Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture is doing a deep dive into The Philippine Islands series by Blair and Robertson. As I have previously documented, this series of books mentions the Lequios Islands as a place separate from the Philippines and close to Japan. Tim continues to ignore all that, calling it a "Jesuit conspiracy" and has found a new narrative to latch onto: Three Shipwrecked Lequian Indians.
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| https://thegodculturephilippines.com/the-shipwreck-that-proves-lequios-was-in-the-philippines---not-ryukyu/ |
Buried in the pages of Volume XVI of The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898 (Blair & Robertson), there lies a maritime account that has gone largely unnoticed — yet it may contain one of the most direct pieces of evidence placing Lequios in the Philippines , not Ryukyu.
This is the story of Juan Bernardo de Fuentidueñas , a Spanish pilot who survived a shipwreck near Macao in January 1610 — and discovered something unexpected on a remote island.
Three survivors.
Three Lequian Indians.
And no sign of Ryukyu anywhere.
⛵ The Voyage and the Wreck
In early 1610, pilot Juan Bernardo de Fuentidueñas set sail from Manila aboard a small vessel bound for Macao. His mission was urgent: warn a departing ship to delay its journey until Dutch forces had cleared the seas.
But fate intervened.
Near Macao, his boat struck an unseen reef far from land. As dawn broke, he and his crew spotted the wreck of a large Chinese vessel nearby — empty, save for scattered silver coins and signs of struggle.
Then came the discovery that changes everything.
On a nearby islet, they found three indigenous men who had been stranded for months.
“...they found three Lequian Indians , who had been there for months. They were the only survivors of ten who had left their country.”🧭 Who Were These "Lequian" Men?
The term “Lequian” appears nowhere else in colonial records. But here, it seems clear: these men hailed from Lequios .
Crucially, the text does not say:
“Japanese”
“Ryukyuan”
“Okinawan”
“Chinese”
Instead, it identifies them by place of origin : Lequios.
Now consider the context:
The voyage began in Manila
The route followed known Philippine sea lanes
The stranded men spoke Tagalog or another native language
There is no mention of Ryukyu at all
These men were almost certainly from the northern Luzon coast — part of the Ilocos-Zambales-Batanes corridor that we’ve long argued was the true location of Lequios .
🌊 Why This Matters
This passage isn’t just a forgotten footnote. It’s a smoking quill — direct testimony from a Spanish chronicler that places Lequios within the Philippine archipelago , not 1,000 miles north in Japan’s Ryukyu Islands.
Here’s why this matters:
1. Maritime Context Matches Luzon
Ships traveling between Manila and Macao hugged the Philippine coast.
Ryukyu was off-route and rarely involved in Manila-based voyages.
2. Lequios Was Known to Spanish Navigators
Lequios appeared on early maps like the Cantino Planisphere (1502) and Diego Ribeiro’s Royal Charts (1529).
These maps placed Lequios along the northern Luzon arc , not in East Asia.
3. Indigenous Participation in Colonial Voyages
Native laborers, sailors, and interpreters often traveled aboard Spanish ships.
These “Lequian” men likely worked on such a vessel before being stranded.
4. No Evidence Supports a Ryukyu Connection
No language clues
No cultural markers
No navigational alignment
Just one phrase: “Lequian Indians.”
🧾 What This Changes
For centuries, historians have assumed that Lequios = Ryukyu , based largely on later Jesuit-era reinterpretations and editorial biases.
But this account from 1610 predates many of those shifts.
It shows that:
Lequios was understood as a Philippine region
Its people were part of the colonial maritime network
Its geography fits Northern Luzon — not Okinawa
This is not speculation.
This is firsthand testimony from a Spanish pilot who saw it with his own eyes.
Now, this is an interesting story. However, as always, Tim gets it wrong. Let's take these claims one by one.
1. The term “Lequian” appears nowhere else in colonial records.
What does Tim mean by this? If he means that this term only appears once in The Philippine Islands series he is wrong. This term appears in volumes 17, 33, and 54. It does not appear in volume 16 which Tim lists as his source.
In the beginning of January, 1610, a fragata was sent to Macao with warning for the said ship to remain there until the Dutch were driven from these seas. As commander in it was the pilot, Juan Bernardo de Fuentidueñas, who was sick with the fever. He went on the voyage, and before dawn of Thursday, January 28, ran foul of a reef, where no land could be seen in any direction, except a few rocky points at low tide. The fever left the pilot at this sudden catastrophe, and at dawn the Spaniards saw on the reefs a large ship, that looked like a Chinese vessel, which had been wrecked. They went to this vessel to get its small boats. Entering it, they found not a soul, living or dead. But they found considerable silver scattered about. Not content with what they found in the vessel, the Indians began to dive into the water to see if they could find any more. Their efforts were not in vain, for they must have found in that way about eight thousand reals of eight to the peso, although somewhat oxidized by the sea-water. From the top of the little elevation, an islet was discovered, of not more than one legua in circumference. They went thither in successive trips of the small boat, and found three Lequian Indians, who had been there for months. They were the only survivors of ten who had left their country. On this island, the Spaniards refitted, as well as possible, their boat and another one that the Lequians had at hand, although it was also small. They divided themselves between the two boats, and tak- ing as much of the money as they could carry, started for Macao.
