The Battle of Mactan

 VS

Magellan landed on the island of Homonhon on March 17, 1521. He befriended with Raja Kulambu who ruled Limasawa that time and guided him to Cebu on April 7. Magellan told his Malay slave Enrique, who he had brought from Asia all the way through Portugal and Spain and who therefore, with Magellan, was the first man to circumnavigate the worldto assure the people of Cebu that they had come as friends, not as enemies.

 W ith

the assurance of being a friend and not as enemies, Rajah Humabon which was the Cebu chief that time,  welcomed Magellan as his friends. A blood compact  was then made between Rajah Humabon and Magellan and gifts were exchanged.

On

April 17, a mass was held on the shore of Cebu. A  cross was set up where in Cebuanos could clearly see it. On that day, 800 Cebuanos were converted into Christianity. Among these were Raja Humabon himself, who received the Christian name of Carlos in honor of the King of Spain. Humabons wife, the first Philippine queen to espouse the Catholic faith, was baptized Juana in honor of the King Carlos mother. To her, Magellan gave an image of the Holy Infant Jesus.

 W hy

did Magellan interfere in the quarrel between the two Mactan chieftains?  W as he right in doing so? Give your reasons.

y

W hy did

Magellan interfere in the quarrel of the two Mactan chieftains?

On the same day that Magellan was converting the

Cebuanos into Christianity, a quarrel between the two chiefs of the neighboring island of Mactan occurred. Rajah Sula asked for Magellans help to defeat his rival, Rajah Si Lapu Lapu, who Sula said, refused to recognize the King of  Spain as his king. Upon hearing that, Magellan with some sixty men, embarked to Mactan to punish Lapu Lapu. Rajah Humabon, offered the help of his warriors, but Magellan refused down the offer saying that the Spaniards could handle the Mactan warriors.

Magellan demanded that Lapu-lapu and his men pay him tribute to show that they recognized the sovereignty of  the Spanish king over them. Lapu-lapu refused to do so, and Magellan and some of his men then waded ashore and attacked the Mactan defenders.

 W ith bolos, arrows and spears with fire-hardened bamboo

tips, Lapu-lapu and his men fought them and wounded Magellan. The Spaniards retreated, leaving their wounded commander. Seeing this, Lapu-lapus men swarmed over Magellan and showered him with spears. Thus died Magellan, the first man to go around the world.

 W ith

his brilliant victory, Lapu-lapu rose to fame as the first champion of Filipino freedom. He was the first hero to repulse  W estern aggression against the Filipinos.

The Spaniards hurried back to Cebu after their defeat in nearby  Mactan. Having lost face, they were no longer feared or respected by the Cebuanos. In place of the fallen Magellan, the Spaniards chose two new commandersDuarte Barbosa and Juan Serrano.

 A feast was held in Cebu on May 2, 1521. Twenty-seven Spaniards, including Barbosa and Serrano, went to the feast and were massacred. The Cebuanos killed them because some of them not only robbed the Cebuanos but also raped some of the Cebu women. Those who remained in the ships sailed away when they learned about the fearful massacre.

y

W as

he right in doing so?

No. y

Give your reasons. First of all, Magellan assured the people of Cebu that he came here as a friend and not as an enemy yet he still broke what he said.

If he didnt interfere in the quarrel, Magellan wouldnt die because at the first place, Rajah Sula and Rajah Si Lapu-Lapu were the one who has the argument and he shouldnt get in it.

 W hat

was the importance of Magellans expedition?

Considering the inadequacy of marine instruments at the time, Magellan´s voyage can be considered as the greatest single trip ever undertaken. In terms of the hardships the men endured and the courage they displayed, Magellans maritime exploit has perhaps never been surpassed. The route he took to reach the Philippines was entirely new, and the  V enetian monopoly of the trade route to the east  was thus broken. Spain became the supreme power in the building of a colonial empire. Magellans voyage vastly increased the geographical knowledge of mankind and proved once and for all that the earth is oblique spheroid.

Magellan's expedition of 1519-1522 was first to sail from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean, and to cross the Pacific. It also completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth, although Magellan himself did not complete the entire voyage.

Finally, the voyage paved the way to Spanish colonization and Christianization of the Philippines. The later  voyages of Fernando de  V illalobos and Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, to a certain extent, owed their success to Magellans epochal voyage to the Far East. From the point of view of the Filipinos, Magellans expedition was significant because it paved the way for contacts between the Philippines and western civilization.