8, 1522
After their voyage, he traveled by land from France to return to Italy in
1523. He initially wrote their trip in the Italian language with the title, “Relazioni
in lathe to the primo viggio di circumnavigazione. Notizia del Mondo Nuovo with
 ScSc12n – Readings in Philippine History
Department of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences
Visayas State University

figure you dei paesi scoperti”, published posthumously in 1536. It includes

descriptions of the different kinds of animals, including sharks, storms, giants,
and others. He documented rich ethnographic details on the customs of early
tribes in South American and Southeast Asian. His book instantly became the
reference of prominent literary people in the West like William Shakespeare,
Michel de Montaigne, and Giambattista Vico. They consulted Pigafetta’s work
in interpreting the “New World.”
Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese, led the Spanish armada de Molucca
in 1519. He was deemed to be an exceptional navigator and seaman; thanks to
Portugal’s maritime heritage. Nevertheless, he surpassed those earlier
Portuguese mariners by venturing the unchartered seas by sailing westwards
to Asia instead of eastwards. In other words, he threw himself into an epic feat
of exploration as he crossed the world’s largest ocean and sailed over vast
distances overcoming some of the stormiest seas. His voyage from Spain to
the Philippines was extraordinary considering the inaccurate
geographical/cartographical data and the ancient navigation technology that
existed in 1519 (Field, 2006).
According to Field (2006), Magellan believed that the Moluccas belongs
to Spain’s jurisdiction within the global sphere as dictated by the Treaty of
Tordesillas in 1494. The treaty, decreed by Pope Alexander VI, basically divided
the world in half between the Spanish in the west and the Portuguese in the
east. So, Magellan planned to discover an alternate path to the Moluccas. He
used the world map made by Pierre Regnel and letters from his friend Francisco
Serrao in the Moluccas in convincing the king of Spain. Because controlling the
Spice trade means power, the King agreed to fund the expedition with his strict
directive to sail directly to the Moluccas.
Note: Many names of people
and places in these historical
Entry to the Archipelago of San Lazaro
document might have small
The Spanish Armada de Molucca spelling differences in other
was composed of 5 ships, namely Trinidad, texts. (e.g. Calambo is also
Santiago, San Antonio, Concepcion, and spelled Colambo, Kolambo;
Victoria. The Captain-General, Ferdinand Zzubu spelled as Zubu;
Magellan, was on board in Trinidad, the Mazzava is Mazava, Masawa,
largest ship. They departed from Seville in Mazaua)
1519 in search of a maritime path—from
Spain around the Americas (crossing the strait) to Asia across the Pacific
Ocean (Mar Pacifico).
They spent 3 months and 20 days to cross the pacific. May lives were
lost and most of them suffered from scurvy. When they reached the Pacific,
there were only three ships from the fleet that had survived (Trinidad, Victori,
and Conception). Finally, their fleet reached what he called the Ladrone Islands
or Islands of the Thieves on March 6, 1519. Pigafetta recounted:
“These people have no arms, but use sticks, which have a
fishbone at the end. They are poor, but ingenious, and great thieves, and
for the sake of that we call these three islands of the Ladrone Islands.”
 ScSc12n – Readings in Philippine History
Department of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences
Visayas State University

The Ladrone Islands is presently called as the Mariana Islands.

Pigafetta reported that after 10 days of staying there, they have sighted Zamal
(Samar) island and arrived specifically on the 16th of March, 1521 (Saturday).
Because of their bad experience in the Ladrone Islands, Magellan
learned the hard way by landing in another uninhabited island for security
where they could rest for a few days and replenish. On March 18, 9 men came
to them through a boat and showed joy and eagerness in seeing them.
Magellan realized that the men were reasonable and welcomed them with food,
drinks, and gifts. Pigafetta narrated:
“He [Magellan] gave them some red caps, looking glasses,
combs, bells, ivory, and other things. When these people saw the
politeness of the captain, they presented some fish, and a vessel of
palm wine, which they call in their language Uraca; figs more than a foot
long, and others smaller and of a better savor, and two cochos. At that
time they had nothing to give him, and they made signs to us with their
hands that in four days they would bring us Umai, which is rice, cocos,
and many other victuals.”
The fleet was on an island called Humunu Island (Homonhon) and
found what they called the “Watering Place of Good Signs” for this is the place
that they found two springs of very freshwater and the first signs of gold in the
island. Then they named the island together with a nearby island as the
Archipelago of St. Lazarus because they stayed there on the day and feast of
St. Lazarus.
When they departed, they took the course between west and southwest
and passed four small islands (presently in Southern Leyte), namely, Cenalo
(Silago), Huinanghar (Hinunanghan), Ibusson, and Abarien. On March 28, 1521,
they saw a small boat called Boloto with 8 men inside. Then a slave of the
captain's, who was from Sumatra, otherwise named Taprobana, (H)Enrique of
Malacca or Moluccas, spoke from afar to these people, who understood their
dialect. According to Pigafetta:
“…and came near to the side of the ship, but they withdrew
immediately, and would not enter the ship from fear of us. So the
captain seeing that they would not trust to us showed them a red cap,
and other things, which he had tied and placed on a little plank, and the
people in the boat took them immediately and joyously, and then
returned to advise their king.”

