The Manila Times

FERDINAND MAGELLAN’S JUNIOR

Van Ybiernas

IN its Feb. 21, 2023 episode, popular and long-running game show “Jeopardy!” featured under the category “Current World Leaders” a reference to Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as a “president… (who) has taken so many foreign trips… (that) a play on his name is ‘Ferdinand Magellan Jr.’” Obviously, the play on Magellan’s name is a joke and together with 110 million Filipinos, I recognized it as such. However, I still want to write a “nochill” column about that reference.

Marcos Jr., of course, is the namesake of his father, who is a former president and dictator of the country. Marcos supporters abhor the “dictator” tag, but Oxford dictionary defines the term as “a ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained control by force.” If anybody wants to protest the dictator tag, they should complain to the dictionaries.

Ferdinand Sr. was named after Magellan, the most popular Ferdinand in history. When Ferdinand Sr. was born on Sept. 11, 1917 to schoolteachers Mariano Marcos and Josefa Edralin, Magellan was arguably one of the most recognizable names in Philippine history that was, at the time, heavily influenced by colonial historiography. Moreover, after the National Historical Commission of the Philippines spearheaded the Quincentennial (500th anniversary) commemoration of important historical events in the country (with the theme “Victory and Humanity”) from 2019 to 2021, Magellan’s name (together with Lapulapu’s) rose again to prominence among Filipinos.

However, to view Magellan as a “traveler” like Marcos Jr. is a disservice, not just to the historical figure, but to the history of the Philippines itself. Simply put, Magellan was not a traveler. He was an explorer and a conquistador for Portugal and Spain.

A lot of people continue to think that Magellan was Spanish; he was, in fact, born a Portuguese on Feb. 4, 1480 (in Sabrosa, Portugal). His Portuguese name is Fernao de Magalhaes. His father, Pedro, was a member of the Portuguese nobility and in his youth, Ferdinand served as a page of Eleanor of Viseu, the wife of King John 2nd of Portugal. Magellan entered the royal service of Portugal during the rule of King Manuel 1st, successor and cousin of John 2nd, after the latter died in 1495. By this time, Portugal was heavily invested in exploring many parts of Africa, the Americas and Asia. Among the most prominent figure in Portuguese exploration in the 15th century were Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460), Bartolomeu Dias (1450-1500), Vasco da Gama (1460-1524), Pedro Alvares Cabral (14671520), Afonso de Albuquerque (1453-1515), among others.

Exploration heated up after the Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) reached the Americas in 1492 under the Spanish flag and was followed by subsequent explorers and conquistadors. Such was the rivalry between Portugal and Spain that Pope Alexander 6th had to broker the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 demarcating the areas to be explored exclusively by both crowns. The Portuguese established colonies in places like Madeira, Azores, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe, Cochin, Mozambique, Goa, Malacca, Hormuz, Colombo, Brazil, Macao, Nagasaki and Angola during the 15th and 16th centuries, but for the most part they simply established trading stations (and defensive fortifications) to advance their commercial interests.

In contrast, the Spanish sought to conquer the lands they explored such as the Americas and the Philippines.

Magellan found himself in the middle of this agenda by Iberian rivals Portugal and Spain. In 1505, he enlisted as part of the fleet sent to Portuguese India and participated in the Battle of Cannanore in 1506. In 1509, he fought in the Battle of Diu. In 1511, Magellan and his cousin Francisco Serrao (Serrano) joined the Portuguese conquest of Malacca. Serrao became part of the Portuguese expedition to the Moluccas while Magellan returned to Portugal. Serrao provided Magellan vital information about the Moluccas, which consumed his imagination.

After King Manuel 1st denied his entreaties to lead an expedition to the so-called Spice Islands, Magellan left Portugal for Spain where he channeled his fixation on the Moluccas. Magellan was able to eventually convince the Spanish king, Charles 1st (Philip 2nd’s father) to finance his expedition to the Moluccas in 1519. Subsequently, Magellan arrived on the shores of the Philippines in March 1521.

Magellan was not a “traveler.” His primary goal was exploration, which in the vocabulary of Spain (and even Portugal) in the 15th and 16th centuries meant the conquest of foreign lands for the exploitation of their precious resources. Of course “gold” was an integral part of Magellan’s voyages but “glory” (personal and national) and “God” were equally a compelling motivation.

None of Magellan’s explorations were for hedonistic purposes as was the case with Marcos Jr.’s trip to Singapore to watch the Formula 1 race or Eric Clapton’s concert in New York, among others. Magellan had a grand purpose. Marcos Jr. just wants to pleasure himself.

Front Page

en-ph

2023-03-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://manilatimes.pressreader.com/article/281668259208904

The Manila Times