Who Was The European Navigator Who Discovered The Philippines?

EUROPEAN NAVIGATOR – In this topic, we will now know the European navigator who discovered the Islands of the Philippines.

The Republic of the Philippines is an archipelago that is composed of 7,641 islands. It has three major groups: Luzon, Visasyas, and Mindanao. Each group are divided into different regions: 8 in Luzon; 3 in Visayas, and 5 in Mindanao.

It is bordered by Taiwan in the north, Japan in north east, Vietnam in the west, Palau in the east, and Malaysia and the Indonesian archipelago in the south.

But who discovered the archipelago. It was none other than the Portugese navigator and explorer Ferdinand Magellan ( Fernão de Magalhães in Portugese and Fernando Magallanes in Spanish and the Philippines)

He organised the Spanish expedition to the East Indies. The primary reaso is to find the west route to the Maluku Islands or Moluccas Islands for spices.

Magellan enacted the expedition with five ships: Trinidad (which he commanded), San Antonio, Victoria, Concepcion and Santiago.

They ended up in the island of Limasawa in Leyte on March 1521 and held the first ever Mass in the Philippines. He named the islands Las islas de San Lázaro or St. Lazarus’ islands.

He died in Mactan after a harsh battle against the tribe led by Lapu-Lapu, who is eventually known as the first ever Filipino to be declared a hero.

His circumnavigation around the globe was soon be completed by Juan Sebastian Elcano, who comandeered the Victoria.