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Thursday, April 9, 2015

A Tale of Two Explorers: Magellan and Serrano

Portrait of Magellan. None exists for Serrano, reflecting their respective place in history.
Rarely in history do we find two friends whose interlinked lives would dramatically affect contemporary history. This is the tale of two Portuguese explorers, Fernão de Magalhães (Magellan) and Francisco Serrão (Serrano), who would both leave lasting imprints on Philippine history. In commemoration of their 495th death anniversary this year, we look back on their respective incredible life journeys. Read More ...
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4 comments:

  1. Damsel GoddessNovember 6, 2015 at 9:09 PM

    very Interesting story .about Magellan and Serrano ....

    Did you visit Tlaxcala?..IT has a mural..and Philippines was in the map ..

    You should try to pass by Portugal when you will be in Spain again ...it has Moorish influence too...try to visit Sintra

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    1. JJNovember 7, 2015 at 6:50 AM

      Yup, visited Tlaxcala. Pretty colonial town close to Popocatepetl Volcano. I've seen the map. Very fitting in the sense that the first Mexicans (native ones) who set foot in the Philippines during 1565 Legazpi Expedition were Tlaxcalans.

      Would love to visit Portugal too. Hopefully soon.

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  2. coronadoNovember 22, 2015 at 6:06 AM

    It's interesting to mention too the connection between the Portuguese and the Tagalogs before Magellan's arrival in Homonhon in 1521. After the conquest of Malacca, the Portuguese had its first contacts with those people. They even named on of them, called Regimo, as the police magistrate of the place. Consequently, the Portuguese visited the Luzon island and had mapped it and the archipelago, as its registered in Tome Pires's book Suma Oriental. It's interesting that, at that time, the Portuguese named the island as Luções (or Luçonia), based on its previous name, hence the modern name version of the island, Luzon. And not only this: they named the Tagalogs as Luções too. Last, but not least, the Portuguese tried to claim the Philippine islands right after the arrival from the adelantado Legazpi, with the command from Gonçalo de Pereira, whose the adelantado had a great respect for him. But these plans were sacked off after the 1580 crisis and the subsequently beginning of the Philippine Dynasty in Portugal.

    Sometimes I wonder what would be the Philippines under the Portuguese rule... but that it's a big "if". Anyway, congratulations for this very well written article, it's nice to see that some of you has interest to look these well forgotten parts from the Filipino history (and I am suspect to say something, being a part-Portuguese, so... hehe).

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    1. JJNovember 27, 2015 at 8:42 PM

      Pereira blockaded Legazpi's men for a year in Cebu. Had Legazpi surrendered his forces to the Portuguese, the islands' history would have been different.

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