THE Negros Occidental Historical Council Inc. facilitated this article as part of its research program for the promotion of history and culture in Negros Occidental in support of the partnership between the Provincial Government and the NOHCI. In particular, this research project was drafted in response to the interest of many researchers in the province, including foreigners, who are concerned with local history which will be followed by similar publications in the coming months. Interestingly, this research topic coincides with the current worldwide effort of the Catholic Church to celebrate the iconic history of the “Five Hundred Years of Christianity” in the Philippines.
Negros Island is first mentioned in Spanish sources in connection with Miguel Lopez de Legazpi’s expedition to the Philippines in 1565. This notable event followed the historic arrival of Ferdinand Magellan to the Philippines on March 16, 1521. The account of the Spanish historian, Esteban Rodriguez, with Legazpi talks of a reconnoitering expedition which started from the southwest part of Bohol, a place Legazpi and his men inadvertently got to when a storm blew them off the Butuan coast where they hoped to get ample food provisions. From Bohol, their frigate coasted westward toward a big island called Buglas (old name of Negros Island). About half a league from the sea, the Spaniards saw many houses when they briefly landed. They intended to sail that night to another island nearer the anchored ships of Legazpi at Bohol but before they could reach that island a storm blew them off their course. The next day, they discovered that they were coasting along Buglas again! They therefore continued sailing along the coast and about the northwest direction at a distance of five leagues, they saw an island with two smaller islands nearby, one of which was Guimaras Island. They then continued along the coast of Buglas in a northeast and southwest direction.
The long 21-day voyage gave the Spaniards a good idea of the entire Negros coast and the western side of Cebu. They learned the existence of many settlements along the coast on both the eastern and western sides where they saw the black men sometimes mingled with the brown-skinned -- natives. There was an air of hostility and an obvious fear of new arrivals to their shores indicating that they must have had unpleasant experiences with other groups not only with the marauding Moro pirates.
From their statements, the natives indicated that they were familiar with the visiting Chinese and other Asian traders. After this initial visit to Negros, Legazpi decided on Cebu for his first settlement in the Philippines. At this stage, the Spanish officials distributed to the early Spanish settlers the initial encomiendas to fifteen conquistadores on September 6, 1571. There were more than 30,000 natives in these areas to be cared for and supervised by the new encomenderos in the name of the King of Spain. In our succeeding columns, we will share more historic information with this initial onset of Hispanization in the Philippines.*