Gines de Mafra
Encyclopedia
Ginés de Mafra was a Spanish
explorer who sailed to the Philippines
in the 16th century. De Mafra was a member of the expeditions of Ferdinand Magellan
of 1519–1521 and Ruy López de Villalobos
of 1542–1545.
, in Cadiz
, Andalusia
, Spain. In 1519, he became a crew member of the Magellan expedition. De Mafra started as a seaman in the galleon Trinidad, the armada's flagship
, and was on board when the Portuguese
captured the Spanish vessel at Benaconora, today Jailolo
, in the Moluccas. He was imprisoned at for 5 months at Ternate (20 km south of Benaconora), transferred to a jail at Banda Islands
where he remained for 4 months. Thereafter he was transferred to Malacca for 5 months after what he was brought to Cochin, India
, where he languished for two years. De Mafra was finally brought by the Portuguese to Lisbon together with his crew members including Gonzalo Gómez de Espinosa and Hans Bergen. Upon their arrival in Portugal in 1526 de Mafra, and his crew members were thrown in prison. Bergen died in jail while Espinosa was later released that year. De Mafra himself was detained due to his possession of important documents which included the books and papers from the Trinidad. The manuscripts included navigational notes of Andrés de San Martín, who was the fleet's chief pilot and astrologer. It was later taken and mined by Portuguese historians. These manuscripts were later transferred to Spain during the Iberian Union
in 1580-1640. The letters were accessed by several Spanish chroniclers, including Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas
. These papers have been lost and now exist only in quotes, references, and citations by these historians.
, Charles V of Spain
to have him released, he was freed in early 1527, and immediately proceeded to Spain. He was given an audience with the emperor after which he went straight to Palos only to discover his wife, Catalina Martínez del Mercado, believing he had died during the voyage, had remarried, and sold their personal fortunes, and land properties. De Mafra wrote to the emperor complaining of his marital trouble, and asking for his intercession for the return of his possessions. The emperor agreed, and ordered an investigation be made by officials, and to have the matter resolved.
, and South America
. The governor of Guatemala
, Pedro de Alvarado
, in a letter written on November 20, 1536, tells the emperor he had hired the services of de Mafra as pilot, who is considered as one of the best sailors due to his experiences with the Magellan voyage. Its not clear where the expedition went but most scholars believe the fleet went to Peru
.
as pilot of the San Juan, one of six ships. Thus it is a mystery that many scholars have been trying to solve, when we find him as one of the men of the galleon San Cristobal who made it to the port of Mazaua in 1543. The galleon was separated from the fleet during a severe storm as the ships sailed between Eniwetok and Ulithi
. While stranded in one of those islands, he writes a document of the Magellan voyage, he talks about the meeting of Rajah Siaiu the chieftain of Mazaua. De Mafra wrote, "This same chief [Rajah Siaiu] we saw in the year fifteen forty-three by those of us in the fleet of general Ruy López de Villalobos, and he still remembered Magellan, and displayed to us some of the things he [Magellan] had given him." According to Italian
historian Antonio Pigafetta
, "Magellan's gift consisted of a garment of red, and yellow cloth made in the Turkish fashion, a red cap, knives, and mirrors". De Mafra, and his crew members stayed in the island for about 5 to 6 months. This long stay suggested they had to repair the San Cristobal as it must have been damaged by the fierce storm. De Mafra was one of 117 survivors of the failed Villalobos expedition who made it to Malacca. There De Mafra, age 53, elected to stay together with 29 other crew members. The other survivors sailed for Lisbon in a Portuguese ship. De Mafra handed his manuscript to an unnamed sailor; this eventually reached Spain in transcribed form by an unknown editor where it remained hidden for many centuries in the Archive of the Indies in Madrid . It was eventually discovered and published in 1920.
