Professional Documents
Culture Documents
MODULE 3 HistoryLesseon 4
MODULE 3 HistoryLesseon 4
College Department
Module 3
Lesson 4
1. Title: Readings in Philippine History
2. Scope: “One Past But Many Histories”: Controversies and Conflicting Views in
Philippine History”
3. Overview: It have been introduced to a historian as discipline, the historical method and
content and context analysis of primary sources.
4. Objectives:
Demonstrate the ability to formulate arguments in favor or against a
particular issue using primary sources.
Source: Magellan’s First Voyage Round the World. Translated from Pigafetta and others,
and edited by Lord Stanley, of Alderly. 1874.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_First_Voyage_Round_the_World/Pigafetta%27s_Acco
unt_of_Magellan%27s_Voyage
The Kings thanked the commander and said that they would do so voluntarily. Then he asked
if the Moors or the Gentles, and what they thought they were. They replied that they di not do any
worship, but they joined their hands and looked up to the sky, calling their God Aba. When the
captain heard this, he was pleased to see the first king reached into the air and said that he wished
that the affection he felt for him could be shown.
He was asked by the interpreter why there was not enough to be eaten in this place, and the
king replied that he did not live there unless he came to hunt and see his brother and that he lived
on another island where his whole family lived.
So that captain inquired whether he had enemies who went to war against him and that if he
had any, he would go with his mean and boats to overcome them and place them under his
obedience. The King thanked him and replied that there were two islands whose enemies were the
inhabitants, but the time has not come to attack them.
Salazar(2015) disprove that the First Mass on Easter was not a Biblical Festival not
practiced in the Book of Acts since the original New Testament Church which started only on the
Day of Pentecost in 31 AD/CE. The Mass was not observed as described in Acts.
Four Sites of the First Mass
Spanish Embassy – acknowledged Limasawa as a landing site for Magellan and that it also
dispatched the Galleon of Andalusia for five days to Masian City and about 3 hours to Limasawa.
It has been recognized by the Embassy of Portugal in Metro Manila as the’ Mazzauza’,
written by Pigafetta on which Magellan and his soldiers observed the first mass in Easter or
introduced the people of the island to Christianity.
"The Treaty of Tordesillas on June 7, 1494 virtually divided the unknown world between
Spain and Portugal with the approval of the Holy See. Did you know that Magellan, in a
previous expedition, had [landed] in the Moluccas, just south of Mindanao? In those days,
Portugal had something that the Spanish didn't have: cartographic maps of the so-called
Spice Islands. Therefore, since he was a Portuguese, it is safe to assume that Magellan used
Portuguese cartographic maps during his historic expedition that brought him to Cebu on
March 16, 1521 [this is obviously a wrong date].
"With the Treaty of Tordesillas, Prof. De Sousa said the Philippine archipelago fell under
the jurisdiction of Portugal... but Magellan made his claim for the King of Spain who paid
for his expedition. Thus in 1750, Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Madrid whereby
the Portuguese exchanged the Philippines for the South Frontier of Brazil, which gave
Portugal control of Rio de la Plata. Again this is something we've never read in our history
books. History tells us that Spain sold the Philippines to the United States for a measly sum
of $20 million, but we never knew about this exchange deal between Spain and Portugal for
Brazil!
"Talking about rewriting history, we all know about the claim made by some Butuanons that
a place called Mazaua was allegedly the site of the first Holy Mass instead of Limasawa
Island off Southern Leyte. Well, Prof. De Sousa has another insight on this, which I'm sure
puts an end to this endless debate and enrich our pre-Spanish history. It turned out that the
ill-fated Magellan expedition ended Spanish exploration of these islands. But Portuguese
navigators like João de Barros, Gaspar Correia, Diogo do Couto, Francisco de Castro and
Antonio Galvão have been exploring Mindanao from 1520 to 1565 until the Spaniards
resumed its conquest of the Philippines through another expedition led by Miguel Lopez de
Legazpi.
Source: http://7th_millennium.tripod.com/7mc/Limasawa.html
2. Masao or Mazaua in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte.
The next popular one is Mazaua in Butuan City, the capital of Agusan del Norte in
Northern Mindanao. The Butuanons and their supporters advocate that Magellan and his men
landed in Mazaua for the reason that it has the anchorage, rice fields, gold, antique "balanghai"
and other artifacts which they unearthed in scattered areas in Butuan City.
In the so-called "Magellan's Harbor" in Butuan, the real harbor for the cargo and
passenger ships traveling to and departing from Butuan City is actually in Nasipit, which is 25
kilometers west of Mazaua. Mazaua or Butuan City's offshore is too shallow for ship navigation!
