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The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 02 of 55: 1521-1569; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century

History

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 02 of 55: 1521-1569; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century

Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources

I, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, governor and captain-general for his
majesty the king Don Felipe, our sovereign, of his forces and
the royal fleet, for the discovery of these islands of the West:
inasmuch as certain demands, contained in a summons which Pero
Bernaldez--notary-public, as he said, of his armada--read to me on
behalf of the very illustrious Gonçalo Pereira, captain-general of
the Portuguese armada, have been made upon me on the petition of
Alonso Alvarez [Furtado], factor of the said armada (as in the said
summons to which I refer, is set forth, at greater length); therefore
replying to the said demand and to the things contained therein,
I say that I came by command of his majesty the king Don Felipe,
our sovereign, and with his royal fleet as the governor and general
thereof, with the purpose of discovering the lands and islands of
the West, which are and always were within his demarcation, in order
to propagate and teach therein the gospel and the evangelical law,
and to spread the Christian sway of our holy Catholic faith--the thing
which, most of all, his majesty purposes in these parts. In the course
of my expedition I arrived at these islands, where I was obliged to
provide myself with certain supplies which I needed and which I did
not have at hand; and in search of which I went about among the said
islands for many days without being able to secure them, until by
chance I arrived at this port of Cubu, where I was obliged to spend
the winter. I sent from here the flagship, in which I came, to Nueva
Spaña with a report of all that had happened during the expedition;
and I wrote to his majesty saying that I would await here his answer
and despatches in order to learn whither he commanded me to go. And it
was because no despatch or answer came to me from his majesty that I
stayed here so long, and not from any intention or desire to settle
or remain in this land. As a matter of fact, in my instructions
I am commanded not to make entry in the islands of Maluco, or to
infringe the treaty made between the kings of Castilla and Portugal,
our sovereigns. In a clause contained therein, moreover, I am ordered
to come to these Felipinas islands and seek for certain people, lost
here, who had belonged to the armada of Rui Lopez de Villalobos; and,
in case I found them alive, to ransom them at his majesty's expense
and deliver them out of their subjection to the infidels, in order to
return them to their native lands and to the Christian faith in which
they were born and reared. This I have successfully accomplished;
of those who had come over in the said armada one was found in the
island of Tandaya, and I ransomed him. And I have also received notice
that two Spaniards were sold by the natives of the island aforesaid
to the Indians of Burney, which piece of information has made me
desirous of knowing their whereabouts and what was done with them,
that I might bestow upon them the same benefit of ransom. By this

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 02 of 55: 1521-1569; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century

Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources

I, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, governor and captain-general for his
majesty the king Don Felipe, our sovereign, of his forces and
the royal fleet, for the discovery of these islands of the West:
inasmuch as certain demands, contained in a summons which Pero
Bernaldez--notary-public, as he said, of his armada--read to me on
behalf of the very illustrious Gonçalo Pereira, captain-general of
the Portuguese armada, have been made upon me on the petition of
Alonso Alvarez [Furtado], factor of the said armada (as in the said
summons to which I refer, is set forth, at greater length); therefore
replying to the said demand and to the things contained therein,
I say that I came by command of his majesty the king Don Felipe,
our sovereign, and with his royal fleet as the governor and general
thereof, with the purpose of discovering the lands and islands of
the West, which are and always were within his demarcation, in order
to propagate and teach therein the gospel and the evangelical law,
and to spread the Christian sway of our holy Catholic faith--the thing
which, most of all, his majesty purposes in these parts. In the course
of my expedition I arrived at these islands, where I was obliged to
provide myself with certain supplies which I needed and which I did
not have at hand; and in search of which I went about among the said
islands for many days without being able to secure them, until by
chance I arrived at this port of Cubu, where I was obliged to spend
the winter. I sent from here the flagship, in which I came, to Nueva
Spaña with a report of all that had happened during the expedition;
and I wrote to his majesty saying that I would await here his answer
and despatches in order to learn whither he commanded me to go. And it
was because no despatch or answer came to me from his majesty that I
stayed here so long, and not from any intention or desire to settle
or remain in this land. As a matter of fact, in my instructions
I am commanded not to make entry in the islands of Maluco, or to
infringe the treaty made between the kings of Castilla and Portugal,
our sovereigns. In a clause contained therein, moreover, I am ordered
to come to these Felipinas islands and seek for certain people, lost
here, who had belonged to the armada of Rui Lopez de Villalobos; and,
in case I found them alive, to ransom them at his majesty's expense
and deliver them out of their subjection to the infidels, in order to
return them to their native lands and to the Christian faith in which
they were born and reared. This I have successfully accomplished;
of those who had come over in the said armada one was found in the
island of Tandaya, and I ransomed him. And I have also received notice
that two Spaniards were sold by the natives of the island aforesaid
to the Indians of Burney, which piece of information has made me
desirous of knowing their whereabouts and what was done with them,
that I might bestow upon them the same benefit of ransom. By this

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

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