In the first few months of 1521, the Magellan expedition achieved the remarkable feat of surviving the first known human crossing of the Pacific from Patagonia to the fringe of Maritime Southeast Asia. They were in miserable shape.
The purpose of the voyage, we know today, was not the one that made it famous, that is, the circumnavigation of the globe. Such was a notorious consequence of a voyage meant to reach a less notorious goal: to open for Spain a maritime route into the distant, desired, and lucrative spices of the Moluccas.
This project is part of a much larger exploration that looks at the history of women during the Spanish Conquest and the Age of Discoveries.
How modern scientific method such as genetic testing help solve historical questions in Philippine history?
The maternal side of M.’s family – M. is a fictional character who I’ve positioned in a Part 1 of this project, conducted before the DNA ancestry test result came through – had, in the near past, at least, stemmed from a hill tribe in S.E. Asia, a people who are often without citizenship.