De Mafra wrote that Magellan's port was an isle with a circumference of 3-4 leagues or 9-12 nautical miles. "Y otro dia luego partió [Magallanes] de esta isla, y navegando su viage llego a otra isla que tendra de circuito de tres hasta cuatro leguas". ("And after another day he [Magellan] left this island [Homonhon], and sailing on his way arrived at another [Mazaua] three or four leagues in circumference.") Because the shape of the isle is almost circular, 3-4 leagues translate to an area of from 2,214 up to 3,930 hectares. In contrast, Limasawa is only 698 hectares. He also stated, they anchored west of the isle: "Esta isla tiene un puerto bueno a la parte del poniente della, y es poblada." ("This island called Mazaua has a good harbor on its western side, and is inhabited"). Mazaua is officially, by Philippine law, declared as the island of Limasawa, an isle without anchorage, and the port is located east of the island. De Mafra's most clarifying testimony is that Mazaua was 15 leagues, roughly 45 nautical miles (83 km), below Butuan in 1521 which in Pigafetta's map, and text is a larger geographical conception than the present-day map. The land area starts from present day Surigao, and extends all the way to Zamboanga del Norte
. De Mafra writes in Spanish: "De este Señor de Maçagua" [Rajah Siaiu] "supo Magallanes que en una provincia que se llamaba Butuan que es en la isla de Mindanao que es de la parte del norte della quince leguas de Maçagua habia gran cantidad de oro." ("From the chief of Mazaua" Rajah Siaiu "Magellan learned that a province called Butuan, on the island of Mindanao
, which is somewhere fifteen leagues to the north of Mazaua, possessed a large quantity of gold.") This puts the port of Mazaua at 9° N, the exact latitude for it by the Genoese Pilot, one of those who wrote an eyewitness document. All these information revolutionize geographical conception of Mazaua. Limasawa, which has been affirmed thrice by the Philippines' National Historical Institute, to be Mazaua is rectangular in shape, 698 hectares in area, and is reached by a track that is not drawn by any of the document. What is most telling is that Limasawa has no anchorage, As stated by the coast pilot, "Limasawa is fringed by a narrow, steep-to reef, off which the depths are too great to afford anchorage for large vessels."
However scientists have not yet examined the entire isle including its coastal regions. At the moment no authenticated physical evidence traceable to Magellan and De Mafra and other known European visitors who visited the island-port has been found. As of today, geologists and archaeologists are still digging and investigating the site.
Talk:Mazaua
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
explorer who sailed to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
in the 16th century. De Mafra was a member of the expeditions of Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer. He was born in Sabrosa, in northern Portugal, and served King Charles I of Spain in search of a westward route to the "Spice Islands" ....
of 1519–1521 and Ruy López de Villalobos
Ruy López de Villalobos
Ruy López de Villalobos was a Spanish explorer who sailed the Pacific from Mexico to establish a permanent foothold for Spain in the East Indies, which was near the Line of Demarcation between Spain and Portugal according to the Treaty of Saragossa in 1529...
of 1542–1545.
Voyage to the Philippine Islands
De Mafra was born in the town of Jérez de la FronteraJerez de la Frontera
Jerez de la Frontera is a municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, situated midway between the sea and the mountains. , the city, the largest in the province, had 208,896 inhabitants; it is the fifth largest in Andalusia...
, in Cadiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
, Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
, Spain. In 1519, he became a crew member of the Magellan expedition. De Mafra started as a seaman in the galleon Trinidad, the armada's flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
, and was on board when the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
captured the Spanish vessel at Benaconora, today Jailolo
Jailolo (town)
Jailolo is a town and former sultanate on Halmahera in Indonesia's Maluku Islands. It is located on the island's west coast approximately 20 km north of Ternate. Jailolo is a small port that serves Halmahera's northwestern coastal villages....
