MINIATURES

Seville- seen here with the famous port and the Guadalquivir River. 17th Century-- Anonymous Flemish painter. I define the Guadalquivir River (Baetis-Roman name) as the beginning part of the long "umbilical cord" that connects us to one placental fiber - Spain. It was from here where Magellan launched the expedition that eventually led to the European discovery of our archipelago and brought the island group to the awareness of the West. Eventually, Spain would unite these islands into one and ruled it for almost three centuries. Five hundred years ago, the same month of July, Magellan gathered his armada in the port of Seville. In the first week of August 1519, the fleet would then moved to the mouth of the Guadalquivir River facing the Atlantic-- Sanlúcar de Barrameda. The first step in the search for a westerly route towards the Spice Islands (Indonesia). No defined maps, no sure direction after the Atlantic. It was sheer intuition, the belief that somehow a passage...

This is just a handwritten copy from the files of documents: "Papeles tocantes a las Islas Maluco y Filipinas, causados desde el año 1519 hasta el 1547". The original can be found in "Archivo General de Indias" in Seville. Seville Spain, five hundred years ago, the first half of 1519. Magellan's fleet was in the final pace of preparation for an expedition quite different. Series of communique, letters were sent and received. It was first described as a voyage shrouded in secrecy but as soon as preparation started, intrigues also spread between the two Iberian kingdoms fighting it out for the dominance of the sea routes that lead to the riches of the world. May 1519- Magellan was still sharing the command of the expedition with his friend Ruy Falero,(as seen in this handwritten copy - "Instrucción" from the king himself, Carlos I. Falero is often described in some accounts as unconventional, with his approaches to astronomy and astrology ...

The monument of Juan Sebastián Elcano. Cavite 1900. Some statues and illustrations depict Elcano with a globe and the Latin inscription; "Primus circumdedisti me" (You went around me first). But does he deserve the credit being the first to circumnavigate the world? Who is Elcano? Filipinos might ask..... A street in Binondo? Sorry for Elcano, the very first history lesson every Filipinos come to know is that boring repetition; "Who discovered the Philippines?" Almost everyone would answer. Yes, Filipinos know Magellan even just in name. Magellan incidentally was also the leader whom Elcano and some of his Spanish colleagues mutinied against in that famous expedition the world now commemorates. (500th anniversary of the first voyage around the globe). If not for the Italian chronicler Pigafetta, who was very much pro-Magellan, Elcano might have run away with the title and the monicker. Yet in Spain they honor Elcano. In the whole of the Iberian Penin...

Ferdinand Magellan is resented in this print with Latin inscriptions: "Ferdinandus Magagelanes Lusitanus". The last word "Lusitanus" stands for his homeland Portugal. "Lusitania" was the old Roman name of the province that corresponds to what is now Portugal. Magellan was a veteran officer in the Portuguese army that conquered the fabled sultanate of Malacca (southern Peninsular Malaysia) in the year 1511,  under the command of Alfonso de Albuquerque. Some great men went to wars and were left with scars of great battles. Miguel Cervantes for example was wounded in the Battle of Lepanto 1571, which rendered his left hand useless. For this, he was known also as 'El Manco de Lepanto"- in Tagalog 'Ang Komang ng Lepanto". (Yes Tagalogs like the game of jumbled- reverse words...binaligtad lang yung "manco". Same as in "cinco or singko" reverse in to "kusing).  He was wounded in one battle in Africa, that left him wal...

Last night I was reading a paper about "Pampango" presence in Colima and Jalisco, Mexico, in the 16th-17th Century. Yes, Filipinos that time, had already established a mercantile and trading community on the Pacific coast of Mexico. Lured there by the Galleon Trade. This morning I was greeted by the site of overripe guavas lying on the lawn and driveway. Nalaglag na. After a week of rain and then again of humidity, our guava tree now yields quite a several ripe fruits. I notice there were also half-eaten guavas that birds pecked on. It also explains these nightly visits we have from strange-sounding creatures -- Bats. I'm happy to know they can still be found in highly urbanized places. It also occurs to me that guavas or "bayabas" came from the New World. If Filipinos had settled then in Mexico, the Americas had reciprocated by greatly influencing our culinary life and taste buds. Imagine no sinigang sa bayabas? Or atcharas with no half ripen papaya...