The God Culture: 100 Lies About the Philippines: Lie #16: Duarte Barbosa Places the Lequios in the Philippines

Welcome back to 100 lies The God Culture teaches about the Philippines. Today's lie once again concerns the identification of the Lequios Islands. Timothy Jay Schwab claims that Duarte Barbosa's description of the Lequios Islands is the Philippines. As we shall see this is simply another lie.

In his videos Tim says:

The Lequios of Luzon: Key to Finding Ophir and Chryse. Clue #52 

9:08 Now then, quotes Barbosa. "Facing this great land of China," oh, is Malaysia facing China? No. "There are many islands in the sea beyond which on the other side of the sea there is a very large land which they say is mainland," in other words a large island, "from which there come to Malacca every year three or four ships like those of the Chins." You mean Chinese junks? Right. Exactly. The Philippines is documented by Pigafetta to have several by the way. Now, "belonging to white men," we will explain this, "who are said to be great and rich merchants. They bring much gold and silver in bars, silk rich cloth, and much very good wheat, beautiful porcelains and many other merchandises. All merchandises found in the Philippines.

In his book The Search for King Solomon's Treasure Tim says mostly the same thing. 

The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 37

Exploring Malaysia, the Portuguese Duarte Barbosa observed a people known as the “Lequios” or “Lequii” or in some sources, “Lucoes.” This people is later specified even by Pigafetta as originating in the Philippines as we will cover in the history chapter. The Lequios were described as:

“From Malaca they take the same goods as the Chins [Chinese] take. These islands are called Lequios [in one version ‘Liquii’]. The Malaca people say that they are better men, and richer and more eminent merchants than the Chins.” –Duarte Barbosa, 1516 [148]

Nowhere in his book or videos does Tim actually cite from Duarte Barbosa's book. The above quote which looks like it is from Barbosa is actually from Charles E. Nowell's introduction to his book Magellan's Voyage Around the World: Three Contemporary Accounts. 

Something else was on his agenda of discovery, and he thought he knew where to find it. 

That something was the island cluster composed of Formosa and the Ryukyus, the latter known to the Portuguese, who had not yet visited them, as Lequios. Duarte Barbosa, who wrote a geographical account of the countries bordering on the Indian Ocean and those within range of the ocean, has this to say of the Ryukyu inhabitants: 

From Malaca they take the same goods as the Chins [Chinese) take. These islands are called Lequios [in one version ‘Liquii']. The Malaca people say that they are better men, and richer and more eminent merchants than the Chins. Of these folk we as yet know but little, as they have not yet come to Malaca since it has been under the King our Lord.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822013755558&view=1up&seq=34

As you can see from the bolded part Tim cites word for word Nowell's text about Barbosa's description of the Lequios Islands which means he has not read Barbosa's book. That will prove to be his undoing. 

Tim is very adamant that the Lequios cannot be the Ryukyu Islands because the Lequios are not Japanese. 

The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 163

Some attempt an etymology of the Liu Kiu in the Ryukyu Islands of Japan yet Lequios are not Japanese, these are not Southeast of China and never found there but in the Philippines which boasts a much more direct etymology and several. It is no surprise that the Lequios, Lequii or Lucoes equate to Iloconos of Ilocos.

Of course the Lequios are not Japanese but neither are the Ryukyu Islands Japan! It's all a lying canard. A closer look at the itinerary in Barbosa's book shows that the Lequios Islands cannot be the Philippines, specifically Luzon. 

Starting at the Cape of Good Hope Barbosa describes 127 locations. He ends with the Lequios Islands. Just looking at the itinerary shows it is not possible for the Lequios Islands to be the Philippines. Location 113 is Sumatra.

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.47303/page/n19/mode/2up

Continuing Eastward 115 is Java Major, 116 is Java Minor, 120 is the Maloucca Islands. That would be the Spice Islands where Magellan was headed. 121 is Celebes and 123 is Solor which is the Sulu Archipelago.

Solor here evidently refers to the Sulu Archipelago and not to the Island of Solor in the Lesser Sunda Islands. The name includes not only the chain of islands between Borneo and Mindanao, but also the north-eastern part of Borneo itself, which still bears the name Sulu. The expression "very large island" can only refer to this tract. The islands were skirted by the Spanish expedition on their way to the Moluccas after leaving Borneo, and are called Zolo by Plgafetta. Colo (i.e. Colo) appears in Ribero's map of 1529. 

124 is Borneo, 125 is Champa which is Vietnam, 126 is China, and finally 127 is the Lequios Islands. See how the progression from Sumatra has gone east and then north? If Barbosa had wanted to describe the Lucoes he would have done that after describing Borneo. But instead he goes from Borneo to Vietnam and then to China. Why would he deviate his course and return south? He would not. The Lequios Islands are not the Philippines. They are the Ryukyu Islands and Formosa also known as Taiwan. His description is as follows:

FACING this great land of China there are many islands In the Sea, beyond which stretch a very great land which they say is the mainland. Hence every year come to Malaca three or four ships like those of the Chins belonging to certain white folk, who they say are great and rich merchants. 

They bring a great quantity of gold, silver in bars, silk and rich cloths, a great deal of good wheat, fine porcelains, and many other goods. From Malaca they take the same goods as the Chins take. [These people are called Liquii. Rinnasio. These islands are called Lequeos. Spanish version.] The Malaca people say that they are better men, and richer and more eminent merchants than the Chins. Of these folk we as yet know but little, as they have not yet come to Malaca since it has been under the King our Lord. 

That last sentence is very important. Barbosa composed his book in 1516 which was a year before the Lequios Islands were visited by the Portuguese in 1517 by Jorge de Mascarenhas with the help of Chinese pilots. He says they had not yet come to Malaca. But Tome Pires, who completed his Summa Oriental in 1515, says the Lucoes were trading in Malaca.

The Lucoes are about ten days' sail beyond Borneo. They are nearly all heathen; they have no king, but they are ruled by groups of elders. They are a robust people, little thought of in Malacca. They have two or three junks, at the most. They take the merchandise to Borneo and from there they come to Malacca.

Pires, pg. 133

The Lequios were not trading in Malaca in 1516 but the Lucoes were. That means they are not the same people. If Tim had done actual research he would have known that fact. 

It is quite simple to follow Barbosa's course from South Africa to China. There is no question that the Lequios Islands are not the Philippines. But Timothy Jay Schwab did not bother to actually read Barbosa or Tome Pires or Ferdinand Pinto. Instead he relies on second hand sources and he gets everything wrong. As I have said before this shoddy research is not the work of a team but is more evidence The God Culture is the work of Timothy Jay Schwab alone. Duarte Barbosa did not identify the Lequios Islands with the Philippines.