If Mazaua had the abundant rice fields, other food supplies, and water at the time when
Magellan and his troops landed and held the "First Mass" or observed Easter Sunday, how come
Magellan and his fellow sailors sought for a bigger island? Mazaua was and is attached to
Mindanao, the second largest island in the entire Philippines.
Since the pro-Mazaua supporters strongly claimed that Magellan and his fellow sailors held
the "Mass" or observed Easter Sunday in their "island of plenty" what happened to the abundant
foods, drinks and other supplies in Mazaua and their next neighbor, the "Kingdom of Butuan"?
Why did the rajah of "Mazzaua" and the other rajah of Butuan volunteered as pilots to Magellan
to obtain provisions in Cebu, which is much smaller than Mindanao and Leyte islands?
The pro-Butuan proponents claimed that Magellan and his troops landed in Mazaua,
Butuan City because Pigafetta wrote in his logbook about the small gift items made of gold
supposedly from Butuan which Rajah Kalambu gave to Magellan. Well then, if gold was such a
big deal in Butuan, Magellan and his sailors could have sailed easily south to Surigao, Mindanao
while they were still sailing off the eastern coast of Panaon Island. They had seen Surigao which
was and is in northeast Mindanao before nighttime because Mindanao is the second biggest island
in the entire Philippines. Surigao was known to have gold at that time and up to the present day.
Magellan and his men in 3 ships did not search for spices only. They searched for anything or
things of value to bring home and hand them over to the King of Spain!
Furthermore, the pro-Butuan supporters claimed that the antique "balanghai" that some of
them found under the ground in Masao or Mazaua, Butuan is one proof that Magellan was in
Mazaua.
One Filipino author, Vicente C. de Jesus, wrote a lengthy article entitled, "Mazaua:
Magellan's Lost Harbor." The government of Butuan City, Mindanao, commissioned him to do
extensive research on the Mazaua landfall issue. He concluded that Magellan and his troops landed
in Mazaua, Butuan City, Philippines. He wrote:
"Two events define the meaning of Mazaua for most Filipinos, the Easter mass and the
planting of a large cross atop the tallest hill. The Philippines is an isolated rock of
Christianity in a huge ocean lashed by the powerful waves of Islam, Buddhism, Hindu and
other beliefs. Of its 76 million people 83% are Catholics, 9% Protestants. Mazaua, therefore,
is an icon to a deeply religious people, an event of overarching importance. This aspect of a
signal event in world geography and Renaissance navigation has unfortunately served to
distort the way the event is viewed."
"An icon to a deeply religious people, an event of overarching importance" to whom? It may
be an icon and very important event to the professed "Christians" and Holy Bible illiterates, but
to those who practice Biblical Christianity as in the New Testament times, the Mass on Easter is
meaningless and worthless! Most Filipinos have all the time in the world to read the newspapers,
tabloids, the political, sports and entertainment publications, the comics, their Facebook, and e-
mail accounts but not a few minutes to read and study intensively the Holy Bible.
Before Magellan and his explorers crosses the Pacific Ocean from South America, the so-
called experts on Mazaua Butuan denied or ignored the “unwritten history” of the Portuguese
colonization of Mindanao. They ignired or pretended that they were not aware that Portuguese
sailors like Joo de Barros, Gaspar Correia, Diogo de Couto, Francisco de Castro and Antonip
Galvao were exploring Mindanao from 1520 to 1565. The Portuguese were at least one year ahead
of the expedition to the Philippines.
The Roman Catholic Portuguese sailors were more likely to have held the First Mass’ in
the South of the Philippines before Magellan’s explorers landed in March 1521. Thus, the
proponents of the pro-Butuan were entitled to assume, but not historically documented, the first
mass’ in Mindanao before Portugal had exchanged the entire Philippines with Spain for Brazils.
Butuan was called Butan or Butuao on a Portuguese map from about 1535 to 1538. Spain didn’t
even know that there was Butuan.
Thus, carrying the flag of Spain and being financed by the Spanish King Charles V,
Magellan and his fellow explorers did not sail accidentally or intentionally south to Mazaua,
Butuan in Mindanao. The Portuguese navigators who sailed from Portugal down to South Africa,
then eastward through the Indian Ocean to Mindanao via Indonesia had occupied the big Mindanao
Island one year before Magellan and his troops landed in Limasawa Island, Southern Leyte. The
natives of Mazaua, Butuan mistook the Portuguese explorers from Portugal as that of Magellan's
explorers from Spain.
"The Portuguese had known where Magellan's fleet was bound before it even sailed;
warships would surely be waiting to stop it from reaching the Moluccas. Even if Magellan found
the Moluccas, loaded his ships with precious spices and then got away, most ports and trading
stations on the route back to Spain would be Portuguese outposts and closed to him." Since some
Portuguese captains and navigators and their crew had explored and colonized Mindanao Island,
they would have arrested Magellan and his men if they landed in Mazaua, Butuan which was a
Portuguese outpost and trading station in Mindanao. The Portuguese authorities arrested and jailed
the entire 54 crew members of Trinidad, Magellan's flagship after the ship was repaired and loaded
with spices on its EASTWARD voyage from the Spice Islands to the planned Panama in Central
America, where they could transship the spices to another ship bound for Spain.