Early Christianity

The King/chief became closely bonded with Magellan and both of them
exchanged gifts to another. The captain told the king, through the Enrique, that
he wished to be bonded with him through cassi cassi/kasi-kasi (friendship
ritual of blood compact/sanduguan). A few days after, Magellan was
introduced to the king’s brother who was also a king on another island with
mines of gold. Gold was abundant that parts of the ship and the house of the
king were made of gold. This king was named Raia Calambu (Painted king),
 ScSc12n – Readings in Philippine History
Department of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences
Visayas State University

King of Zuluan and Calagan (Now Butuan and Caraga), and the other Raia
Siani/Siaui. They remained on the island named Mazzaua for a week.
On March 31, (Easter Sunday), Magellan ordered the priest, Fr. Pedro
de Valderama, to preside a mass by the shore. The king heard about this plan
and sent two dead pigs and attended the mass with the other king:
“When the offertory of the mass came, the two kings went to
kiss the cross like us, but they offered nothing, and at the elevation of
the body of our Lord they were kneeling like us, and adored our Lord
with joined hands… After mass had been said each one did the duty of a
Christian, receiving our Lord.”
This was the first mass in the Philippines. They went to the highest
mountain and planted the cross; famed nowadays as Magellan’s cross. The
same cross which Magellan explained to the kings as a sign of his emperor
who ordered him to plant it in the places where he would reach. The cross is
also a sign that when Spaniards saw this, they would know that they had been
on this island and would not cause them troubles.
So Magellan asked the Kings where the busiest port for provisions is.
They suggested Ceylon (Southern Leyte), Zzubu (Cebu), and Calagan, but
Zzubu was the largest and of the most traffic. Then the kings offered to give
him pilots to go to those ports, for which he thanked them, and deliberated to
go there, for his ill-fortune would have it so. On April 7, Magellan and his men
reached the port of Zzubu (Cebu) with the help of Raia Calambu. The Raia
offered to pilot them in going to the island. The king of Cebu demanded that
they pay tribute as it was customary but Magellan refused. The next day,
Magellan’s men and the king of Cebu (Humabon), together with other principal
men of Cebu, met and agreed to have peace.
“When we came to the town we found the King of Zzubu at his
palace, sitting on the ground on a mat made of palm, with many people
about him. He was quite naked, except that he had a cloth around his
middle, and a loose wrapper around his head, worked with silk by the
needle. He had a very heavy chain around his neck, and two gold rings
hung in his ears with precious stones. He was a small and fat man, and
his face was painted with fire in different ways. He was eating on the
ground on another palm mat, and was then eating tortoise eggs in two
china dishes, and he had four vessels full of palm wine, which he drank
with a cane pipe.”
On April 14, 1521, Sunday, Magellan spoke to the king and encouraged
him to be a good Christian by burning all of the idols and worship the cross
instead. The king of Cebu was baptized with a Christian name Don Charles;
prince as Don Fernand, after the brother of the emperor of Spain; wife of the
prince, had the name of Catherine; the Queen of Mazzava Isabella. Days after,
all of the island’s inhabitants were baptized naming as what Magellan fancied.
When the queen came to the mass one day, Magellan gave her an image of the
infant Jesus made by Pigafetta.
 ScSc12n – Readings in Philippine History
Department of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences
Visayas State University

Battle of Mactan

Afterward, a principal man

named Zula from the island of Matan
(Mactan) sent his son to see Magellan
on April 26. He asked him for a boat
full of men for him to fight the chief
named Cilapulapu (Lapulapu) who
would in any way deny the King of
Spain. Pigafetta warned the captain
not to involve with local politics and
hostilities in Mactan. However,
Magellan offered 3 boats and went to
fight thereby contravening the order of
the King Charles V of Spain. On 27
April 1521, a total of 60 men went to
Mactan. Magellan tried to negotiate
with the people in Mactan before
attacking. On the other hand: Figure 1 Statue of Lapu-lapu (Cilapulapu) in
“The islanders were not Mactan island, Cebu.
terrified, they replied that if we
had lances, so also had they,
although only of reeds, and
wood hardened with fire. They asked however that we should not attack
them by night, but wait for daylight, because they were expecting
reinforcements, and would be in greater number. This they said with
cunning, to excite us to attack them by night, supposing that we were
ready; but they wished this because they had dug ditches between their
houses and the beach, and they hoped that we should fall into them.”
It seemed that Lapulapu's men were ready for battle. The king of Cebu
offered help but Magellan refused so they could see how they fight. Only 49
fought and 11 remained in the balangai (balanghay). According to Pigafetta,
there were an estimated 1500 inhabitants of Mactan ready to fight against the
Spaniards. Usually, an eyewitness in warfare exaggerates the strength of their
enemies, but one thing is for sure, Magellan’s men were outnumbered.
Pigaffetta romanticized some parts of the battle, especially Magellan’s death.
He was pierced with a poison arrow in his right leg when he ordered the retreat.
“Whilst the Indians were thus overpowering him, several times
he turned round towards us to see if we were all in safety, as though his
obstinate fight had no other object than to give an opportunity for the
retreat of his men.”
King Humabon offered the people of Mactan gifts of any value and
amount in exchange for Magellan’s body. On the other hand, Lapulapu refused
and wanted to keep Magellan’s body as a sign of their victory. The Spaniards
would later make enemies with the Cebuanos. The Cebuanos would drive the
Spaniards off of the islands even burning one of their ships (Conception).
Finally, only Victoria piloted by Elcano was able to return to Spain on September
6, 1522.
 ScSc12n – Readings in Philippine History
Department of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences
Visayas State University

Figure 2 Places in the Visayas that Magellan was able to visit.

Though Magellan had died, his voyage paved way for a series of more
expeditions. Until in 1565, Spain has made its permanent settlement in Cebu
through Miguel Lopez de Legazpi.