Magellan’s Landfall in the Marianas | Examining the Sources, the Events, and the Controversies

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Did Magellan land in Umatac? Was Guam really the island that Magellan landed on? Or did he land in Rota or perhaps Saipan? Were CHamorus really the uncompassionate thieves as described? What are the sources that inform us of this event? And what are the contradictions? Pulan addresses these controversial questions and provides a historical account of Magellan’s landfall in the Marianas.
Timestamp
0:00 - Introduction
1:12 - The sources/accounts of Magellan’s landfall
2:48 - Magellan encounters the Marianas on the March 6th
3:22 - The major contradiction in the sources
4:41 - Which Mariana island did Magellan landed on?
8:24 - Did Magellan land in Umatac?
11:00 - Analyzing the first meeting between CHamorus and Europeans
15:02 - Magellan’s first landing
16:09 - Magellan’s last encounter with the CHamorus and the Marianas
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References
Anonymous Portuguese manuscript, Levesque, Source Documents, volume I, 249.
Francisco Alvo’s logbook, Levesque, Source Documents, volume I, 221.
Genoese Pilot’s account, Levesque, Source Documents, volume I, 247.
Lévesque, R. (1992). History of Micronesia: a collection of source documents. 1. European discovery 1521-1560. Lévesque.
Pigafetta, A., & Skelton, R. A. (2012). Magellan's Voyage: A Narrative Account of the First Circumnavigation. Courier Corporation.
Quimby, F. (2011). The Hierro Commerce: Culture Contact, Appropriation and Colonial Entanglement in the Marianas, 1521-1668. Journal of Pacific History, 46(1), 1-26.
Quimby, F. (2019). Deconstructing Pigafetta’s Account of First Contact. 4th Marianas History Conference. 83-109. Guampedia
Rogers, R. F., & Ballendorf, D. A. (1989). Magellan's landfall in the Mariana Islands. The Journal of Pacific History, 24(2), 193-208.
Taylor, E. G. R. (1964). A Log-Book of Magellan's Voyage, 1519-1522. The Journal of Navigation, 17(1), 83-87.

[@pulanspeaks]

Just to share that I now have a Patreon set up! Feel free to take a look! Any support goes right back to producing better Pacific Studies content for you all! www.patreon.com/pulanspeaks

[@finadeni670]

Dangkalu na si yuus maase, Pulan! Great execution and transition with your presentation! Please don’t stop sharing info about our history as you are doing our community a huge justice!

[@outremer91]

Magellan even has 2 galaxies named after him. What a legend!

[@pulanspeaks]

Timestamp 0:00​ - Introduction 1:12​ - The sources/accounts of Magellan’s landfall 2:48​ - Magellan encounters the Marianas on the March 6th 3:22​ - The major contradiction in the sources 4:41​ - Which Mariana island did Magellan landed on? 8:24​ - Did Magellan land in Umatac? 11:00​ - Analyzing the first meeting between CHamorus and Europeans 15:02​ - Magellan’s first landing 16:09​ - Magellan’s last encounter with the CHamorus and the Mariana

[@rosalind442]

I just discovered you! So glad I subscribed. This is something I would enjoy watching and learning about my ancestors and their life back then. I want to share this with my family and their children. We’re working on our family tree and this is perfect information. Thank you! 🙏🏽

[@krawl04]

These are great videos. Its important to take into account differing perspectives when analyzing historical accounts. I believe you do a respectable job at that.

[@pulanspeaks]

Thank you! I appreciate it.

[@roberthunter670]

Informative, interesting, digestible, and well done... the best informational videos on the Mariana Islands I've seen.

[@pulanspeaks]

Wow, thank you very much! I'm glad you thought it was informative!

[@thewaywardwarrior]

really cool video!

[@chrisnangauta8678]

Love your content chelu! Keep up the great work. Saina Ma’ase!

[@pulanspeaks]

Saina Ma'ase' si Chris! Gof magof yu' sa ya-mu iyo-ku content!

[@WTFSMCF]

Great video bro, dangkulu na si yu’us ma’ase 🤙🏽

[@3-DtimeCosmology]

Wow, awesome story! Didn't know any of this.

[@clynt25]

Another great historical analysis!

[@tayloredstory8241]

This was a great breakdown. I only knew the basic details of the landing account. This helped fill in a lot of gaps.

