Title: On Magellan, His Cross and Lapulapu's Wrath: Remembering the Past in CebuSubmitted by: Julius Bautista, Centre for Asian Societies and Histories, Australian National UniversityIn the Philippine island of Cebu, a wooden cross enshrined in an octagonal obelisk commemorates the legacy of the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan who arrived there in 1521. The cross is said to mark the spot where the navigator proclaimed to Cebuanos that only through Christ would their heathen souls gain salvation. How ironic it is indeed that a within a few weeks, it was he who lay face-down on the shore -- slain in Mactan by the Chieftain Lapulapu in a battle that is as overlooked as the place of its occurrence is unsung. While Magellan's death represented a bitter end to an epic and pioneering journey, it was for Filipinos the first major encounter with a power that was to subjugate them for over four-hundred years. But despite this, this event has received relatively little attention among those who have focused almost exclusively on the developments around the Manila area. This paper revisits the circumstances that surround the navigator's time in the Visayas through the various ways it is portrayed in both foreign and local sources. This is used as a platform upon which to examine some surrounding issues that departs from or receives too little coverage in the history of Cebu. Return to Abstracts menuCarol Burnett Phone: 61 - 3 - 9349 1899 Email: c.burnett@asialink.unimelb.edu.au
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