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Coordinates: 35°22′20″N 120°51′40″W / 35.372285°N 120.861135°W / 35.372285; -120.861135
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Landing of the first Filipinos
A close up of a metal plaque with writing in English
Plaque dedicated in 1995
LocationMorro Bay
Coordinates35°22′20″N 120°51′40″W / 35.372285°N 120.861135°W / 35.372285; -120.861135
Built1995
RightCowLeftCoast/sandbox/Landing of the First Filipinos is located in the United States
RightCowLeftCoast/sandbox/Landing of the First Filipinos
The location of the landing of the first Filipinos

On 18 October 1587, the Landing of the first Filipinos onto what is now the Continental United States occurred in Morro Bay.[1] These Filipinos arrived there aboard the Nuestra Senora de Buen Experanza, which had sailed from Macao, as part of the Manila galleon trade.[2] During about three days of travels ashore around Morro Bay, the crew of the Nuestra Senora de Buen Experanza came into contact with the Chumash people, ultimately resulting in the deaths of one Spaniard, and one Filipino, crew members.[3]

Departing Morro Bay after the deaths of the crew members, the Nuestra Senora de Buen Experanza, eventually reached its initial destination of Acapulco.[4] The next time a Filipino would be documented in California, would not be until 1595.[5] In 1995, a monument on Morro Bay was dedicated to commemorate the events that occurred in 1587.[6] Beginning in 2009, October was recognized as Filipino American History Month in recognition of the events that occurred in 1587.[7]

Background

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Beginning thousands of years before their first European contact, the Chumash people made the region around the Channel Islands and areas from San Luis Obispo to Malibu their territories.[8] At the beginning of the 16th century, European explorers began to explore the Pacific, with the Spanish traveling westward first with Vasco Núñez de Balboa first seeing the Pacific Ocean from Panama, then the crossing of it by Ferdinand Magellan by reaching the Philippines.[9] The Chumash's first contact with Europeans occurred on 10 October 1542, when Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo expedition sailed into the area.[10] Their next contact with Europeans would be 45 years later.[11]

Beginning in the mid-16th Century, led by Miguel López de Legazpi, Spain conducted its campaign to conquer the Philippines, concluding with Spanish forces repelling Chinese ambitions to control Manila.[12] As a consequence of the conquest of the Philippines, in 1565 the Manila galleon trade began, sailing from Acapulco initially to Cebu, and after 1571 to Manila.[13] These ships were crewed largely by Filipinos, or "Indios Luzones" as they were known at the time.[2][14] For those Filipinos who sailed, they experienced arduous conditions, poor rations, disease, and the lowest pay among the crew.[15]

From 1582 until his death, Francisco Gali plied the Manila galleon route, initially as a navigator; on his return voyage to Mexico, which ended 1584, Gali navigated the ship he was on to a high latitude, which brought the ship along the North American Coast, which Gali had thought was along the Strait of Anián.[16] In 1585, a mission from Archbishop Pedro Moya de Contreras to survey the California Coast, and to avoid China, was given to the westward bound captain of the Manila Galleon, who at that time was Francisco Gali.[2]

Unfortunate for Gali, he died in Manila later that year, leaving the mission to one Pedro de Unamuno.[17] Unamuno, who had sailed with Gali from Acapulco, had been paid by merchants there to acquire goods in China. Upon reaching Macao, Portuguese authorities sized his two galleons, leaving him and his crew stuck in China. Hearing of this, the Real Audiencia of Manila sought the arrest of Unamuno for disobeying instructions to avoid China. Fortunate for Unamuno, who would have received the death penalty for his insubordination, there were Franciscans who wanted to return to Mexico, providing the funds to purchase a ship, which was christened the Nuestra Senora de Buena Esparanza.[2] One of those Franciscans was Martín Ignacio de Loyola; another person who came aboard for the eastward journey was a Japanese boy.[18] The ship was a fragata.[19]

