After the death of Charles V, King Philip II, despite the objections of the Portuguese, decided to conquer the Philippines; he did not think the Portuguese could prevent it, as their strength was beginning to wane. The viceroy of Mexico, Luis de Velasco, equipped four ships for that, which were ready to set sail in November 1564. The chief was Lopez de Legaspi, a quiet, intelligent, and active man; the pilot was Urdaneta, a distinguished sailor who had already been with Loysa’s expedition, who, although he had never gone to the monastery, but after receiving the king’s order was there ready to set sail. The fleet, according to its instructions, sailed exactly the same way as Villaloboski, because the purpose was to establish a colony, not to discover new lands. However, one of the smaller ships, being an inferior sailor, was lost in a storm from the main fleet, sailed alone across the ocean, arrived at the Philippines, but drifted from there in storms far to the north, as far as the 40th latitude, where the wind was more favorable for the return to Mexico. This little ship thus accidentally found the way back, which Loaysa, de la Torre and Retes had previously sought in vain.
Legaspi arrived happily in the Philippines, but he too encountered a hostile population everywhere. Only in Bohol did he get enough food. However, through clever mediations, Legaspi got the people of Cebu, the same people with whom Magalhães had been dealing and through whom he had been killed, to re-acknowledge Spanish supremacy, promising to protect them against enemies. When the colony was thus started, Urdaneta was sent to Mexico to seek help.
This skilled sailor concluded that in the Pacific, as well as in the Atlantic, there could be west winds farther north, outside the hot zone, that would make the journey across the ocean possible. He therefore steered far to the northeast from the Philippines until he was even further north than Japan, and after a journey of four months by that route arrived happily in Acapulco, Mexico. Through this trip, based on a completely correct scientific assumption, a route had finally been found that made it possible to return from East Asia. The connection between Mexico and Peru and the Philippines was secured through this and the movement then became completely regular. Urdaneta left Mexico back to Spain and returned to the monastery, where he died in 1568.
As early as 1567, Legaspi received help with two ships and could now very well take his side against the Portuguese, who tried to expel him from the Philippines by force. However, he decided to move his colony a little further from the Moluccas and in 1570 made a military expedition to Luzon, where he usurped the village of Manila. In the following year, having received fresh aid from Mexico, and from the king the rank of governor and free authority, he returned to Manila Bay with a greater force, defeated the hostile Mohammedan party, and induced the chiefs of the district to acknowledge the suzerainty of Spain. At the mouth of the Pasig River, on the site of present-day Manila, a castle was built and the foundations of the largest city in the Philippines were laid. Legaspi died in 1572, but his successors held their own in the new positions, and throughout the century this colony remained in the possession of the Spanish.
Searching for Southland.
Through the discovery of New Guinea, the old belief handed down from Ptolemy that there was a large continent in the southern part of the Indian Ocean, »Terra Australis», had received new impetus; the large island discovered was considered its northernmost coast. It was thought that this country would then continue south of the Pacific Ocean all the way to Land of Fire, and it was hoped that there would be great riches and excellent lands to inhabit. While the Viceroy of Mexico was taking care of the Philippines, the Viceroy of Peru was tasked with finding and settling the great Southland. Juan Fernandez, who discovered the lonely rocky islands off Chile, which have inherited his name, must have gone so far in one of his voyages that he saw the coast of New Zealand; he thought the island was part of the great southern land.
In 1567, the viceroy of Peru sent a soldier named Alvaro Mendaña on an expedition of discovery together with some excellent sailors. After sailing quite far to the south of Callao, and no land could be found, the direction was turned towards the equator and only further west to the south again. In February 1568, they came to a wonderful archipelago, which seemed to have gold; The Spaniards, in their infatuation, thought they had come to Solomon’s Ophir and gave the islands the name Solomon Islands. The inhabitants seemed to be a relatively friendly people, there was plenty of food, especially pigs and chickens, as well as wood suitable for shipbuilding. The Spanish thought there were valuable spices too. After exploring the archipelago for a while, we set off on the return trip; after difficult and dangerous sailing we reached Mexico and from there finally back to Callao.
Mendaña Colonial Company.
