A MAN IN THE SHADOW OF MAGELLAN : FRANCISCO SERRÃO, THE FIRST EUROPEAN IN THE MALUKU ISLANDS(1511 ─ 1521)走在麥哲倫影子的人：佛朗西斯科施蘭，摩鹿加群島上的第一名歐洲人(1511 ─ 1521)
Manuel Lobato’s article reexamines the figure of Francisco Serrão (c. 1511–1521), often presented in Iberian sources as the “first European” to settle in the Maluku Islands, critically situating him within the “shadow of Magellan” and, above all, within the geopolitical and historiographical context...
Saved in:
| Published in: | Review of Culture |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Articles |
| Published: |
Instituto Cultural de Macau
July 2011
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40039/3135 |
| Summary: | Manuel Lobato’s article reexamines the figure of Francisco Serrão (c. 1511–1521), often presented in Iberian sources as the “first European” to settle in the Maluku Islands, critically situating him within the “shadow of Magellan” and, above all, within the geopolitical and historiographical context of the Luso-Spanish disputes over access to spices. Drawing on a heterogeneous body of documentary evidence—chronicles and archival records, including testimonies compiled from the 1520s onward in the context of the “Moluccan Question”—the author argues that much of the information about Serrão was shaped by national rivalry, diplomatic interests, and deliberate distortions, necessitating a strict reading and cross-referencing with potentially contemporary data. Methodologically, the text articulates source criticism and a reconstruction of the early process of maritime links between Melaka and Maluku, shifting the focus of traditional historiography from “discoveries” to navigation, trade, and regional political history. Among the findings, the insufficiency of biographical data prior to 1511 and the limited direct evidence about his life in Asia stand out; at the same time, the author contextualizes the Portuguese arrival within a setting previously dominated by commercial networks and Muslim alliances (especially Ternate and Melaka), which would help explain the rapid visibility and impact of Serrão’s actions in the early stages of the Portuguese presence in the archipelago. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1682-1106 |