Leaving the Far East in mid-July 1587, the Nuestra Senora de Buen Experanza sailed eastward across the Pacific Ocean the majority of their sailing was uneventful.[3] In early September, the ship was damaged when the "masts were sprung". More than a month on, the ship spotted land through a fog, fires were seen onshore.[11] Initial reconnaissance led to the discovery of Morro Bay which had resources which could replenish the ships provisions, there were also trees which could be utilized for masts. When people were observed on a hill looking at their ship, it was decided that a landing party should go ashore and claim the bay.[3]

Landing

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On the 18th of October, the feast day of San Lucas, the initial landing parties made landfall. One party consisted of Unamuno and a dozen soldiers, another party "Luzon Indians" and a priest; the priest was Father Martin Ignacio de Loyola, nephew of Ignatius of Loyola.[3] Two of the Filipinos went ahead of the parties scouting for the locals observed from the ship.[1] Initial attempts to make contact with local people were unsuccessful.[3] When a group of nine Native Americans were observed, they ran off before the landing party could attempt to communicate with them.[2] Taking possession of the land, placing a cross atop a hill as a sign of the claim, the landing party returned to the ship.[3]

After a second landing the next day for exploration and gathering of supplies for the ship, the landing party spent the night ashore, camping on land.[3] The next morning, part of the landing party were approached by twenty three Native Americans, who ended up taking clothing and canteens from the landing party. Not long after, an attempt to capture Loyola was stopped when a gun was fired.[2] Afterwards, the landing party began to return to their ship and were attacked, resulting in two deaths, a Spaniard and a Filipino both due to javelin wounds, and several others injured. Reinforced by a complement from the ship, they repelled the attack.[3] The next day, the 21st of October, the galleon departed continuing its journey to Acapulco.[2]

Aftermath

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Looking roughly westward, the foreground has the back of the FANHS historic landmark, with Morro Rock in the background. Located in Coleman Park, on the north part of Morro Bay.

After departing Morro Bay, they began to sail southward, and were a few days behind the Santa Ana, which had sailed a lower latitude eastward than the Nuestra Senora de Buena Esperanza ultimately falling victim to Thomas Cavendish's privateering, a fate which the Nuestra Senora de Buena Esperanza avoided.[17][20] Inland expeditions were prohibitive following the hostility experienced at Morro Bay, and attempts to contour the coast line were made difficult due to poor weather, to include fog.[21] More than a month after departing, the Nuestra Senora de Buena Esperanza arrived at Acapulco.[4] After its initial voyage across the Pacific, the Nuestra Senora de Buena Esperanza continued to be utilized in the Manila galleon trade, but was lost off the coast of Negros Island in 1647.[22]

The next documentation of Filipinos in California, would be in 1595, when a Manila galleon San Agustin was wrecked at Point Reyes.[5] Unlike the interaction of the crew of the Nuestra Senora de Buena Esperanza, the crew of the San Agustín had with the Coast Miwok did not result in deaths.[23] In November 1595, the San Agustin became the first European ship to wreck on the California coast.[24] Following the wrecking of the San Agustin, resulting in a few deaths among the crew, the crew departed in salvaged launch and made it to Acapulco.[25]

As late as the Portolà expedition the Chumash maintained a large population within their lands, however by the 1910 United States Census fewer than a hundred remained.[26] One reason for the reduction of their population was introduction of Old World diseases.[11] These diseases included pleuropneumonia and small pox.[27]

Discovery of "Puerto San Lucas" by the crew of the galleon, was recorded in the logs of the voyage. However, the discovery faded into obscurity, until 1929 when it was translated into English, and published by the California Historical Society.[28] Before then it was believed that Unamuno had sailed into Monterey Bay;[17] another early 20th century source pointed towards Cape Mendocino, or San Francisco Bay.[29] More recently, the precise location of where the landing occurred has come into dispute, citing inaccurate navigation tools, and presumptions in past writings of the event.[30]