, in the Moluccas. He was imprisoned at for 5 months at Ternate (20 km south of Benaconora), transferred to a jail at Banda Islands
Banda Islands
The Banda Islands are a volcanic group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about south of Seram Island and about east of Java, and are part of the Indonesian province of Maluku. The main town and administrative centre is Bandanaira, located on the island of the same name. They rise...
where he remained for 4 months. Thereafter he was transferred to Malacca for 5 months after what he was brought to Cochin, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, where he languished for two years. De Mafra was finally brought by the Portuguese to Lisbon together with his crew members including Gonzalo Gómez de Espinosa and Hans Bergen. Upon their arrival in Portugal in 1526 de Mafra, and his crew members were thrown in prison. Bergen died in jail while Espinosa was later released that year. De Mafra himself was detained due to his possession of important documents which included the books and papers from the Trinidad. The manuscripts included navigational notes of Andrés de San Martín, who was the fleet's chief pilot and astrologer. It was later taken and mined by Portuguese historians. These manuscripts were later transferred to Spain during the Iberian Union
Iberian Union
The Iberian union was a political unit that governed all of the Iberian Peninsula south of the Pyrenees from 1580–1640, through a dynastic union between the monarchies of Portugal and Spain after the War of the Portuguese Succession...
in 1580-1640. The letters were accessed by several Spanish chroniclers, including Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas
Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas
Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas , Spanish historian, was born at Cuéllar, in the province of Segovia.-Biography:His father, Roderigo de Tordesillas, and his mother, Agnes de Herrera, were both of good family...
. These papers have been lost and now exist only in quotes, references, and citations by these historians.
Finally freed only to find his wife had remarried
After numerous pleas by de Mafra to the Holy Roman EmperorHoly Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
, Charles V of Spain
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
to have him released, he was freed in early 1527, and immediately proceeded to Spain. He was given an audience with the emperor after which he went straight to Palos only to discover his wife, Catalina Martínez del Mercado, believing he had died during the voyage, had remarried, and sold their personal fortunes, and land properties. De Mafra wrote to the emperor complaining of his marital trouble, and asking for his intercession for the return of his possessions. The emperor agreed, and ordered an investigation be made by officials, and to have the matter resolved.
The New World expedition
De Mafra goes back to the sea in 1531, and sails to CentralCentral America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
, and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. The governor of Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, Pedro de Alvarado
Pedro de Alvarado
Pedro de Alvarado y Contreras was a Spanish conquistador and governor of Guatemala. He participated in the conquest of Cuba, in Juan de Grijalva's exploration of the coasts of Yucatan and the Gulf of Mexico, and in the conquest of Mexico led by Hernan Cortes...
, in a letter written on November 20, 1536, tells the emperor he had hired the services of de Mafra as pilot, who is considered as one of the best sailors due to his experiences with the Magellan voyage. Its not clear where the expedition went but most scholars believe the fleet went to Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
.
The Villalobos expedition (1542-1546)
De Mafra joined the expedition of Ruy López de VillalobosRuy López de Villalobos
Ruy López de Villalobos was a Spanish explorer who sailed the Pacific from Mexico to establish a permanent foothold for Spain in the East Indies, which was near the Line of Demarcation between Spain and Portugal according to the Treaty of Saragossa in 1529...
as pilot of the San Juan, one of six ships. Thus it is a mystery that many scholars have been trying to solve, when we find him as one of the men of the galleon San Cristobal who made it to the port of Mazaua in 1543. The galleon was separated from the fleet during a severe storm as the ships sailed between Eniwetok and Ulithi
Ulithi
Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...
. While stranded in one of those islands, he writes a document of the Magellan voyage, he talks about the meeting of Rajah Siaiu the chieftain of Mazaua. De Mafra wrote, "This same chief [Rajah Siaiu] we saw in the year fifteen forty-three by those of us in the fleet of general Ruy López de Villalobos, and he still remembered Magellan, and displayed to us some of the things he [Magellan] had given him." According to Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
historian Antonio Pigafetta
Antonio Pigafetta
Antonio Pigafetta was an Italian scholar and explorer from the Republic of Venice. He travelled with the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his crew on their voyage to the Indies. During the expedition, he served as Magellan's assistant and kept an accurate journal which later assisted him...
