enrique the malay

The first man to go around the world is always subject to dispute.

Is it Ferdinand Magellan or Sebastian Elcano? Behind these two Europeans, there is a possibility that Enrique was the first man to go around the world. What is even amazing is there is a possibility that Enrique was a Filipino.

Magellan before coming to the Philippines sailed for Portugal. He volunteered for an expedition to the Moluccas, known as Spice Islands. His ship reached Malacca and had he gone hundred more miles north he could have landed in the Philippines that he did years later coming from the opposite direction. Sometime during his stay in Moluccas he picked up a Malay boy who came back with him to Europe. The boy was given the name Enrique and this is just another speculation of mine that this was probably done after the great Portuguese , King Henry, the Navigator (anglicized for Enrique). Magellan left Portugal and persuaded the King of Spain to finance his westward voyage. The rest is history but Magellan was killed in Mactan Island before he could really complete thecircumnavigation of the word. Sebastian Elcano successfully steered the onlyremaining vessel, Victoria back to Seville, Spain. Where did Enrique fitin this historic voyage? He was aboard the ship when it landed in the Philippinesin 1521. He served as Magellan interpreter and even Pigafetta the expedition's historian did not trust him because the way he mingled with the local Filipinos.He was very friendly and spoke the dialects well with the natives. Trade and commerce between these islands as far as Indonesia was already well established.People from the Philippines were already sailing the region. It is very probable that Enrique was visiting Malucca Island when Magellan first came in contact with him . When Magellan discovered the Philippines, it was also Enrique's homecoming. That day should be as marked as the day when the first man went around the world as significant as man landing in the moon. It is only fitting that the first man to accomplice the feat would come from the descendants of the ancient mariners of the Pacific.

(taken from: http://firstcircumnavigator.tripod.com/)