The landing of the first Filipinos at Morro Bay, which occurred 33 years before the events at Plymouth Rock, is often overlooked, even by Filipino Americans.[31] For instance, the Filipinos who landed in 1587, have been described as "invading troops" and focus on the immigration to the United States during, and after, the American period.[32]

Although the landing is an important milestone, it would not be until the latter half of the 18th century when Filipinos finally began to settle in what would become part of the continental United States.[33] Beginning in 1992, the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) began efforts to commemorate the landing.[34] On 21 October 1995, with the mayor of Morro Bay in attendance, a monument was placed at Morro Bay to commemorate the events of 1587;[2][6] more specifically the monument was placed in Coleman Park.[35] By 2009, after follow on efforts by FANHS, Filipino American History Month was recognized by California, as well as nationally by resolutions in state and national legislatures;[30][36] it occurs every October, in recognition of the landing at Morro Bay.[7]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Valerie Ooka Pang; Li-Rong Lilly Cheng (1998). "Creating a knowledge base on Filipino Americans". Struggling To Be Heard: The Unmet Needs of Asian Pacific American Children. SUNY Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-7914-3839-8.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Rodis, Rodel (13 October 2013). "Filipinos discovered California". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Floro L. Mercene (2007). "Chapter Five: The First Filipinos in America". Manila Men in the New World: Filipino Migration to Mexico and the Americas from the Sixteenth Century. UP Press. pp. 38–42. ISBN 978-971-542-529-2.
  4. ^ a b Guillermo, Emil (18 October 2017). "Filipinos were first–to America". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  5. ^ a b Kevin Starr (February 2006). Coast of Dreams: California on the Edge, 1990-2003. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-679-74072-8.
  6. ^ a b Maria P. P. Root (20 May 1997). Filipino Americans: Transformation and Identity. SAGE. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-7619-0579-0.
  7. ^ a b "Filipino American History Month". UC Press Blog. University of California Press. 16 October 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
    Tolero, Kainani (19 October 2011). "Kainani Tolero: October is Filipino American History Month". Mercury News. San Jose. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
    Guillermo, Emil (16 October 2015). "Joint House, Senate Resolution Urges Recognition of Filipino American History". NBC News. Retrieved 28 September 2018. October was originally chosen because it marks the first Filipino presence on U.S. land when, on Oct. 18, 1587, the very first Filipinos came ashore on the central coast of California.
  8. ^ "Native Inhabitants". Channel Islands National Park California. National Park Service. 7 June 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  9. ^ Max Quanchi; John Robson (18 October 2005). Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Pacific Islands. Scarecrow Press. pp. 160–161. ISBN 978-0-8108-6528-0.
  10. ^ Meares, Hadley (16 July 2015). "A Maritime People: The Chumash Tribes of Santa Barbara Channel". California Coastal Trail. Burbank, California: KCET. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  11. ^ a b c Erlandson, Jon M.; Bartoy, Kevin (1995). "Cabrillo, the Chumash, and Old World Diseases". Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology. 17 (2). Malki Museum: 153–173. Archived from the original on 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2018 – via UC Merced Library. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |archive-date= (help)
  12. ^ Keat Gin Ooi (2004). Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor. ABC-CLIO. pp. 783–784. ISBN 978-1-57607-770-2.
    Charles A. Truxillo (2012). Crusaders in the Far East: The Moro Wars in the Philippines in the Context of the Ibero-Islamic World War. Jain Publishing Company. pp. 89–92. ISBN 978-0-89581-864-5.
  13. ^ Keat Gin Ooi (2004). Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor. ABC-CLIO. pp. 537, 1236–1237. ISBN 978-1-57607-770-2.
  14. ^ Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr. (11 April 2014). Migration Revolution: Philippine Nationhood and Class Relations in a Globalized Age. NUS Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-9971-69-781-5.
