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Enrique, First Man to Go Around the World
The first man to go around the world is always subject to dispute. Isit Ferdinand Magellan or Sebastian Elcano? Behind these two Europeans, there is a possibility that Enrique was the first man to go around the world. What is even amazing is there is a possibility that Enrique was a Filipino. Magellan before coming to the Philippines sailed for Portugal. He volunteered foran expedition to the Moluccas, known as Spice Islands. His ship reached Malacca and had he gone hundred more miles north he could have landed in the Philippines that he did years later coming from the opposite direction. Sometime during his stay in Moluccas he picked up a Malay boy who came back with him to Europe. The boy was given the name Enrique and this is just another speculation of mine that this was probably done after the great Portuguese , King Henry, the Navigator (angilized for Enrique). Magellan left Portugal and persuaded the King of Spain to finance his westward voyage. The rest is history but Magellan was killed in Mactan Island before he could really complete thecircumnavigation of the word. Sebastian Elcano successfully steered the onlyremaining vessel, Victoria back to Seville, Spain. Where did Enrique fitin this historic voyage? He was aboard the ship when it landed in the Philippinesin 1521. He served as Magellan interpreter and even Pigafetta the expedition'shistorian didnot trust him because the way he mingled with the local Filipinos.He wasveryfriendly and spoke the dialects well with the natives. Tradeand commercebetweenthese islands as far as Indonesia was already well established.Peoplefromthe Philippines were already sailing the region. It is very probablethatEnrique was visiting Malucca Island when Magellan first came in contactwithhim . When Magellan discovered the Philippines, it was also Enrique'shomecoming.That day should be as marked as the day when the first man wentaround theworld as significant as man landing in the moon. It is only fittingthat thefirst man to accomplice the feat would come from the descendantsof the ancientmariners of the Pacific.
One of the Magellans Biographers
wrote:
The landing in the Philippines
on his westward voyages around the world:
....Now came the wonder. The
Islanderssurrounded Enrique chattering and shouting, and the Malay slave was
dumbfounded,forthe understood much of what they were saying. He understood much
of whattheysaying. He understood their questions. It was a good many years
sincehe wassnatched from his home, a good many years since he had last hearda
word ofhis native speech. What amazing moment, one of the remarkable inthe
historyof mankind! For the first time since our planet begun to spinupon its
axisand to circle in its orbit, a living man, himself circlingthat planet,
hadgot back to his homeland. No matter that he was underling,a slave, for
hissignificance lies in his fate and not his personality. Heis known to us byhis
slave-name Enrique; but we know, likewise, that hewas torn from his homeupon the
island of Sumatra, was brought by Magellanin Malacca, was takenby his master to
India, to Africa, and to Lisbon; traveledthence to Braziland to Petagonia; and
first of all the population of theworld, traversingthe oceans, circling the
globe, hereturned to the regionwhere men spokea familiar tongue. Having made
acquaintanceon the way withhundred of peopleand tribes and races, each of which
had different way ofcommunicating thought,he had got back to his folk, whom he
could understandand could understandhim.
(I could not explain it any
better)
Fire,there is a compelling chapter about the discovery of the
Philippines and the man who was the first circumnavigator of the
world. You will be stunned to learn that it wasn't Ferdinand Magellan
whofirst circled the globe, but a Filipino. Manchester wrote and Gemma Cruz
quotes:
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"Shortly after they had landed in the Visayan Islands of theenormous
Philippine archipelago, Magellan heard a great cheering and, moving ontoward the noise, found his servant Enrique surrounded by merry natives. It took a while to sort things out. Born in the Visayas,Enrique had been sold into slavery in Sumatra and sent to Malacca, where Magellan had acquired him. Since leaving the Malayan Peninsula in 1512, he had accompanied his owner to India, Africa, Portugal, Spain and, the past eighteen months on this voyage. An apt linguist, he was fluent in both Portuguese and Spanish, but here on Limasawa, for the first time since his childhood, he had overheard people speaking his native language. He had joined in, and they had welcome him as one oftheir own.<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->
"The significance of this incident was enormous. Magellan was ecstatic. By sailing westward, they had returned to the lands where theyfirst met. Obviously, Enrique was the first circumnavigator of the world. By completing the circuit of the globe, the expedition had provided the first empirical proof that it was a sphere."
phix7@yahoo.com
Nestor Palugod
Enriquez
First
Circumnavigation of the World
The ChildrenVersion
of Enrique
Froman Inquiring
Mind
From Other
Sources
First
UnderwaterCircumnavigation of the World
Mazaua:Magellan's Lost
Harbor-Vicente de Jesus
Commentaries
Join me in celebrating this event that happenned half millenium
ago
Email me of your opinion or what you had heard or read. Thanks
Nestor Palugod Enriquez, greatxgreat grandson
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