Today marks 500 years since our peoples encountered the society that would come to conquer and rule them for 300 years. Read the diary of its chronicler, Pigafetta; trace the journey in the #PhilippineDiaryProject philippinediaryproject.com/2021/03/05/the…
You can retrace the 500 years-ago journey starting today, all the way to October. 
The #PhilippineDiaryProject features two chroniclers of the jounrey. 1. Francisco Albo, navigator. philippinediaryproject.com/author/francis…
2. The most famous chronicler of all, 2. Antonio Pigafetta. philippinediaryproject.com/author/antonio…
Incidentally, Bicalona historian Danny Gerona's went through the archives and has very interesting finds. He readily shares his knowledge online, including in Quora: quora.com/profile/Danny-…
He has a YouTube channel and every upload is interesting. Meet Lapulapu as you've never known him before (he was 70ish, Humabon's in-law, and his Mactan settlement vanished by the time Legazpi returned). youtube.com/channel/UCiXIT…
You can read some of what other writers and historians have had to say over the years, from Nick Joaquin to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, in the #PhilippineDiaryProject link at the start of this thread.
And for a contemporary reflection, see: joeam.com/2021/03/16/hal…
In addition, three international efforts that you will find interesting and educational: 1. Google Arts & Culture Interactive Map: Magellan's Expedition and Elcano's First Circumnavigation of the Globe artsandculture.google.com/story/magellan…
2. Day-by-day and in context: The first trip around the world en.rutaelcano.com/la-primera-vue…
3. And if you're a parent, you will enjoy walking your kids through this modern look at what happened 500 years ago: Around the World in 200 Messages multimedia.expresso.pt/magalhaes2020/…
Finally, one of the most interesting efforts: .@IC_Manila and its placing Magellan and Elcano on trial before the bar of history, with a defender and a prosecutor, for each.
A postscript: this talk I gave some time back, on a question relevant again today, as we commemorate 5 centuries since that first contact between societies: what about germs, conquest, colonization, and us? The answers may surprise you.
https://twitter.com/mlq3/status/1273423062625480707?s=20
Also as today marks 500 years since the first encounter, revisiting this film makes for a nice book-end, thematically. The desperation and delusion of a crumbling empire, the grit and gallantry of a new nation. I enjoyed the film very much.
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