3. Homonhon Island, Easter Samar
Some people in Homonhon Island and Samar also claimed that Magellan and his fellow
sailors must have some kind of religious festivity shortly after they landed on the island. Magellan's
troops had a terrible experience after they landed in Guam, which they called Las Islas de los
Ladrones (the island of thieves). So, according to the groups supporting the "First Mass" in
Homonhon, Magellan and his sailors had a mass in the island to thank God for their safe trip from
Guam and the vast Pacific Ocean:
"Pigafetta did not exactly say that it was their first mass, he only reported that a mass was
celebrated on Easter Sunday [in Mazzaua Island]. Atty. Mendiola concludes in his paper,
'that the mass on Homonhon island on the 19th day of March 1521, was the first one
celebrated in the Philippines, not one at Limasawa or Mazaua on the 31st of that month.
Any passage or statement to the contrary in our history books would be unsustainable under
present historiography.'
"Notwithstanding these debates when the first mass was celebrated, the fact remains that it
was in Homonhon that Magellan first landed. And today, we commemorate that event and
celebrate its greater significance. The historian Agoncillo writes that it was through this trip
that the Europeans first learned of the existence of the Philippines. It also proved that the
earth was round; it established the vastness of the Pacific Ocean; it proved that the East
Indies could be reached by crossing the Pacific and finally, it showed that the Americas was
really a land mass entirely separate from Asia.
"While Magellan discovered the existence of the Philippines, for me, the greater significance
of Magellan's arrival in Homonhon, was it showed the world, that we in Samar, already had
a society, a culture of our own. Pigafetta wrote that 'their seignior was an old man who was
painted. He wore two gold earrings in his ears and the others many gold armlets on their
arms and kerchiefs about their heads... They have very black hair that falls to the waist and
use daggers, knives, and spears ornamented with gold, large shields, fascines, javelins and
fishing nets that resemble rizali and their boats are like ours.'
"Later on, Jesuit missionaries who came and settled our island would document this culture.
Our society then was structured according to social classes which dictated not only the
behavior of men and women but also the manner of dressing from head to toe, from cradle
to their graves."
Source: http://7th_millennium.tripod.com/7mc/Limasawa.html
"It was recorded that when he was nearing the shores of Mindanao, Magellan saw lights of
a settlement which he avoided and sailed farther north [actually south of Panaon island] and
anchored near an island named Mazzava, now mark on maps as Mahaba Island, located at latitude
nine and two thirds degrees.
"Magellan during that time was using an astrolabe to determine his latitude location and
the accuracy of this instrument was plus or minus one degree. They must have landed and then
check their latitude location which was why they read to one-third of a degree, which they could
not have done [so] on a moving ship. There was no way during that time to determine [the]
longitude as the chronometer which could measure [the] longitude was only invented by James
Harrison, an Englishman, in 1740.
"Mazzava Island appears on present detailed maps of the area to be Mahaba Island in the
Municipality of Placer, Surigao del Norte. Magellan could have mistaken Mahaba Island, a small
island to be part of Masepilid Island because it is almost touching this bigger island, and at low
tide, it could easily be mistaken to be connected to the bigger island at the northern tip. This could
be the reason that the island where they landed was described as shaped like a stingray, which
Masepilid is, and about 10 x 5 miles in area.
"If present maps (1: 50,000 sheet Taganan No.) will be examined today, it will be noted
that Mahaba Island is very close to the island of Masepilid and the flotilla of Magellan most
probably anchored between these two islands. It will be noted also that Masepilid is shaped like a
stingray as described by Pigafetta."
Source: http://7th_millennium.tripod.com/7mc/Limasawa.html
When in Bolinao, Pangasinan, there is a small monument that marks the site of the first
Christmas ever held in the Philippines. A Franciscan friar called Odoric from Pordenone, Italy is
said to have landed on the shore of Pangasian, two centuries, before Magellan wandered through
the Philippine archipelago seeking shelter from a stormy sea.
Taking a black crucifix onto the beach, he met “hostile” indigenous people who were soon
pacified by his courage and faith. After showing the local people a few photos of Jesus, Joseph
and Mary, the friar and his companions built a cross and planted a Christmas tree. The first
Christmas was held in the Philippines, and several Pangasinan were baptized later in the
Philippines. It took place on December 25, 1324.
Or perhaps that was in 1200, or it was between 1280 and 1329 on a particular Christmas
day. As some history buffs could say, the facts are “open for interpretation”. Frior Odoric was a
real person, but he probably did not ever visit the Philippines, held baptism and a mass in a
Pangasinan.