[@pulanspeaks]

Si Yu'os ma'ase'! Glad it helped in any way!

[@percillasalas874]

@@pulanspeaks what is antonio pigafetta favorite pork dish? patas babui! (pig feet)

[@islandguy6928]

You have an amazing channel Pulan.As always great content.Much respect from your indigenous cousin of RMI.👍🏽

[@pulanspeaks]

Kommol! I really appreciate your support!

[@johnhonebein6851]

Thank you for posting this. I’m going on a dive trip to the Caroline Islands next year and looking to learn a bit about the history. This was very informative.

[@pulanspeaks]

Thank you very much John, I appreciate it! I hope you have a great and safe diving trip next year.

[@anikaclayton]

I really appreciate your content.

[@pulanspeaks]

Thank you very much!

[@arailway8809]

Nice work.

[@mixedproduce9787]

Great work, Pulan. Thanks for doing the research and presenting in a easily digestible form. Have you read Destiny’s Landfall by Robert Rogers? If so, do you have an opinion on its accuracy and presentation?

[@pulanspeaks]

Si Yu'os ma'ase'! And to answer the question, yes, I have read Destiny's Landfall. The part in particular about Magellan's landfall is fairly logical and accurate. Although in creating a flowing narrative based on the accounts for a general textbook, he added extra words and imagery to fill the gaps: For example, even though the order of the islands being spotted was not mention in any of the accounts, Rogers writes that Rota was first spotted and then Guam; which is based on the assumption that Rota would have been seen first because it has a higher peak than Guam. So if your fine with this type of deductive reasoning, which is the norm in historiography, then Roger's narrative is good. Although for me personally, there are some parts that I would have done differently. For example, Rogers writes that when their ships first encountered the proas, how the proas darted around the ships. Then Rogers quotes Pigafetta's account that the proas were "like dolphins jumping from wave to wave." My small issue with this is that Pigafetta made that quote to describe the proas following and fleeing from them when they were leaving Guam, and not first arriving Guam. Although I do completely understand Rogers usage of Pigafetta's quote was to make the narrative more exciting and flowing; and it was about the proas. I wouldn't say he's wrong for doing that, it's just that I personally wouldn't have done that because the quote was in reference to another event. For this reason, is why in the video I used Albo's quote because his quote was in specific reference to the proas speed when they were first arriving to Guam. Another issue that I have is that Rogers doesn't incorporate De Mafra's account of the CHamorus bringing food to Magellan's crew, which perpetuates the thieves narrative. I personally would have incorporated that part of De Mafra's account.

[@oannesadapa]

Hafa adai! excellent presentation. I visited Guam. Beautiful paradise and awesome locals. Pigafetta just salty. He should have tried the Fina'denne'with the bbq.

[@pulanspeaks]

Hafa adai! I'm happy you enjoyed your visit to Guam! And haha good one.

[@darienblas6047]

Very Great Informative Channel! You look so familiar Pulan, you remind me of my first cousin.

[@pulanspeaks]

LOLLLLLLL

[@OshaunWayve]

Hafa Adai! My brotha theres a question i have faith you can answer, since my childhood i been looking for books about my home, and if i didnt see this i woulda mistakenly bought Destiny Landfall, So is there ANY literature I can find that can help me learn anything close to objective history of Guam?

[@PrehistoricMeatEater]

A lot of Latte period habitation in Tomhon. Perhaps they would have attempted to water in a place like Humåtak and later trade up in the more centrakised area?

[@WTFSMCF]

Maybe even landed at Haputo? At that time was likely a thriving village as well.

[@zoluhwa3508]

Magellan and his crew committed cannablism in Guam....magellan killed some locals after they stole some metal from his ship and then he and his crew took some of the killed locals livers and cooked it and ate it on their ship..."Winds of Change" by father francis hezel, hezel's book is comprised of journals and daiary collected from museums...he didnt write anything, so these were first hand accounts or admissions, a crew member from magellan ship wrote that they ate the locals liver because they were suffering from scurvy

[@luismanglona9590]

Very interesting! To be honest, I am holding an evidence that was passed down from generation to generation and now I got it. My father told me the story passed down to him. I am from Luta and I have it!

[@luismanglona9590]

It came from Magellan's ship.

[@luismanglona9590]

Bronso(bronze) decoration from the Spanish ship

[@3-DtimeCosmology]

That's amazing!

[@sanctious]

Where can I get a map like that?