Two days' journey thence to the northwest is found a large island called Lozon, where six or eight junks belonging to the Lequian people go yearly.
The reference in volume 33 is Pigafetta's journal. As I have pointed out many times Pigafetta says the Lequios travel to Luzon for trade. They are not from Luzon. That makes this claim:
Ryukyu was off-route and rarely involved in Manila-based voyages.
WRONG!
2. The stranded men spoke Tagalog or another native language
This is pure conjecture. Nothing in the passage says what language they spoke. Yet, Tim rightly notes:
Native laborers, sailors, and interpreters often traveled aboard Spanish ships.
So, it would not be surprising that these stranded sailors could be understood. But nothing in the passage even hints at what language they were speaking.
3. Lequios was understood as a Philippine region
This is wrong. The third time "Lequian" appears in The Philippines Islands series is on page 434 of volume 54 which is an index. That reference leads to volume 8 which contains a letter from the King of Japan who says he has conquered the Island of Lequio.
An Embassy from Japan
Letter from the King of Japan
It is more than one thousand years since Japon has been governed by one sovereign. During this period the wars and dissensions among the rulers of the country were so many, that it was impossible to send a letter from one part to the other; until now the Lord of Heaven has willed that the country be united in my time, and that it be reduced to my obedience. In accomplishing this, everything was so favorable to me, that as yet I have lost no battle, but have been victorious in every one for ten years. Likewise I have conquered the island of Lequio, which was not under my sway, and Acoray [Korea]; and even from Eastern Yndia embassies have been sent to me. Now I am about to invade Great China in order to conquer it, for heaven, and not my forces, has promised it to me. I am much surprised that that country of the island of Luzon has not sent me ambassador or messenger, and I was therefore of a mind, on my way to China, to attack Manila with my fleet, were it not that Faranda, a Japanese noble, told me of the good treatment accorded to my vassals, the Japanese traders, who go to those islands from here. When I asked him if the ruler there was my friend, he answered and assured me that, if I should send a letter to the governor, he would send me an ambassador. And should he not do it since I am well established in my kingdom, I am so powerful that I have men who can go to conquer any kingdom whatever. Although this messenger is a man of low rank, I have accredited him, because of the good account he gives. And also, since I am not sending the troops I thought to send, I shall descend, within two months, from where I am now, to Nanguaya, my seaport, where are stationed the forces composing my army; and if an ambassador comes to me there from those islands, and I ascertain that the governor is my friend, I shall lower my banner in token of friendship. If an ambassador is not sent, I shall unfurl my banner and send an army against that country to conquer it with a multitude of men; so that that country will repent at not having sent me an ambassador. In order to become the friend of the Spaniards, I am sending this embassy from Miaco, in the year 19, [_sic_] from the country of Japon, to the country of Luçon.
The conquest of Korea was not accomplished until 1592, although the preceding year had been spent in vigorous preparations for the campaign. Hideyoshi evidently made this statement in boastful anticipation of success. His design was to conquer, at one blow, both Korea and China.
The invasion of Ryukyu (琉球侵攻, Ryūkyū Shinkō) by forces of the Japanese feudal domain of Satsuma took place from March to May of 1609, and marked the beginning of the Ryukyu Kingdom's status as a vassal state under the Satsuma domain.
In the final decades of the 16th century, the Shimazu clan, along with Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who ruled Japan from 1582 to 1598, requested or demanded various types of aid or service from the kingdom on a number of occasions. King Shō Nei (r. 1587–1620) met some of these demands. Shō Nei sent a tribute ship, the Aya-Bune, to Satsuma in February or March of 1592, and agreed to provide approximately half of his allocated burden in preparation for the invasion of Korea in 1593. However, Shō Nei also ignored many communications from Shimazu and Hideyoshi, which spurred the Shimazu, with the permission of the newly established Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1867), to invade Ryukyu in 1609, claiming it to be a punitive mission.
These men were almost certainly from the northern Luzon coast — part of the Ilocos-Zambales-Batanes corridor that we’ve long argued was the true location of Lequios .
'The place from which the letter was written was probably the town of Shiuri, the chief port of the Riu Kiu (or Loo Choo) Islands, known to the Spaniards as Lequios. See Basil Hall's "Bibliography of Luchu," in Transactions of Asiatic Society of Japan, xxiv, pp. I-11.
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