Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture despises the Jesuits. That is, unless they say something he agrees with. That means Tim will cite Jesuits who speculated the Philippines as being Ophir all the while claiming the Society of Jesus was up to no good altering maps to hide the location of Ophir. According to Tim, the Jesuits moved the location of the Lequios Islands from Luzon to the Ryukyu Islands.
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| https://thegodculturephilippines.com/lequios-was-the-philippines----then-the-jesuits-moved-it/ |
🧭 Then Came the Rewriting: The Jesuit Colonial Trail of Tears
By the early 1600s, we see a narrative shift — not based on new discoveries, but on colonial repurposing of names.
As missionaries struggled to reach Japan:
Ryukyu became a waypoint, it never was.
Jesuit journals began using “Lequios” for Ryukyu — not because of fact, but out of convenience.
The rich, sovereign, seafaring Lequios of Tomé Pires’ 1515 account — clearly the Lucoes of Luzon — were now erased and replaced.
By the early 1600s, the shift is clear. A name migration had begun:
The Jesuits arrived in Manila in 1581 already having gained cartographic control, declared the Philippines a Jesuit province by 1605, and were expelled in 1767 — during which time, maps began restoring Lequios to the Philippines. Once they returned in 1859, the suppression resumed and the true narrative was completely erased. That's not history.
👁️ So... Who Changed the Maps?
The Jesuits did.
They changed:
What Lequios meant (forgetting the many resources do not even exist in Ryukyu)
Where it was located (maps placed in the Philippines from the first mentions in 1502, 1512, 1516, 1519, 1526-29, 1539, and so on... [See below]
And who it belonged to
They added brackets like “[Liu-Kiu]”, omitted previous placements, and rewrote the identity of an entire land — the true Land of Gold.
💥 Final Word:
Lequios was the Philippines.
The only thing Ryukyu inherited was a stolen name, artificially imposed by missionaries who needed a stepping-stone to Japan and rewrote history to fit their logistics. We covered Ryukyuan and Japanese scholars who agree Ryukyu was never Lequios.
This is the start of the Jesuit Colonial Trail of Tears — when maps were manipulated, cultures overwritten, and the Philippines was erased from its own ancient legacy.
They did this using a land that was never gold-rich, never sovereign, and never central to the maritime world. If it were not so evil, it would be laughable.
That ends now.
Oh my goodness! The evil sneaky Jesuits changed the maps!
The Jesuits arrived in Manila in 1581 already having gained cartographic control, declared the Philippines a Jesuit province by 1605, and were expelled in 1767 — during which time, maps began restoring Lequios to the Philippines. Once they returned in 1859, the suppression resumed and the true narrative was completely erased.
In the 1600’s, this was still not lost as Father Colin still referred to the Philippines as Ophir and Tarshish.
The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 162
Colin's exact words are:
25. Although these are islands it will not be necessary to fatigue the mind by discussing (as do San Agustin and other authors in respect to other islands and to America) whence and how people and animals came to them. For if some of these islands have been, at any time since the flood, part of a continent, from that time men and animals could remain in them; while if they have always been islands, the nearness ofsome of them to others, and of some of them to the mainland of Asia, whence began the propagation of the human race and the settlements of the descendants of Noah, is sufficient reason why some of them could come to settle these regions. And that this was really so, and that the principal settler of these archipelagoes was Tharsis, son of Javan, together with his brothers, as were Ophir and Hevilath of India, we see in the tenth chapter of Genesis, which treats of the dispersion of peoples and the settlement of countries, as we establish in another place.
Not only did Fr. Colin state his opinion that the Philippines is Ophir but his fellow Jesuit, Pedro Chirino, preserved the Baybayin script.
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So much for the Jesuits hiding the land of gold and erasing the Philippines "from its own ancient legacy." Fr. Chirino and Fr. Colin undermine Tim's conspiracy narrative concerning the Jesuits
Tim has a new quote to "prove" the Jesuits were altering maps.
