WALA LANG
Meals with patis and bagoong, with dishes cooked with tanglad and kamias have always been enough to make us slurp and burp. Europeans are different. Whereas we have kesong puti, they have hundreds of cheese varieties, some of which stink. They also like herbs, with capers, basil, oregano, sage, thyme, and lots more. It was extreme in the 1400s and 1500s when they discovered spices from the exotic east, that cinnamon, cloves, etc. not only enhanced taste but also delayed food spoilage.
Fabulous fortunes were made in the spice trade, the hottest items being cloves, nutmeg, and mace that grew in the Moluccas or Spice Islands. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach the Moluccas by sea, around the Cape of Good Hope, and did their best to fight off Spain who wanted part of the action. The two countries eventually reached agreement in 1494, in effect to divide undiscovered lands between the two of them—lands to the west of a “Line of Demarcation” would belong to Spain while lands to the east would belong to Portugal. The two were the greatest maritime powers and ignored everyone else.
The line was set some distance away from the Cape Verde Islands on the Atlantic and drawn across the North Pole down the Pacific Ocean. The size of the planet was unknown and both thought the Spice Islands were on their side of the Line of Demarcation. The Portuguese controlled the route around Africa so Spain had to look for another way, around South America and west across the Pacific.
Thus it was that Ferdinand Magellan found the Straits of Magellan, crossed the still unexplored Pacific Ocean, and in 1521 reached our shores, north of the objective. He ended up dead in Mactan but Sebastian de Elcano made it to the Moluccas and back to Spain with one ship and 18 men out of the original five ships and 234 crew, but with a full load of cloves that made the trip worthwhile.
Encouraged, the Spanish mounted further expeditions to the Moluccas across the Pacific. The first after Magellan was headed by Garcia Jofre de Loaisa (1526), followed by Alvaro de Saavedra (1527), Ruy Lopez de Villalobos (1542), and Miguel Lopez de Legaspi (1565).
The Loaisa, Saavedra, and Villalobos expeditions reached our part of the world but were all captured by the Portuguese. They also discovered that the western route was a one-way street, so to speak. Winds and ocean currents brought ships west away from the Americas and counterflow was not possible. They could not find winds and currents headed east, the tornaviaje, and consequently had to continue west across the Indian Ocean and hostile territory.
Loaisa Expedition
The Loaisa expedition consisted of seven ships. On the expedition as piloto mayor was Sebastian de Elcano, who had been with Magellan. His page was the 17-year-old Andrés de Urdaneta. The expedition passed the South Pacific through the Marshall Islands but after various vicissitudes, only one ship reached the Moluccas in September 1526. The scientific-minded teenager observed the land and sea, drew maps, and kept meticulous notes.
The one ship was captured by the Portuguese and all aboard remained prisoner for more than eight years. In the meantime, Spain and Portugal concluded peace talks and a treaty was signed whereby Spain recognized Portuguese control of the Spice Islands. The surviving members of the Loaisa expedition were accordingly repatriated to Spain in 1535.
Urdaneta’s notes and papers had been confiscated, but he reconstructed all from memory. He returned to the New World and was appointed to various senior posts under the Viceroy. In 1552, however, he decided to join the Augustinian order and was ordained a priest in 1557, then age 49.
Saavedra Expedition
Meanwhile, Mexico’s Viceroy Hernan Cortes wanted to know what happened to Loaisa and his men. He therefore dispatched Alvaro de Saavedra on another expedition with the other objectives of searching for new lands to conquer and to bring back spice plants. The ships reached northeastern Mindanao but didn’t tarry and proceeded south. They tried to return to the Americas by retracing their route but with currents and winds going west, Saavedra and his men did not make it and were captured by the Portuguese.
Villalobos Expedition
Ruy Lopez Villalobos headed another disastrous expedition. They left Mexico in 1542 and reached the Philippines in 1543. They were headed for the Spice Islands and hungry and sick, they looked for Cebu that they knew from Elcano’s accounts. The Cebuanos evidently rebuffed Villalobos. The group decided to stay awhile in northeastern Mindanao and in Saranggani and eventually decided to return eastward to the Americas. Again, contrary currents and winds held them back. Ultimately, the survivors were captured and imprisoned by the Portuguese, Villalobos himself died in prison.
Villalobos is remembered mostly because he named Leyte “Filipinas” in honor of the then Principe de Asturias, the son of Carlos V, who eventually became King Philip II. The name eventually was applied to the archipelago, that later became Las Islas Filipinas, Philippine Islands, and the Philippines.
Legaspi Expedition
In 1558, Mexican Viceroy Luis de Velasco recommended to King Philip II that an expedition be sent to colonize the Philippines and that Urdaneta head the venture in view of his experience and knowledge. Urdaneta declined, suggesting instead that Miguel Lopez de Legaspi be its head. He expressed preference to help evangelize the islands.
The expedition left Mexico in 1564, consisting of the galleons San Pablo and San Pedro, and smaller ships San Juan and San Lucas. The ships left Mexico in November 1564 with 150 seamen and 200 soldiers.
Urdaneta was navigator and spiritual adviser. Also with them was Guido de Lavezares, another survivor of the Magellan expedition, and the African-Portuguese Lope Martin, who we shall meet later. They sailed the Pacific Ocean and after three months arrived in Guam where they replenished supplies, traded with the locals, but eventually fought and proceeded to the Philippines, reaching Samar on Feb. 13, 1565. After some misadventures, they captured a ship from Brunei and made the ship’s captain their guide. In due course, Legaspi found support from Bohol chieftain Sikatuna and Samar chieftan Urrao.
Legaspi next went to Cebu where, after defeating Rajah Tupaz, established the colony and named its capital the Villa del Santisimo Nombre de Jesus. He later moved to Panay Island and, in 1571, to Manila, becoming the first Spanish governor-general.
After the Cebu settlement was established, Legaspi determined it was time to attempt a return voyage to New Spain. Urdaneta was designated chief advisor and navigator. Aboard the galleon San Pedro, they left Cebu on June 1, 1565 with a crew of 200, provisions for nine months, and a cargo of spices.
They passed San Bernardino Straits and sailed northeast to the 38th parallel where, as predicted by Urdaneta, westerly winds brought them across the Pacific to Catalina Island on Sept. 18, 1565. Following the California and Mexican coast, they reached Acapulco on Oct. 8, 1565 with only 18 crew members strong enough to man the ship.
Upon arrival, Urdaneta learned that San Lucas, another ship of the Legaspi expedition, captained by Alonso de Arellano, had arrived two months before, on Aug. 9. The pilot was the black man Lope Martin, the mariner who as pilot decided where, when, and how the ship sailed, which was north from the Philippines to a certain latitude, where Japan lay and then east to the North American coast and south to Mexico.
The latecomers questioned the legitimacy of the early arrival, doubting that they even reached Asia and the Philippines. Charges were filed and the Audiencia conducted a lengthy investigation. Arellano and Martin were found innocent.
Urdaneta has been recognized, however, as the discoverer of the return route from Asia to America, based on his detailed notes, his competence as a geographer and navigator, and his character as a priest. Lope Martin has been forgotten but he may be considered discoverer of the tornaviaje that made the Manila Galleon possible, the 250-year-long bridge that brought people, products, ideas, culture, and progress between Asia and the Americas.
(to be continued)
Note: See Reséndez, Andrés, Conquering the Pacific (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcojurt, 2021).
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