Fernando Magellan is remembered in the West as the daring Portuguese explorer who led the first voyage around the world, but for the Philippines he is a white man who was trying to conquer their lands to take their bounties, but the real hero - for the Filipinos - is Lapu-Lapu, the tribal leader who conquered the Europeans He became the first Filipino hero to successfully resist colonization by a foreign power, Magellan's conflict with Lapu-Lapu, which led to Magellan's failure to achieve.

Ferdinand Magellan sailed from Spain in 1519 AD and led a Spanish fleet of five ships south across the Atlantic Ocean to Patagonia, passing through the strait that now bears his name and to the place he called the peaceful sea, from which came the modern name (the Pacific Ocean) On March 16, 1521 AD, Magellan saw the islands of the Philippines, becoming the first European to reach the archipelago.

Magellan had two goals, the first is to search the way west to the Maluku Islands, known as the Spice Islands near Indonesia, and the second is that any island that was discovered was in favor of the Spanish crown, despite being Portuguese, but he could not convince the King of Portugal to finance his trip, forcing him to seek refuge in Spain. Magellan landed on Homonhon Island, befriended the Limasawa chiefs, spread Catholic Christianity on the island, and the island acquired the name Carlos in honor of the Spanish king.

And many of the sheikhs agreed to convert to Christianity, except for one, Lapu Lapu, who rejected the authority of the King of Spain over his homeland. So the elders of the island persuaded Magellan of the war of Lapu-Lapu, who was ruling the island of Mactan, and became a threat to the island of Humabon, and if Magellan could win and defeat Lapu-Lapu, the island and all the water would be under his control, but he was arrogant, he believed that he would win the battle without any help because of his superior weapons, against primitive spears and bow Which was used by the tribal army, but the number was the difference.

Lapu-Lapu's men managed to stay out of range of the guns and the guns were less sophisticated than now they took from a minute to ten seconds to load, soon the warriors attacked Magellan and his forces, According to reports and records, nothing survived from Magellan's body. The people of Humabon Island tried to convince Lapu Lapu to return the body, but he refused and Magellan disappeared from the face of the earth. After his death, the surviving sailors resumed their journey, but soon the ships were disrupted and they fell ill.

Most of the crew died, and the Portuguese forces seized a ship from them, and in the meantime, Lapu Lapu restored the relationship with the Sheikh of the Humabon Island tribe and helped him kill Magellan's men. Today, Lapu Lapu is honored as a Filipino national hero who resisted foreign occupation, and although the territory of the Philippines is no longer Existing but there is a tall, gleaming bronze statue of a tribal leader holding a sword in hand and shield in central Mactan Island, and several commemorative statues across the Philippines.

There is a city in the Philippines that bears his name and Lapu Lapu also appears on the official seal of the Philippine National Police, and every year in April, the Battle of Mactan between the Magellan Army and the Lapu Lapu tribe is commemorated to commemorate the anniversary of the battle.