Magellan’s Fraudulent Claim:  How Spain Stole the Philippines Using Fake Coordinates

17 September 2025 Feature | Surigao Historical Society | Local History
 

Based on Chapter 5 – Surigao: Royal Outpost in the Pacific from Surigao Across the Years by Fernando A. Almeda Jr.

The Forbidden Territory (Historical Context)

Before 1521, European imperial expansion was not a free-for-all enterprise but governed by solemn agreements brokered by the papacy. Two key documents dictated the spheres of influence of Portugal and Spain:

* The Papal Bull Inter Caetera (1493), issued by Pope Alexander VI, granted Spain dominion over all lands 100 leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands.

* The Treaty of Tordesillas  was ratified in 1494 by Spain and Portugal and took its final form in 1506 through Pope Julius II issue of the bull Ea quae pro bono pacis, moved this line to 370 leagues west of Cape Verde, giving Portugal rights to all lands east of that meridian — including the prized Moluccas (Spice Islands) and the Philippines.

In 1514, Pope Leo X reaffirmed this by issuing the Papal Bull *Praecelsae Devotionis*, granting Portugal “all lands that could be reached by sailing east” - definitively assigning the Philippines to the Portuguese zone.

It was this framework that Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator who had previously served under Francisco Serrano in the Portuguese naval assaults of Banda, Macassar, and the Malucco (Moluccas), fully understood. Serrano himself had been shipwrecked off Mindanao in 1512, a full nine years before Magellan reached Philippine shores.

At that point, there was no question: the archipelago — clearly located east of the Tordesillas line — was Portuguese territory.

The Calculated Intrusion

Despite his awareness of the established demarcations, Magellan, now in the employ of the Spanish Crown, deliberately violated international treaties. Upon reaching Homonhon Island (which he renamed *Agua de la Bona Señal* or “Island of Good Watering Sign”), Magellan was acutely aware — by celestial readings aboard his ship — that he had entered the Portuguese maritime sphere.

Yet, undeterred, he planted the Spanish cross and claimed the surrounding islands — already within the orbit of the Rajahship of Butuan and Calagan — for the Spanish monarch. This act was a calculated overreach, especially considering that the ultimate objective of Magellan’s voyage was not the Philippines, but the Spice Islands (Moluccas), which had already been discovered by Portugal over a decade earlier.

The Spanish fleet Magellan commanded was called the "Armada de Moluccas" — a title which alone reveals the subterfuge: their stated mission was to reach the Moluccas, not the Philippines. The detour to the archipelago and its annexation was not authorized under the prevailing legal regime of European colonial expansion.

The Longitudinal Lie (The Mechanism of Deception)

Historian Carlos Quirino aptly described this episode as a “fraudulent attempt to support the Spanish contention” — a deliberate act of chicanery in colonial cartography.

The instrument of this deception was longitude, a notoriously difficult coordinate to calculate with 16thcentury technology. Magellan, with the assistance of his chronicler Antonio Pigafetta, recorded the longitudinal location of Homonhon as:

 “161 degrees west of the demarcation line”

 (or, equivalently, 199 degrees east of it)

This fictitious coordinate placed the island group far out into the Pacific, near the Marianas, which fell within Spain's hemisphere under the Treaty of Tordesillas.

In reality, Homonhon and the other islands Magellan encountered were nowhere near that location. Yet this fabrication in navigational data was used to justify the claim that the archipelago lay in Spanish territory, thereby opening the door for Spain’s subsequent colonization of the Philippines.

Consequences and the Legacy of the Fraud

This geopolitical sleight of hand was not without immediate cost. Magellan “almost immediately and dearly paid with his blood”, dying in the Battle of Mactan just weeks after his brazen territorial seizure.

However, the fraud lived on. Decades later, when Miguel López de Legazpi embarked on his own expedition, he carried sealed royal instructions that ordered him to sail not to the Moluccas, as publicly stated, but instead directly to the Philippines — a move that acknowledged the deceptive precedent set by Magellan.

Legazpi’s mission, as per these secret orders, was recognized even by Spain as being "somewhat inconsistent with existing treaties," confirming that the entire imperial endeavor in the Philippines was built on a foundation of territorial fraud and diplomatic evasion.

Five Questions to Spark Your Curiosity

1. If Magellan knew the Philippines was Portuguese territory according to the Treaty of Tordesillas, why was his fleet ironically named the ‘Armada de Moluccas’?

2. How exactly did Magellan and Pigafetta's deliberate miscalculation of longitude (161 degrees west/199 degrees east) benefit Spain by placing the Philippines near the Marianas Islands?

3. How were the unsuspecting Calagans and Visayans of Butuan and Caraga affected by Magellan's act of planting the cross, given they were unaware that he was an "intruder" based on the Papal Bull?

4. How did Legazpi’s later royal instructions, which ordered him to the Philippines (Portuguese territory) while bypassing the Moluccas, confirm the ongoing nature of this geopolitical deception?

5. Magellan's source account notes he "dearly pay[d] with his blood" for this fraudulent claim; how did this immediate consequence underscore the risks of territorial grabbing?

Explore Further, Engage Deeper

 “In crossing the Pacific to take possession of islands already ceded to another Crown, the Spaniards did not simply overstep boundaries — they reimagined geography to suit their colonial ambitions.”

This story is just one of many hidden within the pages of Surigao Across the Years. To explore more: Interact with the book through Artificial Intelligence (AI):
 

Visit the customized GPT by Open AI HERE and the Book Section of the Surigao Historical Society HERE

Citation

All information and quotations are drawn directly from *Chapter 5: Surigao: Royal Outpost in the Pacific* in *Surigao Across the Years* by Fernando A. Almeda Jr., D. Litt. (Vicarish Publishing, 2017).

Click here to know the Editorial Team, Copyright and Authorized Digital Use Statement

𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒆 𝑷𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒆, 1596

Pieter van den Keere’s 

Source: https://www.facebook.com/nationalmuseumofthephilippines