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Saturday, April 23, 2005
Velez: Magellan
By Jun Velez
Tracks
My friend Chad (not his real name) didn’t quite imagine he would one day travel and see the whole world. Born to poor parents who were farmers tilling a portion of the vast Velez-Paulin landholdings in Minglanilla, he went to school barefoot. His teachers sensing his sincerity and determination encouraged him to keep on with his studies.
Over bottles of Fundador and other imported wine, he and his fellow seamen shared with me their lives and adventures traversing the world’s oceans. It’s not as colorful and enviable always as others often picture the lives of OFWs to be. As a matter of fact, they all dream of being able to settle in the country one day, not having to work abroad and be separated from their loved ones.
Our kids were classmates at a school in the south where mostly children of OFWs went to study. And just as our kids bonded, so did we.
What struck me most during our conversations was Chad’s tale of fascination with Magellan’s arrival in Cebu. He said, when he was a kid helping his father till the land, he would often think of Magellan’s journey across the oceans and reaching Cebu in 1521. As a young boy, he fancied being able to do the same when he grew up. He, like Magellan, wanted to circumnavigate the world.
There is much interest in Magellan’s supposed first circumnavigation of the world as evidenced by the numerous websites that touch on the matter.
Naturally, Cebu and the two protagonists, Lapu-Lapu and Humabon, figure prominently in these websites. But it is Magellan who is taking centerstage.
Magellan seems to have captured the imagination of people around the world for his dogged, brave, almost impossible quest for an alternative route to the spices of India.
Before his discovery of the narrow straits at the tip of South America, that now bears his name, and his voyage across the Pacific ocean, the first by any European navigator, Vasco da Gama discovered for Portugal the route to India via the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa, thereby winning the race to a sea route instead of the land trip from India across Asia and into Europe of the much needed and valued spices of the East.
Magellan was a Portuguese who presented himself before the Spanish crown for a chance to lead a voyage across the Atlantic and finding an altenative route to the Indies. He was given less than remarkable ships and men and just enough provisions that he had to sneak into Portuguese territory somewhere in what is now Brazil to get some supplies.
In Cebu, Magellan met his tragic end, denying him the honor and reward of his exploits. His death put the island (more particularly, Mactan) quite unexpectedly in European maps.
Pigafetta’s account of the battle of Mactan talked of the captain, Magellan, stuck in the mud. Before the battle commenced, they made the fatal error of getting off their galleon and wading through the treacherous, swampy shores of Mactan. (Pigafetta, may be the first travel writer in history as he paid for the chance to ride with Magellan in his search for a route to the valued spices of Asia just to be able to write about his travels.)
He observed that Magellan’s galleon couldn’t come nearer the shores of Mactan as the water was shallow and had to anchor farther from where Lapu-Lapu’s forces were gathered. The Mactan warriors were not also within reach of the Spanish cannons, their most reliable, deadly weapon thereby forcing Magellan to get off his galleon and take that stupid walk in the swampy shores of Punta Engaño.
In the first place, the battle was unnecessary as he was already welcomed by the native leader of Cebu, Humabon. I can’t say if Humabon was a cool, crafty, visionary or a cowardly sell-out but he did make it easy for Spain to make its first colony in the Indies and a vital post in the protection of its interest in this side of the world. Talk of geopolitics. Was that good for Cebu?
It’s hard to tell what could have happened if Humabon had driven the Spaniards away.
Pigafetta recounted that when Magellan sensed defeat, he ordered his men to retreat. Arrows rained on his warriors ironically after he lost the advantage of his cannons. He obviously underestimated the locals who could be defiant, proud and brave as opposed to his amiable newly-found comrade Humabon.
Lapu-Lapu knew hand to hand combat with the big, tall white men was not necessary as they made good target practice. When Magellan, clad in armor, so big and heavy, ordered a retreat, an arrow hit him in the leg.
Lapu-Lapu’s warriors then lunged at the helpless Spaniards, probably cutting them to pieces. And who knows maybe some of his vital parts may have served as amulet and prize catch for the warrior tribe of Mactan.
Some five centuries later, Magellan's exploits still inspire some people. Like my friend Chad whose dreams of seeing the world traversing the vast oceans, probably began with a classroom discussion in Grade 3 of how Cebu came to be “discovered” by a Portuguese sailor in the service of the Spanish crown.
The world has, indeed, become smaller with the Internet, cable tv and cellular phones. But it was Magellan who proved first that it was round.
(April 23, 2005 issue)
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