NOTES FOR PHILIPPINE HISTORY
such as wine, and drink the mixture.
SEPT. 20, 1519: Ferdinand Magellan, with five
ships and a crew of 270 men, set sail from
Sanlucar de Barrameda in southern Spain, on
what would become the first circumnavigation
of the world.
FIVE SHIPS: The Trinidad (commanded by
Magellan), the San Antonio, the Victoria, the
Conception, and the Santiago.  between Spanish explorer Miguel López de
THE MAGELLAN EXPEDITION, also known as the
Magellan–Elcano expedition, was the first
voyage around the world. It was a 16th century
Spanish expedition initially led by Portuguese
explorer Ferdinand Magellan to the Moluccas,
which departed from Spain in 1519, and
completed in 1522 by Spanish navigator Juan
Sebastián Elcano, after crossing the Atlantic,
Pacific and Indian oceans, culminating in the
first circumnavigation of the world.
The expedition faced numerous hardships
including Portuguese sabotage attempts,
mutinies, starvation, scurvy, storms, and hostile
encounters with indigenous people.
 Only 30 men and one ship (the Victoria)
completed the return trip to Spain. Magellan
himself died in battle in the Philippines, and was
succeeded as captain-general by a series of
officers, with Elcano eventually leading the
Victoria's return trip.
MARCH 29, 1521 :or two days before the iconic
scene of the Easter Sunday Mass, the “Kasi-Kasi”
was conducted between the traveler Magellan
and Rajah Kolambu, king of Limasawa
KASI-KASI -blood compact signifying
brotherhood
BLOOD COMPACT - ancient ritual in the
Philippines intended to seal a friendship or
treaty, or to validate an agreement. The
contracting parties would cut their hands and
pour their blood into a cup filled with liquid,
SPANISH: Pacto de sangre
TAGALOG: Sanduguan
A FAMOUS EXAMPLE OF THE BLOOD
COMPACT:
the 1565 El Pacto de Sangre or Sandugo
Legazpi and rajah Sikatuna, the chieftain of
Bohol. An earlier blood compact, the first
between natives and Europeans took place in
1521 between navigator Ferdinand Magellan
and Rajah Humabon of Cebu.
When Magellan and his crews landed on Cebu
island, a native chief, Rajah Humabon, met and
befriended him. Rajah Humabon, his wife and
hundreds of his native warriors agreed to accept
Christianity and were consequently baptized.
Magellan planted a cross to signify this
important event about the propagation of the
Roman Catholic faith in what is now Cebu, in
central Philippines. 
THE DEATH OF MAGELLAN
APRIL 26, 1521: Rajah Zula (Chief of Mactan) ,
sent to Magellan one of his sons with two goats
as present. Zula who had promised his service to
the King of Spain was opposed by another Chief
(Lapu-lapu. Rajah CiLapu-lapu declared that
Mactan would never submit to the Spanish King.
THE BATTLE OF MACTAN
APRIL 27, 1521: explorer Ferdinand Magellan
was killed in a skirmish among rival tribes in the
Philippines.
As reported in Magellan's voyage journal
written by Pigafetta (chronicler), Magellan died
after receiving a poisoned arrow in his right leg.
Lapulapu (the leader of Mactan), resisted
conversion. In order to gain the trust of Rajah
Humabon, Magellan sailed to Mactan with a
small force on the morning of 27 April 1521.
During the resulting battle against Lapulapu's
troops, Magellan was struck by a "bamboo"
spear (bangkaw)
resembles a scimitar, only being larger. That
caused the captain to fall face downward, when
immediately they rushed upon him with iron
and bamboo spears and with their cutlasses,
until they killed our mirror, our light, our
comfort, and our true guide. -Antonio Pigafetta

BANGKAW- which are actually metal-tipped

fire-hardened rattan), and later surrounded and
finished off with other weapons

Antonio Pigafetta provided written documents

of the events culminating in Magellan's death:

When morning came forty-nine of us leaped

into the water up to our thighs, and walked
through water for more than two crossbow
flights before we could reach the shore. The
boats could not approach nearer because of
certain rocks in the water. The other eleven men
remained behind to guard the boats. When we
reached land, those men had formed in three
divisions to the number of more than one
thousand five hundred persons. When they saw
us, they charged down upon us with exceeding
loud cries....

The musketeers (Soldier armed with a musket)

and crossbowmen shot from a distance for
about a half-hour, but uselessly; for the shots
only passed through the shields.... Recognizing
the captain, so many turned upon him that they
knocked his helmet off his head twice.... An
Indian hurled a bamboo spear into the captain's
face, but the latter immediately killed him with
his lance, which he left in the Indian's body.

 Then, trying to lay hand on sword, he could

draw it out but halfway, because he had been
wounded in the arm with a bamboo spear.
When the natives saw that, they all hurled
themselves upon him. One of them wounded
him on the left leg with a large cutlass, which