Seventy-three years passed before the discoveries were continued. It wasn’t until 1595 that Mendaña got ships from Peru to settle the Solomon Islands. He had four ships and four hundred people with him, mostly married people. After sailing for a month, we arrived in the middle of July in the archipelago, where there were very fair-skinned and very beautiful people. The inhabitants brought coconuts and other fruits to the ships, but at the same time stole so boldly that they had to be driven away. A melee ensued, in which many of the islanders were wounded, and immediately the war was over. Arrows and stones rained down on the ships and guns were fired from the ships. The archipelago was named the Marquesas Islands in honor of the Viceroy of Peru. In the beginning, relations had been so friendly that one woman, seeing the blond hair of Doña Isabella, Mendaña’s spouse, had asked them to be given as a gift. After fighting for a while, however, peace was made again.
At the beginning of August, we continued our journey, found several smaller islands and finally reached the Santa Cruz Islands, which are the southeastern extension of the Solomon Islands. There, in the storm, the flagship separated from the other ships, and was no longer able to see them. Instead, half a hundred boats with dark brown people were rowing around it. »They all had curly hair, some dyed white, some red or another color, half-shaved hats, reddened teeth. They were completely naked, only on their hips was a narrow belt of thin fabric. The face and arms were painted black and shiny, decorated with variegated stripes. Around the neck and arms were bands strung with gold studs, black wood, fish teeth, mother-of-pearl shards and pearls. The weapons were bows and poison arrows, the tips of which were hardened in fire, great stones, heavy swords made of very hard wood, and spears with a point of wood, three-pronged and like a harp. The palm-leaf bag contained root bread, which was their most important food item.»
Mendaña first mistook them for people from the Solomon Islands, but when the ship was greeted with a shower of arrows, he soon realized his mistake. The disappointment was all the more unpleasant when, tired of searching, he had decided to establish his colony in this archipelago anyway. A mutiny then arose on board; indeed, it was defeated, but worries and strains broke Mendaña’s strength, so that on the 17th of October he committed his life, having entrusted the leadership of the expedition to his wife, Doña Isabella.
After Mendaña’s death, the war against the natives began two more fiercely, but in the end the Spaniards were so exhausted and ravaged by disease that twenty strong men would have been able to destroy them. Doña Isabella then called her officers to a conference and got them to agree to sail to Manila and establish a colony there. The expedition’s pilot, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, took command. He was a man of intelligence and ability, and both qualities were needed in full measure. Sometimes we stopped by Ladrones to get groceries. In the published account of the stages of the trip, there is the following description of the residents’ service to the dead: »They take the bones from the bodies of their parents, burn the meat and put the ashes in coconut liquor or tuba, which is then drunk. Every year we mourn the deceased for a whole week, and that is why there are many professional mourners and they are highly valued. Besides, all the neighbors gather at the deceased’s house to mourn him, and the same favor is rendered to them in turn when they die. We cry at night and drink during the day, and people go to these parties diligently, because the refreshments are plentiful. Itkuvirre tells about the exploits and stages of the deceased’s life from birth onwards, praises his strength and beauty, in a word, everything that is in his honor. If there are happy moments in the life story, then the whole company bursts into laughter, takes a nap and then starts to shed tears again. Sometimes a couple of hundred people gather at these annual funeral parties.» and the same favor is rendered them in turn when they die. We cry at night and drink during the day, and people go to these parties diligently, because the refreshments are plentiful. Itkuvirre tells about the exploits and stages of the deceased’s life from birth onwards, praises his strength and beauty, in a word, everything that is in his honor. If there are happy moments in the life story, then the whole company bursts into laughter, takes a nap and then starts to shed tears again. Sometimes a couple of hundred people gather at these annual funeral parties.» and the same favor is rendered them in turn when they die. We cry at night and drink during the day, and people go to these parties diligently, because the refreshments are plentiful. Itkuvirre tells about the exploits and stages of the deceased’s life from birth onwards, praises his strength and beauty, in a word, everything that is in his honor. If there are happy moments in the life story, then the whole company bursts into laughter, takes a nap and then starts to shed tears again. Sometimes a couple of hundred people gather at these annual funeral parties.» in a word, everything that is at all to his credit. If there are happy moments in the life story, then the whole company bursts into laughter, takes a nap and then starts to shed tears again. Sometimes a couple of hundred people gather at these annual funeral parties.» in a word, everything that is at all to his credit. If there are happy moments in the life story, then the whole company bursts into laughter, takes a nap and then starts to shed tears again. Sometimes a couple of hundred people gather at these annual funeral parties.»
