1521
The chapel in Cebu City that houses Magellan’s Cross, said to hold the cross planted by his expedition.Image: Carlo Joseph Moskito · CC BY-SA 4.0world · Asia
Magellan’s ships reach Cebu
On Sunday 7 April 1521, according to the expedition’s chronicler Antonio Pigafetta, Ferdinand Magellan’s ships sailed into the harbour of Cebu, in what are now the Philippines. Magellan made a blood compact with the island’s ruler, Rajah Humabon. Within a week Humabon and hundreds of his people had been baptised, the start of Christianity in the islands. But Magellan’s alliance drew him into a local quarrel, and on 27 April he was killed fighting Lapulapu’s warriors on nearby Mactan. The date is by the Julian calendar.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Cebu City ↗
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