“They [Jesuits] altered ancient geographies, adjusted cartographic labels, and redrew routes to suit ecclesiastical and political needs.”— Historical summary of Jesuit cartographic influence, paraphrased from "Jesuit Science and the Republic of Letters", Feingold, 2003
That is not a quotation from a book but rather a summary of a book titled Jesuit Science and the Republic of Letters. While the book is about the role Jesuits played in the emerging new science of the 1600's, it is absolutely not about Jesuit cartographic deception.
I uploaded the book to ChatGPT and asked for an analysis.
ChatGPT said:
The statement — “They [Jesuits] altered ancient geographies, adjusted cartographic labels, and redrew routes to suit ecclesiastical and political needs.” — is not directly supported by the book Jesuit Science and the Republic of Letters, edited by Mordechai Feingold.
While the book does document the Jesuits’ engagement with geography, mathematics, astronomy, and related sciences, it does not provide evidence that they intentionally manipulated or falsified geographic data for ecclesiastical or political gain in the sense implied by the summary. Instead, Jesuit scholars are described as active contributors to scientific and mathematical education, often incorporating geography into their teaching and academic work, albeit sometimes through outdated frameworks (e.g., rejecting heliocentrism as physical truth but accepting it as a hypothesis).
Jesuit involvement in cartography and geography is treated primarily as part of their scientific and pedagogical efforts, not as deliberate geopolitical manipulation. If you are looking for a source that accuses the Jesuits of revising geography for ideological reasons, this book does not appear to support that claim.
Where did Tim get this summary of Mordechai Feingold's book? If the book supports his thesis why not directly cite it rather than post an alleged summary of the contents? If the book is a bombshell revealing undeniable proof of Jesuit duplicity in altering maps then why not show that proof?
Aside from Tim's perversion of maps, journals, and other writings from the 16th century this is the closest thing to proof Tim has that the Jesuits were manipulating maps and it's fake. Thus Tim still has no proof the Jesuits were altering maps.
Tim claims that the addition of clarifying bracketed words in texts is proof of a conspiracy to change the location of Lequios.
“In case I have people and ships enough, I intend to send men to discover the islands of Lequios [Liu-Kiu] on this side of Japan.”— The Philippine Islands, Vol. III, p. 250
Key Detail:“On this side of Japan” means southwest of Japan — placing Lequios near the Philippines, not northeast in Ryukyu.
Important Note:The bracketed “[Liu-Kiu]” is a later editorial insertion, not original to Artieda. This is retroactive cartographic fraud — the first trap laid by colonial editors.
They added brackets like “[Liu-Kiu]”, omitted previous placements, and rewrote the identity of an entire land — the true Land of Gold.
Which is pretty funny and ironic seeing as Tim has added words in parentheses to Pigafetta's journal which actually falsifies the text instead of clarifying it!
Even history agrees as in 1521, Pigafetta witnessed elephants as he mentioned them multiple times especially in Palawan.
“When we arrived at the city (Palawan), we were obliged to wait about two hours in the prahu, until there came thither two elephants covered with silk...” –Pigafetta, 1521
The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pg. 102
This event happened in Borneo. Pigafetta never writes about seeing elephants in the Philippines. I wrote a whole article about it here.
Tim also claims that I have accidentally proven the Jesuits changed cartography related to the Lequios Islands.
Yes, Jesuits later changed this — and even one defensive blogger unwillingly admits it in his rant.
https://thegodculturephilippines.com/lequios-was-the-philippines----then-the-jesuits-moved-it/
Since he does not elaborate I can only surmise he is referring to my citations of Fr. Gaspar da Cruz and Fr. Martin de Rada who wrote the following respectively:
And as to what he says about the Eastern Scythia ending in a point, it seems to me that both he and those from whom he took this are mistaken; and that this mistake arose from seeing it thus depicted in a world-map, which was for lack of true information. Because the point which they show as containing the country and people of the Liquos is not continued with the mainland, but it is an island which standeth in the sea of China, little more or less than thirty leagues from China itself. In this island live this people, which is a well-disposed people, more to the white than brown.
