Commentaries on Miguel Lopez de Legazpi

 

Manila chronicles its founding in an edict issued on the 24th of June, 1571, declaring the palisade-enclosed township as a territory of the Virreinato de Nueva España. This marked Manila's Hispanic beginning, intriguingly not directly with Spain, but with the Americas, specifically Mexico, where the Viceroy or the unroyal second king represented the Spanish crown. Thus, Manila itself was a colony of a colony, brought into existence under the labors and stewardship of an aging conquistador from Gipuzkoa, a region the Spaniards called "Pais Vasco" (Basque region). This conquistador, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, was given the old Medieval title of adelantado, or "advancer."

The Basques, or "Vascos," spoke an ancient language not related to the Latin-Romance languages like the dominant "Castellano" (from which native Filipinos derived the term Kastila). Proud of their heritage, it is often questioned how Legazpi communicated with his inner circle, many of whom, like Andres de Urdaneta and Martin de Goiti, were also from Gipuzkoa. Legazpi's style and approach were unconventional, evidenced by his decision to bring along his son Melchor and two grandsons, Juan and Felipe Salcedo, on the expedition to the Indies. His adviser and quasi-navigator was none other than Urdaneta, a priest and survivor of a failed expedition to the same region.

Legazpi launched his expedition from La Navidad, Mexico, saving time and securing precious supplies that could have had some ominous consequences had the galleys departed from Spain. The crew was composed mainly of Mexicans—criollos, mestizos, indios—and a few Europeans, not from Spain. The Pacific crossing took three hazardous months, during which Urdaneta's expertise proved invaluable as he identified places and things indicating they were in the Indies.

Cebu became Legazpi's primary base in the Philippines, though he felt insecure about the setup. Scarcity of provisions is often cited as the reason for seeking other settlements, but there is also evidence that the Bisayans were becoming uneasy with Legazpi. Despite the Spaniards' promises of the Spanish king's magnanimity towards his new subjects, the Bisayans were skeptical. They asked the Spaniards, "If you want to establish a colony here and marry our women, you should also send your own women here for our men." Legazpi knew that colony-building would not be as simple as that.

One wonders what might have happened if Miguel Lopez de Legazpi had not left his Cebu base during those early years of the Spanish conquest. If Cebu had become the capital of Spanish Philippines, could the Cebuano language have dominated the islands? How would history have been written in another regional tongue or influenced by different dominant thinking?

Enter Manila—ideal for its strategic location, mimicking the jewel of the Portuguese crown in Southeast Asia, Malacca. The Pasig River and Manila Bay served as major trade and communication routes both inland and "ausland". Subsequent explorations by Legazpi's men around Manila revealed an important fact: the people around the settlement despised its leaders, viewing them as "foreigners," more Bornean than "Taga Maynila." One of its rulers, Suleiman II (Rajah Matanda), was the grandson of Bolkiah, the ruler of Borneo.

Legazpi set his sights on Manila and conquered it with the help of hundreds of Bisayan archers commanded by Basque officers. With the fall of Manila, Spain firmly established its hold on the islands. A few years later, the aging conquistador succumbed to a stroke at the age of 70. Legazpi reminds one of Don Quixote, though given his practicality and cunning, he also embodies Sancho Panza, who saw the need to be realistic in an age of dwindling medievalism and rising modern thought.

I leave this commentary with a line from Cervantes:

"Destiny guides our fortunes more favorably than we could have expected. Look there, Sancho Panza, my friend, and see those thirty or so wild giants, with whom I intend to do battle and kill each and all of them, so with their stolen booty we can begin to enrich ourselves. This is noble, righteous warfare, for it is wonderfully useful to God to have such an evil race wiped from the face of the earth."

"What giants?" Asked Sancho Panza.

"The ones you can see over there," answered his master, "with the huge arms, some of which are very nearly two leagues long."

"Now look, your grace," said Sancho, "what you see over there aren't giants, but windmills, and what seems to be arms are just their sails, that go around in the wind and turn the millstone."

"Obviously," replied Don Quixote, "you don't know much about adventures."

Laudorio guztiak Legazpi!