Trivia about Miguel Lopez de Legazpi

Miguel Lopez de Legazpi

Born in Zumarraga, Guipuzcoa, Spain around 500 years ago, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi went to Mexico in 1545 where he became clerk of the Cabildo or municipal government. He was appointed in 1561 to lead an expedition to discover the islands of the West called Islas Poniente. He formally colonized the Marianas and the Philippines in 1565 and established a settlement in Cebu, which was first name as the Villa del Santisimo Nombre de Jesus. He founded the city of Manila in 1571. Upon arriving in the Philippines, Legazpi initiate pacts of friendship between native chiefs, the most famous of which was the blood compact with Sikatuna in March 1565. The treatie assured peaceful relationships between the Spaniards and the natives which greatly facilitated Spanish settlement in the Philippine;

Miguel Lopez de Legazpi

During the same year, Legazpi dispatched the first vessel which sailed across the Pacific back to Mexico. The vessel, the San Pedro, blazed the route of the Manila galleons which carried trade between Spain and Asia for the next 250 years. The first Spanish Governor General of the Philippines, Legazpi died in Manila on August 20, 1572. His mortal remains lie inside the San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Manila

Stamps featuring the 500th birth anniversary of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi

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