South China in the Sixteenth Century, pg. 68
Besides these islands which lie near to the coast, there are a very large number of [other] great and populous islands; these I will describe as they are depicted in their draughts. Beginning at the extremity of the province of Canton, which we said lies in latitude 20°, from thence nearly forty leagues to seaward, they say lies the great and populous island of Cauchi which is tributary to China. Over against the province of Hocquien [Fukien] and beyond Tacao which we saw, as is related in our narrative, lies towards the north-east of it the island of Zuansin, and from thence towards the northeast, Lusin. To the east of this lies Siaugy, and from here towards the north-west lies the Lesser Leuquiu, the which lies to the east of Hocchiu [Foochow]. Then towards the north, lies the Greater Leuquiu. These islands are called Los Lequios in our maps. More towards the north is Humal, over against Chetcan. From thence to the northwards lies Gitpon, which peoples and nations which border on the land of Taybin, and therefore we near the strait at the entrance of the gulf of Santon [Shantung] is Tanhay we call the Japones, and further north than the Japones lies Tauçian. And and at the furthest extremity of Taybin is Halecan.
South China in the Sixteenth Century, pg. 265
The problem here is not only is Fr. Gaspar da Cruz correcting misconceptions about the distance to the Lequios Islands but he was not a Jesuit.
Gaspar da Cruz was admitted to the Order of Preachers (Dominican order) convent of Azeitão. In 1548, along with 10 other friars.
Fr. Martin de Rada was also not a Jesuit.
Martín de Rada (June 30, 1533 - June 12, 1578) was one of the first members of the Order of Saint Augustine (OSA) to spread the Christian doctrine in the Philippines, as well as one of the first Christian missionaries to visit Ming China.
Apparently Tim is neither aware of these facts nor is he aware of the rivalry between the Dominicans, the Augustinians, and the Jesuits. Why would the Dominican Gaspar da Cruz and the Augustinian Martin de Rada participate in a Jesuit conspiracy to alter geography? Perhaps Tim will ignore that historical context and broaden his conspiratorial claims to include the Dominicans and the Augustinians. As it stand Tim's claim of a Jesuit cartographic conspiracy means no 16th century maps are reliable yet Tim employs those same maps to buttress his cause. If the maps are corrupted then they cannot be trusted but if they are authentic then there is no conspiracy. Either way, Tim's case for a conspiracy crumbles under the weight of its own contradiction.
Tim is not too pleased I have ignored his cartographic gymnastics.
The desperation becomes evident when someone cannot construct a fact-based argument and instead chooses to ignore clear evidence—including a large number of historical maps.
https://thegodculturephilippines.com/ryukyu-was-never-lequios----even-their-scholars-admit-it/
I cannot construct a fact-based argument? My articles are filled with facts that Tim contorts out of all recognition and calls nonsense.
Imagine a blogger writing at length about complete nonsense
https://thegodculturephilippines.com/ryukyu-was-never-lequios----even-their-scholars-admit-it/
What I will not do is take Tim's bait and attempt a rebuttal of every single map he has wrested. Tim continues to claim the 1492 Behaim globe and Ribeiro's 1529 map refer to the City of Manila which is an historic impossibility. That is one of Tim's many egregious errors which have been documented on this blog. There is simply no reason to examine every map and rebut Tim's errors when there is a much bigger picture to consider. Focusing on the broader historical context and textual evidence is more productive than getting bogged down in individual map interpretations. The evidence (from 16th century journals, itineraries, and descriptions as well as from modern scholars who have studied the topic) is very clear, the Lequios Islands were distinct from the Philippines. Northern Luzon is not the Lequios Islands. Misinterpreting imprecise maps is not evidence and will never change that fact. Tim's distortion of 16th and 17th century maps is not "clear evidence" of anything except his stubborn duplicity and denial of the facts.
Fernando Pinto's journal describes his travels in the Lequios Islands. In one instance he deliberately sailed against the current towards the Lequios Islands to get out of a storm's way. When Pinto arrived he spoke with some locals and asked what the island directly ahead of and visible to them was called. They said it was Japan. Then Pinto and his men immediately entered Japan.
