Legazpi timeline

Every key date in the story of Legazpi’s expedition and the start of Spanish rule in the Philippines, from Magellan’s arrival in 1521 to Legazpi’s death in Manila in 1572. Each one links to the chapter that tells it.

Before the voyage, 1521–1563

16 March 1521: Magellan’s fleet reaches the islands, and he names them the Archipelago of San Lázaro. (Pigafetta’s Log)
April 1521: At Cebu, Rajah Humabon is baptised and his queen is given a small image of the Christ Child, the Santo Niño. On 27 April Magellan is killed on Mactan. (Pigafetta’s Log)
24 July 1525: García Jofre de Loaísa’s fleet sails for the Spice Islands, with the young Andrés de Urdaneta aboard. (Chapter 1)
1528–1529: Álvaro de Saavedra’s Florida crosses from Mexico to the Moluccas, then twice fails to sail back. Nobody knows the way. (Chapter 1)
1529: Spain sells its claim to the Moluccas to Portugal. (Chapter 3)
6 June 1536: After eight years in the Spice Islands, Urdaneta lands at Lisbon. (Chapter 1)
Late 1542: Ruy López de Villalobos sails from Navidad, Mexico, with six ships and about 370 men. (Chapter 2)
4 August 1543: One of Villalobos’s ships goes north to islands “which we call Felipinas,” after Prince Felipe: Samar and Leyte. (Chapter 2; How the Philippines got its name)
1543–1546: Two attempts to sail back to Mexico fail. Villalobos’s men give up, and he dies at Amboina in 1546. (Chapter 2)
1552: Urdaneta becomes an Augustinian friar in Mexico City. (Chapter 1)
24 September 1559: King Felipe II orders ships sent west, above all to find the way back. (Chapter 3)
1560: The king asks Urdaneta to go with the fleet, and he agrees. (Chapter 3)
February 1561: The viceroy, Luis de Velasco, names Miguel López de Legazpi to command. (Chapter 3)
1561–1564: The ships are built at Navidad. (Chapter 3)

1564

31 July: The viceroy dies, and the judges of the Audiencia of Mexico take charge. (Chapter 4)
1 September: The Audiencia’s sealed orders: go to the Philippines, and send ships back to find the return route. (Chapter 4)
21 November: Four ships and about 380 people sail from Navidad, three hours before dawn. (Chapter 4)
25 November: At sea, Legazpi opens the orders. The fleet is going to the Philippines, not New Guinea. (Chapter 5)
30 November: The San Lucas vanishes ahead of the fleet. (Chapter 5)

1565

9 January: Barbudos, probably Mejit in the Marshall Islands. (Chapter 6)
22 January–3 February: Guam. Hundreds of canoes come out to trade. After a ship’s boy is killed, three Chamorro men are hanged and houses burned. (Chapter 7)
13 February: The fleet reaches the Philippines, off Samar. (Chapter 8)
15 February: Possession is taken of Cibabao, on Samar, for the king of Spain. (Chapter 8)
5 March: Blood-friendship with the people of Cabalian, on the southern tip of Leyte. (Chapter 9)
9 March: Limasawa, almost empty after a Portuguese raid. (Chapter 9)
Mid-March: Off Bohol, a trading junk from Borneo is captured. Its pilot explains why the islanders flee: Portuguese raiders calling themselves Castilians. (Chapter 10)
16 or 25 March: The blood compact of Sikatuna and Legazpi on Bohol. (Chapter 11; The blood compact)
21 April: Holy Saturday: the frigate comes back from scouting Negros and Cebu. (Chapter 12)
27–28 April: The fleet reaches Cebu. Tupas will not trade or make terms; the Spaniards attack, and about a hundred houses burn. (Chapter 13)
28 April: The Santo Niño is found in a house in the burned town. (Chapter 14)
8 May: Ground is broken for a fort: the town of San Miguel, the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. (Chapter 15)
1 June: The San Pedro sails from Cebu for Mexico, with Urdaneta aboard. (Chapter 17)
4 June: The Treaty of Cebu: Tupas and his chiefs make peace and accept the king of Spain as their lord. (Chapter 16)
9 August: The San Lucas reaches Navidad, the first ship to sail back across the Pacific. (Chapter 18)
18 September: The San Pedro sights an island off California. (Chapter 19)
8 October: The San Pedro reaches Acapulco. The way back has been found. (Chapter 19; The galleon trade)
28 November: A plot to steal a ship and desert is discovered at Cebu, and its leaders are hanged. (Chapter 20)

1566–1569

1566: Hunger at Cebu, and a second mutiny. (Chapter 20)
15 October 1566: The San Gerónimo, the first ship from Mexico, arrives after a voyage of mutiny and murder. (Chapter 21)
April 1567: News that the master-of-camp, Mateo del Saz, has died. Martín de Goiti takes his place. (Chapter 22)
July 1567: Legazpi sends cinnamon and letters to Mexico, and reports that Chinese and Japanese ships come every year to Luzon and Mindoro. (Chapter 22)
21 March 1568: Tupas is baptised, taking the name Felipe.
October 1568: A Portuguese fleet under Gonzalo Pereira demands that Legazpi leave, then blockades Cebu for months. (Chapter 23)
1569: Legazpi moves his main base to Panay. In August the king names him governor and captain-general of the islands. (Chapter 23)

1570–1571

May 1570: Martín de Goiti and Juan de Salcedo sail north to find Maynila. At Mindoro they fight two Chinese junks. (Chapter 24)
24 May 1570: Fighting at Maynila, Rajah Sulayman’s town. The Spaniards take it, and it burns. (Chapter 25)
6 June 1570: Goiti takes possession of Luzon for the king. (Chapter 25)
Early 1571: Legazpi makes Cebu a city: the City of the Most Holy Name of Jesus. (Chapter 26)
20 April 1571: Legazpi sails from Panay for Luzon. (Chapter 26)
16 May 1571: Legazpi lands at Maynila. Lakandula of Tondo, Rajah Sulayman and the elder rajah make peace. (Chapter 26)
3 June 1571: The battle of Bangkusay. The same day, Legazpi gives Manila the title of city. (Chapter 26)
24 June 1571: Legazpi names Manila’s first city council: the founding day of Spanish Manila. (Chapter 27; The founding of Manila)
August 1571: Juan de Salcedo takes Cainta, and the towns around Laguna de Bay make peace. (Chapter 27)

1572–1573

20 August 1572: Legazpi dies in Manila. Guido de Lavezaris becomes governor. (Chapter 28)
June 1573: Lavezaris reports that Chinese merchants come in greater numbers every year. The galleon trade is about to begin. (Chapter 28)

Afterwards

1574: The Chinese corsair Limahong attacks Manila, and Goiti is killed. King Felipe II confirms Manila’s title of city.
1593: A royal decree limits the galleon trade to two ships a year each way. (The galleon trade)
1813–1815: The galleon trade is abolished, and the last galleon reaches Manila in 1815.
1898: Spanish rule in the Philippines ends. (Chapter 28)

Read the full retelling →

Quotations follow the English translations in Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson’s The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898. About the sources →

More about the voyage: Who’s who · How the Philippines got its name · The blood compact · The galleon trade · The founding of Manila