When they arrived in the Philippines, the members of the expedition were so exhausted and starved that they looked more like skeletons than people. In February 1596, Doña Isabella disembarked in Manila to the sound of cannons and was received with great solemnity. For the hikers, fifty of whom had died since leaving the Santa Cruz Islands, housing and food were provided at the government’s expense. All the women, except four or five who became nuns, were married. After a few years, Quiros escorted Doña Isabella back to her homeland.
The Journey of Quiros.
Pedro Fernandez de Quiros later got ships for the trip, which, in addition to discovering new lands and spreading Christianity, also had a scientific purpose. He intended to sail around the world and, according to the more precise method he had invented, determine the positions and at the same time the deviation of the compass in different regions.
We set off from Callao in December 1605. The first land we saw belonged to the Paumotu archipelago. Although it was surrounded by rocks and reefs, we still got in touch with the inhabitants who lived on the beach in palm-leaf huts. This time, the chief’s hair particularly attracted the attention of the Spaniards, as it reached all the way to his waist and was light, so »that they thought he might be married and wearing his wife’s hair.» The light color was due to the fact that these natives used to sprinkle lime on their hair. The island was named Sagittaria. After this we came to another island, which was named »Gente Hermosa», i.e. »beautiful people», because of the beauty of the inhabitants. It probably belonged to Tahiti. [When the names are different, and there is no reliance on the regulations of the geographical position of the place, it is difficult to determine exactly what the route Quiros sailed was. Others don’t think she went to Tahiti.] The women were fair-skinned, and almost as charming and lovely as their own women in Lima, whose beauty had become proverbial. On an island called Taumako, Qiuros heard from a chief that if he sailed farther southward, he would come to a great land, whose inhabitants would be fairer than any he had seen before; at the same time he listed 70 islands. Quiros now abandoned his intention to continue the journey to the Santa Cruz Archipelago and turned south instead. This is how the main island of the New Hebrides was discovered. Mistaking it for a part of the great Southland, Quiros intended to establish a colony there, the »New Jerusalem«, but the island’s inhabitants were so hostile that they had to give up an inch. According to other accounts, the crew of the flagship mutinied, took Quiros prisoner, and returned to America, which was reached after a nine-month voyage. Quiros was Portuguese, which made him hated by the Spanish navy.
Torres Strait.
Luiz Vaez de Torres, the second man of the expedition, who, having lost his way from the main ship, waited in vain for it at the rendezvous, set off in his small ship to aim for the Philippines, as the crew refused to sail further south. Mistaken for the position of New Guinea, he passed by its southern side and thus discovered the strait that has inherited his name. »This whole country belongs to New Guinea,« he says. »There are Indians living there, whose skin color is not very light. They have no other costume than a strip of cloth around their waists. The weapons are spears, shields and some kind of stone clubs. There are inhabited islands along the coast of this country. The coast has a whole series of spacious harbors, large rivers and many plains. We took these ports for Spain. We sailed this coast 300 fathoms, and the latitude on this course decreased from 11 1/2 to 9. Then began the roach, which had no more than three to nine fathoms of water, and it extended along the coast to latitude 7 1/2, but we could not get farther because of the shoals and strong currents. We therefore decided to guide along a deeper groove to the southwest. We saw countless islands along the way. To the south of 11 degrees of latitude, the water began to recede, there were several large islands and still others could be seen in the south. They were inhabited by black, very powerful people who walked naked and used as weapons long strong spears, arrows and poorly made stone floats.» To the south of 11 degrees of latitude, the water began to recede, there were several large islands and still others could be seen in the south. They were inhabited by black, very powerful people who walked naked and used as weapons long strong spears, arrows and poorly made stone floats.» To the south of 11 degrees of latitude, the water began to recede, there were several large islands and still others could be seen in the south. They were inhabited by black, very powerful people who walked naked and used as weapons long strong spears, arrows and poorly made stone floats.»
Torres’s description fits well with the
nature of the strait between Australia and New Guinea; the shore he followed was the southern shore of New Guinea.
Fortunately, Torres then continued his journey to the Moluccas and on to
Manila and wrote a report of his findings to the king.
However, the Spanish, like most others, kept this as their
secret of their discovery of the Pacific, so that James Cook in 1770
thought he was the first to sail through the strait. Torres also saw
Australia’s northernmost cape, but it wasn’t until the Dutch and the
English explored the shores of the new continent.
