Magellan, 500 Years Later
by Oliver Carlos
During the 2019 SEA Games held here in the Philippines, I was able to interview the head coach of the Timor Leste national football team just before their match with the Azkals. The visitors’ coach was a Portuguese, Fabiano Jose Costa Flora. Timor Leste was a former Portuguese colony that’s why they have close ties with that European nation that once ruled the oceans of the world.
After talking about sports, Coach Fabiano and I talked about history. I asked him about Portugal’s most famous son, Ferdinand Magellan, who was being celebrated that year. Magellan’s journey to the Philippines began in 1519, and so it was the 500th anniversary of the start of his voyage that the world was commemorating then.
I was surprised that Coach Fabiano couldn’t understand who I was talking about. He didn’t know who this Ferdinand Magellan was. I said, “he’s your country-mate, he’s Portuguese.” He still shook his head left and right. Then I figured things out. I remember that Portuguese people can understand and speak Spanish, being neighbors in Europe. So I spoke to him in Spanish and mentioned to him Magellan’s Spanish name: Fernando de Magallanes. Finally, were on the same page! He exclaimed, “Ah, Fernão de Magalhães (pronounced: Fernawmn je Magalaynz)!” That’s Magellan’s real name, because he’s Portuguese.
We shouldn’t call him by his English name because that’s not how he was called during his time. Nobody called him Ferdinand. It’s like the world calling me Oliver Charles Castle or Seong Jae Ti. Those are not my real names, they’re just translations of it in the English and Korean languages, respectively.
Magellan is famous worldwide because he was credited as the leader of the 1st expedition to have circumnavigated the world. Although he didn’t complete the circling of the world because he met his death in the Battle of Mactan, his companions made it back to Europe.
However, modern Filipino historians are intently looking into the character of Enrique de Malacca as the 1st man to have circumnavigated the world. Enrique was a slave boy whom Magellan got in Malacca (present-day Malaysia) in 1511. Magellan brought him to Europe, christened him Enrique, and taught him Spanish and Portuguese. He served as the expedition’s interpreter, communicating fluently with the Visayan chieftains Magellan met here. How could that be? Enrique must have been a Cebuano who ended up in the slave market in Malacca.
Antonio Pigafetta, the expedition’s scribe, mentioned in his chronicles about a merchant from Siam (present-day Thailand) who bought-and-sold slaves in the Cebu and Malacca markets. That man could have brought Enrique to Malacca in 1511. If Enrique was indeed a Cebuano, then he was the 1st man to circle the world by the time Magellan and friends landed in Cebu! But until this is solidly established, Magellan’s crew still holds the acclaim.
Fast forward to the present, we can see that Magellan’s story has gone a long way. Five hundred years have passed, and he’s still being talked about. Who do you think among us modern people would still be talked about by people 500 years after our time, and would have one’s name translated in different languages like Magellan? That’s a tough act to follow.
But there is someone whose name is continuously spreading around the world, 2000 years after he died and rose again. That’s Jesus. In Filipino he is Hesus. In Vietnam, his name is Yesu. In Hebrew, his name is Yeshua. In English, he’s known as Jesus.
The Bible says that the fame and glory of the name of Jesus will continue to cover the earth, until he returns one day to rule over all:
“…at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord..” (Philippians 2:10–11,NLT)
We Christians await this day, when Jesus will appear triumphantly in the clouds, putting an end to all doubts on who he really is. Are you excited for that day? Or the more meaningful question is, are you ready for that day?