, "Magellan's gift consisted of a garment of red, and yellow cloth made in the Turkish fashion, a red cap, knives, and mirrors". De Mafra, and his crew members stayed in the island for about 5 to 6 months. This long stay suggested they had to repair the San Cristobal as it must have been damaged by the fierce storm. De Mafra was one of 117 survivors of the failed Villalobos expedition who made it to Malacca. There De Mafra, age 53, elected to stay together with 29 other crew members. The other survivors sailed for Lisbon in a Portuguese ship. De Mafra handed his manuscript to an unnamed sailor; this eventually reached Spain in transcribed form by an unknown editor where it remained hidden for many centuries in the Archive of the Indies in Madrid . It was eventually discovered and published in 1920.
Geographical mysteries
De Mafra's document has been examined by American geographer Donald D. Brand. Brand dismissed it as nothing more than what de Mafra recalled on Andrés de San Martín writings, which de Mafra had with him until these were confiscated in Lisbon. "It should be pointed out here that the previously unknown, Descripción de los reinos, Libro que trata del descubrimiento y principio del estrecho que se llama de Magallanes, por Ginés de Mafra, published in Madrid, 1920 in Tres Relaciones could not be based on more than Mafra's memory of what he might have read in a Tratado begun by San Martín." This dismissive charge unargued, and unproved, was echoed by Martín Torodash, and Philippine religious historian John N. Schumacher, and influenced the thinking of many other scholars including the ethnographer historian William H. Scott. This explains why the unsolved information to the geographical mystery of Mazaua has remained buried in his record. Laurence Bergreen gave due recognition of de Mafra's document in Bergreen's 2003 work titled Over the Edge of the World, Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe. It is this document that makes his information an incomparably important geographical testimony that unlocks the mystery of the island of Mazaua.De Mafra wrote that Magellan's port was an isle with a circumference of 3-4 leagues or 9-12 nautical miles. "Y otro dia luego partió [Magallanes] de esta isla, y navegando su viage llego a otra isla que tendra de circuito de tres hasta cuatro leguas". ("And after another day he [Magellan] left this island [Homonhon], and sailing on his way arrived at another [Mazaua] three or four leagues in circumference.") Because the shape of the isle is almost circular, 3-4 leagues translate to an area of from 2,214 up to 3,930 hectares. In contrast, Limasawa is only 698 hectares. He also stated, they anchored west of the isle: "Esta isla tiene un puerto bueno a la parte del poniente della, y es poblada." ("This island called Mazaua has a good harbor on its western side, and is inhabited"). Mazaua is officially, by Philippine law, declared as the island of Limasawa, an isle without anchorage, and the port is located east of the island. De Mafra's most clarifying testimony is that Mazaua was 15 leagues, roughly 45 nautical miles (83 km), below Butuan in 1521 which in Pigafetta's map, and text is a larger geographical conception than the present-day map. The land area starts from present day Surigao, and extends all the way to Zamboanga del Norte
Zamboanga del Norte
Zamboanga del Norte or simply known as ZANORTE is a province of the Philippines located in the Zamboanga Peninsula region in Mindanao. Its capital is Dipolog City and the province borders Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga Sibugay to the south and Misamis Occidental to the east...
. De Mafra writes in Spanish: "De este Señor de Maçagua" [Rajah Siaiu] "supo Magallanes que en una provincia que se llamaba Butuan que es en la isla de Mindanao que es de la parte del norte della quince leguas de Maçagua habia gran cantidad de oro." ("From the chief of Mazaua" Rajah Siaiu "Magellan learned that a province called Butuan, on the island of Mindanao
Mindanao
Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three island groups in the country, which consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The other two are Luzon and the Visayas. The island of Mindanao is called The...
, which is somewhere fifteen leagues to the north of Mazaua, possessed a large quantity of gold.") This puts the port of Mazaua at 9° N, the exact latitude for it by the Genoese Pilot, one of those who wrote an eyewitness document. All these information revolutionize geographical conception of Mazaua. Limasawa, which has been affirmed thrice by the Philippines' National Historical Institute, to be Mazaua is rectangular in shape, 698 hectares in area, and is reached by a track that is not drawn by any of the document. What is most telling is that Limasawa has no anchorage, As stated by the coast pilot, "Limasawa is fringed by a narrow, steep-to reef, off which the depths are too great to afford anchorage for large vessels."
