The Magellan Expedition

Although they were not the first

Europeans in the Philippines, the first
well documented arrival of western
Europeans in the archipelago was the
Spanish expedition led by Poruguese
Ferdinand Magellan, which first
sighted the mountains of Samar at
dawn on March 17, 1521, making
landfall the following day at the small,
uninhabited island of Homonhon at
the mouth of Leyte Gulf. On Easter
Sunday, March 31, 1521, at Masao,
Butuan, (now in Agusan Del Norte),
he solemnly planted a cross on the
summit of a hill overlooking the sea
and claimed possession of the islands
he had seen for Spain, naming them
Archipelago of Saint Lazarus.
Magellan
sought
friendship
among the natives beginning with
Datu Zula, the chieftain of Sugbu
(now Cebu), and too special pride in
converting them to Catholicism. At
dawn of April 27, 1521, Magellan
invaded Mactan Island with 60
armed men and 1 000 Cebuano
warriors. Lapu-Lapu had an army of 1
500 on land. Magellan seriously
underestimated the Lapu-Lapu and his
men,
and
grossly
outnumbered,
Magellan and 14 of his soldiers were
killed. Magellans remaining men was
forced to leave Cebu aboard their
remaning ships Trinindad and
Victoria. From there, the expedition
split into two groups Trinindad tried
to sail eastward across the Pacific
Ocean, while Victoria continued sailing
westward and managed to return to
Spain in 1522.

The Legazpi Expedition

Since none of the expedition
after
Magellan
from
Loaisa
to
Villalobos had succeeded in taking
over the Philippines, King Charles I
stopped sending colonizers to the
Islands. However, when Philip II
succeeded his father to the throne in
1556, he instructed Luis de Velasco,
the viceroy of Mexico, to prepare a
new expedition to be headed by
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi.
On February 13, 1565, Legazpi's
expedition landed in Cebu Island.
After a short struggle with the natives,
he proceeded to Leyte, then to
Camiguin and to Bohol. There
Legaspi made a blood compact with
the chieftain, Datu Sikatuna as a
sign of friendship. Legaspi was able to
obtain spices and gold in Bohol due to
his friendship with Sikatuna. On April
27, 1565, Legaspi returned to Cebu;
destroyed the town of Raja Tupas and
establish a settlement. On orders of
the King Philip II, 2,100 men arrived
from Mexico. They built the port of
Fuerza de San Pedro which became
the Spanish trading outpost and
stronghold for the region.
Hearing of the riches of Manila,
an expedition of 300 men headed by
Martin de Goiti left Cebu for Manila.
They found the islands of Panay and
Mindoro. Goiti arrived in Manila on
May 8, 1570. On 1571, Filipinos were
deafeated and
Legazpi took over
Manila. On June 24, 1571, Legazpi
made Manila the Capital of the
Archipelago. On August 20, 1572,
Salcedo returned to Manila and
tragedy greeted him, he was informed

that his grandfather, Miguel Lopez de

Legazpi died.