  15. ^ Talampas, Rolando G. (January 2015). Life and Times of Filipino Seamen During the Period of Spanish Colonialism (PDF). Southeast Asia Research Centre. City University of Hong Kong.
  16. ^ Robin Inglis (2 April 2008). Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Northwest Coast of America. Scarecrow Press. pp. 135–136. ISBN 978-0-8108-6406-1.
    U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (1885). Annual Report of the Director, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. p. 558.
  17. ^ a b c William Lytle Shurz (1920). "The Manila Galleon and California". In Eugene C. Barker; Herbert E. Bolton (eds.). Southwestern Historical Quarterly. Vol. 21. Austin, Texas: Texas State Historical Association. p. 112.
  18. ^ Virginia Benitez Licuanan; José Llavador Mira (1993). The Philippines Under Spain: A Compilation and Translation of Original Documents. (1583-1590). The Royal Audiencia. National Trust for Historical and Cultural Preservation of the Philippines.
  19. ^ Teresita Majewski; David Gaimster (7 June 2009). International Handbook of Historical Archaeology. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 485. ISBN 978-0-387-72071-5.
  20. ^ Smith, Jeff (31 August 2011). "Assault on a Galleon". San Diego Reader. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  21. ^ Robin Inglis (2 April 2008). Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Northwest Coast of America. Scarecrow Press. p. 325. ISBN 978-0-8108-6406-1.
  22. ^ Philippine Magazine. Philippine Education Company. 1935. p. 157.
  23. ^ Russell, Matthew A. (27 September 2018). "The Archeology of Sixteenth-Century Cross-Cultural Encounters in Point Reyes National Seashore". Archaeology Program. National Park Service. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  24. ^ Notle, Carl (14 November 1995). "400th Anniversary Of Spanish Shipwreck / Rough first landing in Bay Area". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  25. ^ Wood, Jim (April 2014). "Sinking of the San Agustin". Marin Magazine. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  26. ^ Middlecamp, David (27 April 2018). "Chumash cemetery in Avila Beach dug up to make way for the railroad". The Tribune. San Luis Obispo, California. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  27. ^ Chiacos, Elias (2 August 2007). "The 40 Years that Shaped Santa Barbara: 1782-1822". Independent. Santa Barbara. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  28. ^ Contreras, Shirley (6 November 2016). "Marking Filipino-American history on Central Coast". Santa Maria Times. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  29. ^ Râja Yoga Messenger: An Illustrated Magazine Devoted to the Higher Education of Youth. 1915. p. 36.
  30. ^ a b Ignacio, Jr., Abraham (23 October 2013). "Where Exactly Did 'Filipinos' First Land In California?". Positively Filipino. Burlingame, California. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  31. ^ Trinidad, Elson (18 October 2012). "Filipino American History, 425 Years and Counting". SoCal Focus. Los Angeles: KCET. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  32. ^ Contreras, Shirley (21 October 2017). "Shirley Contreras: Celebrating a rich local Filipino history". Santa Maria Times. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  33. ^ Daryl E.M. Fujii (11 January 2011). The Neuropsychology of Asian-Americans. Psychology Press. p. 48. ISBN 978-1-136-94945-6.
  34. ^ "Site Dedication". Fanhs10.com. FANHS Central Coast Chapter. 2011. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  35. ^ Joaquin Jay Gonzalez (1 February 2009). Filipino American Faith in Action: Immigration, Religion, and Civic Engagement. NYU Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-8147-3297-7.
    Jonathan H. X. Lee (31 October 2018). Asian American History Day by Day: A Reference Guide to Events. ABC-CLIO. p. 358. ISBN 978-0-313-39928-2.
  36. ^ 2009 Congressional Record, Vol. 155, Page H12172 (2 November 2009)
    "SCR-48 Filipino American History Month". California Legislative Information. State of California. 25 September 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2018.

Further reading

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Category:Filipino-American culture in California Category:Morro Bay Category:16th century in New Spain

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