[@pulanspeaks]

Hafa adai! I took screenshots from google earth.

[@andrewaswang]

It is similar to Chinese accounts of trading in the Philippines. On anchor and berthing the natives would offload everything on the ship for the purpose of trading... if you didn't know anything at all you would have thought it was stealing because it would be weeks or months before the traded goods' equivalent value would be returned. The trading ships (from the native's perspective) are supposed to stay for a while then leave when done trading.

[@adammorehouse7664]

Thanks for the video. It amazes me that Magellan “discovered” the Mariannas the first Pacific Islanders and then it’s not until the British enter the pacific 250 years later that contact resumed. The encounters were similar- misunderstandings and overreaction from the Europeans.

[@rollindeesfeb2372]

Is it true that Spain would send the criminals from Philippines to Guam similar to Great Britain using Australia as a prison colony? I heard this growing up but is there evidence in history of this?

[@pulanspeaks]

Yup, it's true; the evidence is in the Spanish documents and records.

[@percillasalas874]

@@pulanspeaks what about people with leprocy?

[@jasoncamacho8974]

if you read up on the Morro people, They are described as people from parts of Philippines like Mindanao who resisted or refused to be governed by Spain or to convert to its religion. I did a search on the Morro people because a H2 worker whom i befriended while meeting him on a construction project, asked me if I knew how or reason of people from Guam having the name Chamorro. I told him I never heard of any legend or story regarding the name and asked if he knew, thinking it was another islander joke. But in a serious manner, he briefly explained how during the time the Spanish were colonizing the Philippines, the Morrow people had ended up in Guam, hence that is the Morro in Chamorro. He did not know if the Morro's had fled to Guam to escape the Spaniards . Or as prisoners brought to Guam. This made me wonder where would the "Cha" had from since Carolinians is not spelled "CHAarolinians". lol maybe it was since they spell stuff using a lot of silent letters. I honestly have more interest in understanding the real true roots of my ancestors or the Chamorro people. So far, all I learned was that a survival story is waiting to be uncovered. What makes it so weird, is that when I Googled info and images of the Morro people, I found that they were best known as sea faring people with small sailboats that in comparison was identical to the small boats so highly regarded by Megellans crew when describing Guam landing. The Morros style of homes were elevated of the ground built on post made from wood or stone. THEY BOTH HATED THE SPANISH and were known as warriors And that some Morro clothing are identical as those of Chamorros in drawings seen in Chamorro history records like a funky looking hat that resembles a circus top with dangling balls around the edges..( for real, check it yourself) LOL maybe Magellan only had one artist who made all the illustrations found in history records.

[@javiersamuel8172]

​@@pulanspeaks Which documents and records?

[@user-fw5pk5qp3q]

They call them criminals, but they're probably one of the slaves, other than that we might have a little Austronesian Polynesian connection to them. Maybe one of the Chamorros warned Lapu-Lapu ahead of time before Magellan got to the Philippines, besides every one got boats at that time and trades are very popular at that time too.

[@kieththornton7737]

For more investigative research together see Kurimeo Ahue videos see Dane Calloway videos see Lex Will videos pass on

[@paiwanhan]

Not really all that different from Cook's experience with the Maori

[@luketalavera7789]

They were sent to fa’uahs rock because they were not allowed to land until they had asked

[@raybasa2761]

Watch Australia's Dark Secret: The Inhumane Treatment of Indegenous

[@giovannicollazo-cruz2193]

Malocas = Maharlakas ?

[@pulanspeaks]

I believe there's several different names to refer to these particular set of Indonesian islands. Moluccas, Maluku, Molukken. I haven't yet heard the islands being referred to as Maharlakas though.

[@giovannicollazo-cruz2193]

I see. Looks like people back then were just loosey goosey with spelling.

[@peterbury9707]

He didn't make it around the world.. 🙄

[@LaniJeb96960]

Must suck to be the first island in the pacific to have been in contact with western civilization. They lost the culture and tradition way before every other pacific islands 😢

[@javiersamuel8172]

@MH9696O No!! They wanted to, they didn't "lose" it. Never as in British colonies

[@user-fw5pk5qp3q]

Some researchers might help dug out a pice of the ancient tribe's culture. To be honest most tribes that lives in the small island or Micronesian are always the most hospitable ones , I guess that's what made it easy for Spain to conquer them 😢