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"First Europeans in the Philippines"
It is not known who the first Europeans were to visit any part of what is now known as the Philippines. However, books published in western Europe before Ferdinand Magellan landed in the southern Philippines in 1521 show that the members of Magellan's 1521 expedition were not. The common belief that Magellan was the first European to reach the Philippine Islands is therefore incorrect.
"Subsequent developments to the east"
In 1515–1516 the Spaniard Juan Díaz de Solís sailed down the east coast of South America as far as Río de la Plata, which he named shortly before he died, while trying to find a passage to the "South Sea".
At the same time, the Portuguese in Southeast Asia made the first European report on the western Pacific, having identified Luzon east of Borneo and named its inhabitants the "Luções", in the modern Philippines.
"What is Luções?"
Luções or phonetically Luzones is the name that the Portuguese explorers in Southeast Asia used to refer to one of the ethnic groups that occupied the island of Luzon around the time of the early 16th century.
The Luções people are written in the documents of Fernão Mendes Pinto (1614); Tomé Pires (whose written documents was published in 1944); and Antonio Pigafetta, the Italian scholar who chronicled the journey of Ferdinand Magellan and published it in 1524.
"Portuguese-Philippines"
Pires noted that they were "mostly heathen" and were not much esteemed in Malacca at the time he was there, although he also noted that they were strong, industrious, given to useful pursuits. Pires' exploration led him to discover that in their own country, the luções had "foodstuffs, wax, honey, inferior grade gold," had no king, and were governed instead by a group of elders. They traded with tribes from Borneo and Indonesia and Philippine historians note that the language of the Luções was one of the 80 different languages spoken in Malacca. When Magellan's ship arrived in the Philippines and East Timor, Pigafetta noted that there were Luções there collecting sandalwood.
The Luções' activities weren't limited to trade however. They also had a reputation for being fierce warriors. Pinto noted that there were a number of them in the Islamic fleets that went to battle with the Portuguese in the Philippines during the 16th century. The Sultan of Aceh gave one of them the of task of holding Aru (northeast Sumatra) in 1540. Pinto also says one was named leader of the Malayans remaining in the Moluccas Islands after the Portuguese conquest in 1511. Pigafetta notes that one of them was in command of the Brunei fleet in 1521.
However, the Luções did not only fight on the side of the Muslims. Pinto says they were also apparently among the natives of the Philippines who fought the Muslims in 1538. Scholars have thus suggested that they could be mercenaries valued by all sides. According to Anthony Reid notes that "the Luções people disappeared from descriptions of the archipelago after the Spanish conquest of Manila in 1571." The island of Luzon still bears their name.
"Books or commentaries on books published before Ferdinand Magellan landed in the Philippines"
Tome Pires, 5 volumes published 1512-1515
The first European reference to the Philippine archipelago appears to have been made by Tomé Pires (1512-1515) who writes, "The Luções are about ten days' sail beyond Borneo. They are nearly all heathen; they have no king, but they are ruled by a group of elders. They are a robust people, little thought of in Molucca. They have two or three junks at the most." They take the merchandise to Borneo and from there they come to Molucca. "The Borneans go to the lands of the Luções to buy gold, and foodstuffs as well, and the gold which they bring to Molucca is from the Luções and from the surrounding islands which are countless; and they all have more or less trade with one another. And the gold of these islands where they trade is of low quality - indeed very low quality ...
Contesão commentary
"This is the first European reference to the Philippine Archipelago, called Luções from its largest and north-westernmost island, Luzon ... Galvao (p.239) informs us that in June 1545 a Portuguese called Pero Fidalgo left the city of Borneo on a junk, and by contrary winds was driven towards the north, where he found an island in nine or ten degrees, which they called dos Luções, because its inhabitants were thus named ... Galvao gives the date of the first known Portuguese visit to Luzon, but it is quite likely that some other Portuguese ship on the China voyage had called before at the Luções, either on purpose or by accident. The Account of the Genoese Pilot (Leone Pancaldo) says that when, in March 1521, Magellan's expedition arrived at the small island of Malhou, in the south-eastern Philippine Islands, the natives informed them that 'they had already seen there other men like them', which suggests that possibly even before 1521 the Portuguese had visited the archipelago.
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