The mysterious isle
Armed with the insight from De Mafra's information, a team of archaeologists led by a geomorphologist went to work to validate the theory Mazaua is in 9°N. In January 2001, an incredible discovery met the earth scientists: the geo-political entities composed of Pinamanculan and Bancasi inside Butuan in northern Mindanao was in fact an island. From that point on the archaeologists went to work to find artefacts that would identify the isle as the port of Magellan. Age of contact ceramics, disarticulated human bones have been found that show the isle was inhabited before the Spanish arrival. Corroded iron, metal bracelets, and a brass pestle have been dug up that however have yet to be dated. The excavation was done in places outside the suspected village where the indigenous tribes of Mazaua had lived.However scientists have not yet examined the entire isle including its coastal regions. At the moment no authenticated physical evidence traceable to Magellan and De Mafra and other known European visitors who visited the island-port has been found. As of today, geologists and archaeologists are still digging and investigating the site.
Publications
- Bergreen,Laurence. Over the Edge of the World, Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe. HarperCollins: New York, 2003.
- Combés, Francisco. Historia de las islas de Mindanao, Iolo y sus adyacentes. W.E. Retana (ed.): Madrid, 1897.
- Defense Mapping Agency. Pub. 162 Sailing Directions (Enroute). Philippine Islands 3. Washington D.C., 1993.
- de Jesus, Vicente C. (2002). Mazaua Historiography. Retrieved February 27, 2007.
- Escalante Alvarado, Garcia de. 1546. Colección de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquesta y organización de las Antiguas posesiones españolas en América y Oceania (42 v., Madrid, 1864-1884), tomo v, pp. 117-209.
- Herrera, Antonio de. Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos en las islas y tierrafirme del mar oceano, t. VI. Angel Gonzalez Palencia 9ed.): Madrid, 1947.
- Howgego, Ramond John. 2002. Encyclopedia of Exploration. Sydney: Hordern House.
- Joyner, Tim. Magellan. International Marine: Maine, 1992.
- Mafra, Ginés de. Libro que trata del descubrimiento y principio del estrecho que se llama de Magallanes. National Library Museum; ed. by A. Blázquez and D. Aguilera: Madrid, 1920.
- Medina, José Toribio. El Descubrimiento del Océano Pacífico: Vasco Nuñez Balboa, Hernando de Magallanes y Sus Compañeros. Imprenta Universitaria: Chile, 1920.
- Morison, Samuel Eliot. The European Discovery of America, The Southern Voyages 1492-1616. Oxford University Press: New York, 1974.
- Noone, Martin J. The Discovery and Conquest of the Philippines 1521-1581. Richview Browne & Nolan Limited: Ireland, 1983.
- Ramusio, Gian Battista. "La Detta navigatione per messer Antonio Pigafetta Vicentino". In: Delle navigatione... Venice: Pp. 380-98.
- Rebelo, Gabriel. 1561. Historia das ilhas de Maluco. In: Documentação para a História das Missões do Padroado Português do Oriente: Insulíndia. Lisboã: Agencia Geral do Ultramar. 1955. Cited by José Manuel Garcia in As Filipinas na historiografía portuguesa do século XVI, Centro Portugués de Estudos do Sudeste Asiático, Porto: 2003.
- Santisteban, Fray Geronimo de. 1546. Colección de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquesta y organización de las Antiguas posesiones españolas en América y Oceania (42 v., Madrid, 1864-1884), tomo v., pp. 151-165.
- Schumacher, John N. "The First Mass in the Philippines". In: Kasaysayn 6: National Historical Institute: Manila, 1981.
- Torodash, Martin. "Magellan Historiography" In: Hispanic American Historical Review, LI (May 1971), 313-335.
External links
Talk:Mazaua