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- Title:
- Out of Food
- Description:
- Calculating exactly how many men arrived on three ships at Homonhon Island in 1521 is complicated. There could have been roughly 130 men for Magellan to find new water and food for. The peaceful strategies were firstly, to fish, hunt and forage at uninhabited islands or places where islanders allowed them to. The swine eaten at Homonhon Island may have been hunted there. No mention is made if they were carried from Guam. A second means is to receive food as gifts. The 9 men from Samar’s Suluan Island, the first of ancestral Filipinos to encounter the Spanish Armada, gave fish, 2 coconuts, assorted banana, and a jar of native wine from their supplies. One suspects the Europeans could not have fattened up in the 10 days from the time they secured food in Guam to the time they met the Suluans. The natives could have recognised the look of sailors who had suffered extreme hunger. The third means is to barter for food. The Suluans returned after 4 days with rice, chicken and other foodstuff which were paid for with beads, caps, textiles, clothing and other goods. But the ships carried only a finite amount of trade items and they were needed to purchase spices in Maluco, their ultimate destination.
- Subjects:
- Suluan Island Cruxificion
- Exhibition:
- Magellan Menu
- Source:
- CRUCIFIXION by Juan Flandes. 1519. Wikimedia. Museo del Prado.
- Type:
- Image;Still Image
- Format:
- image/jpeg
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- "Out of Food", Philippine Food History, Felice P. Sta. Maria
- Reference Link:
- felicepstamaria.net/items/coll005.html
Rights
- Rights:
- Public domain
- Standardized Rights:
- https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/