We proceeded on our voyage in the battered condition we were in, and three days later we were struck by a storm that blew over the land with such fierce gusts of wind that that same night we were driven out of sight of the shore. And since by then we were unable to approach it again, we were forced to make with full sail for the island of the Ryukyus where this pirate was well known to both the king and the other people there. With this in view we sailed ahead through the islands of this archipelago, but since at this time we were without a pilot, ours having been killed in the recent battle, and the northeast winds were blowing head on, and the currents were running strong against us, we went tacking with great effort from one board to the other for twenty-three days until finally, at the end of that time, our Lord brought us within sight of land. Coming in closer to see if it showed any sign of an inlet or harbor with good anchorage, we noticed a huge fire burning over to the south, almost at a level with the horizon. This led us to believe that it was probably inhabited and that there might be people there who would sell us water, which we were running short of.
As we were anchoring opposite the island in seventy fathoms of water, two small canoes with six men on board came rowing out from shore. They came alongside, and after an exchange of greetings and courtesies in their fashion, they asked us whence the junk had come. Our answer was that we had come from China, bringing merchandise to trade with them, if they would give us leave to do so. One of them replied that as long as we paid the duties that were customarily charged in Japan, which was the name of that big land mass outlined ahead of us, the nautoquim, lord of that island of would readily grant us permission. He followed this up by Tanegashima, telling us everything else that we needed to know and showed us the port where we were supposed to anchor.
pg. 274
Tim calls this passage ambiguous. He also says citing it to prove the Lequios Islands are near Japan is to reduce Pinto's account to a single metric.
This critic has reduced Pinto's richly detailed account to a single metric—his mistaken belief that Japan was "ahead" of him. Even that is questionable, as translation ambiguity remains.
https://thegodculturephilippines.com/pinto-the-typhoon-and-the-blogger-who-can-t-read-a-storm/
However, entering Japan is the context of the chapter which is titled The Discovery of Japan. It's not a single metric. Tim does not explain the supposed ambiguity in this passage. Where is the ambiguity in Pinto saying Japan was visible to him, his immediate entry into Japan, and then describing his adventures in Japan? There is no ambiguity. But Tim can think of no way to reconcile this passage with his theory so he dismisses it.
In another instance Pinto shipwrecked in the Lequios Islands and said they are located at 29°.
In this manner we departed from Pungor the capital City of the Island of Lequios, of which I will here make a brief relation, to the end that if it shall one day please God to inspire the Portugal Nation, principally for the exaltation and increase of the Catholick faith, and next for the great benefit that may redound thereof, to undertake the Conquest of this Island, they may know where first to begin, as also the commodities of it, and the easiness of this Conquest. We must understand then that this Island of Lequios, scituated in nine and twenty degrees, is two hundred leagues in circuit, threescore in length, and thirty in bredth.
This Ryukyu island is situated at twenty-nine degrees latitude.
Pinto, pg. 300, Rebecca Catz, translator
Tim's response is to call that precise coordinate a corruption.
The only logical reading is that 29° was a later copyist’s or editor’s error (likely in the flawed 1614 edition), especially given the fact that: Pinto was not a cartographer and relied on approximate positional recall. Scholar Rebecca Catz warned of “glaring and daring” latitudinal inaccuracies in the published edition.
What is Tim's proof that 29° is "a later copyist’s or editor’s error?" He does not offer any proof, he simply asserts it. If this place is corrupt then how is Tim so sure that the rest of the text is not corrupt? On what basis can he make such a distinction between corrupt and uncorrupted places in the text? Why does Tim continue to appeal to Pinto when he declares the text is corrupt? It seems as if Pinto's journal is only corrupt when it contradicts Tim. That is irrational madness.
It is Tim who cannot deal with facts. Instead he is relegated to distorting maps and dismissing any evidence that contradicts him. That includes fabricating a Jesuit conspiracy to "alter ancient geographies and adjust cartographic labels." Examining every map Tim brings to his defense is a pointless exercise when the totality of evidence, including those maps, is against him. The only thing being erased here is historical accuracy, and Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture is the one doing the erasing.
