Brunei vs. Spain over the Philippines

Abstract

Before Miguel Lopez de Legaspi implanted the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines at Cebu in 1565, an Asian power had already established political influence over a large part of the archipelago. This power was the Sultanate of Brunei on the island of Borneo.

It is interesting to note, at this point, that the first Spaniards to come in contact with Brunei were the remnants of the Magellan expedition who hurriedly left Cebu after the great navigator was killed by Lapu-Lapu in Mactan and several of his officers were massacred at a party given in their honor by Rajah Humabon. Led by Sebastian Elcano and with kidnapped Filipino pilots to guide them, the surviving Spaniards sailed towards the southwest, missing Panay, passing Cagayan de Sulu, and skirting the southern tip of Palawan until they arrived at Brunei Bay.