And the Christmas tree? Probably on his sea voyage the Italian friar didn’t carry a pine tree
with him. Tree decoration was at that time also considered a pagan habit, and Christians did not
become fashionable until the 1500s in Germany and the rest of Europe until the mid-to late 1800s.
Even today, trees decorating in the Odoric country of Italy, where births are more popular, is not
a significant part of Christmas celebrations.
Who was Odoric?
Biographers of the church have reported that Odoric Mattiussi of Pordenone was born in
1286 and entered the Order of Franciscans in Udine around 1300.
Odoric set sail to Asia in 1318. He spent three years in Turkey, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, Java,
Sumatra, Vietnam, Borneo and China (some historians like William H. Scoot doubted that he was
a priest). Then he came back to Italy via an overland route through Mongolia and Tibet.
When Odoric arrived back home in 1330, he told a friar name William of Solagna in Padua
the story of his 12 years of adventure, but he did nothing about a Christmas Mass with a Christmass
tree on all his travels.
Yule however pointed out that these features can be described by many places in the Malaysian
archipelago.
Thalamasyn, Thalamasim, Talamasin, Thamalsi, Talamosa, Malamasin and Malamasmi
have been described in a wide variety of manuscripts covering the story. For Talaga Masin or Salt
Lake, Thala Masim is Malay or Javanese. William H. Scott’s geographical view of this matter:
“It is possible that these observations were made in the Philippines – but not likely. The west
coast of Borneo is on the direct route between Java and Champa, and it would seem strange,
moreover, that such long voyage as the direct Java-Philippines or Philippine Champa
passages should bypass the standard trading ports mentioned in Chinese accounts of the
period. Moreover, none of these details are mentioned in the longer Philippine description
by Friar Odorics younger contemporary, Wang Tayuan. But if there is a possibility that
Friar Odoric set foot on Philippine soil, there is centuries before Magellan’s arrival-there
is no reason even to think that he was a priest.”
Source: Sir Henry Yule (ed.) Cathy and the way Thither: Being a Collection of Medieval Notices
of China, Issues 36.vPp. 84-86.
Thalamasin, somewhere between Java and Champa, now part of Vietnam, is in the
narrative places of Odoric, and he said that he was near the “south sea.” Bolinao, however, is a 16-
degree point north of the equator and is a significant detour from the direct route from both.
The best guess of Henry Yule was that Odoric probably referred to a place on the south
coast of Borneo known by now as Banjarmasin, which means “salt garden.”
Yule also referred to the site on the east coast of Borneo, which was known as Biru (noe
Berau), which was listed in atlases called Talisian and Panteh.
Unfortunately, the pre-colonial Philippines have no written history; in fact, nearly no
written documents at all. Foreign accounts are outlined and almost never mention places with
recognizable names in the Philippines. For historians and Filipino nationalists, this was frustrating
and has brought some of them to cross the line between history and myth. Whenever there is no
information, some people always want information gaps to make them feel important, regardless
of how desperately far-reaching this information is. Scientists and historians, however, are often
depicted as villains, who do legitimate research that can debunk these myths. The location of the
mass until now has been contentious as many, undeniable and compelling reasons exists for
believing that the first mass was highly possible in a single area in many locations.
Spanish Era
May 3, 1493 - Pope Alexander VI, attempting to settle the rivalry, issued a papal bull known as
the Inter caetera.
The Pope decreed that the Spanish zone of exploration should be west of the imaginary line drawn
north to south, 100 leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands.
All land ease of the demarcation line should belong to Portugal
The demarcation line – to identify Spanish and Portuguese spheres of exploration and conquest
1505- Ferdinand Magellan, a member of the nobility of Portugal sailed with a fleet carrying the
first Portuguese viceroy to the East Indies in 1506 and from there, was sent to Mallaca in the Malay
Peninsula and the spice markets of Ambon and Banda in Western Indonesia.
He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1510. He returned to Portugal in 1512. During those
days, all explorations were done by latitude sailing by means of an astrolabe.
Through observing wind directions and ocean tides, Magellan later conceived the idea of a passage
to the west or around South America to reach the Moluccas or Spice Islands (islands of present-
day Indonesia). While finding the chance to present his plan to King Manuel of Portugal, he fought
against the Moors in Morocco in 1513. There he received his wounds that left him lame for life.
After his return to Portugal, Magellan proposed to the king his plan to travel a westward route to
the Moluccas.
B. Matching Type.
(Please answer this to Google Form from Google Classroom or LMS. Wait for the my
instructions)
Grading System
Output =50%
Mid-Term/Final Examination =25%
Quizzes =15%
Attendance =10%
100%
L.P. FLORITA
College Instructor