Cebu is where Magellan's voyage around the world lost Magellan
In April 1521 Ferdinand Magellan planted a wooden cross on Cebu's shore and saw the local ruler Rajah Humabon baptised with about 400 of his people. Less than two weeks later Magellan was dead, killed on nearby Mactan Island by the forces of the chief Lapu-Lapu, and his ships finished circling the globe without him.
The name probably grows from an old Philippine root meaning to bathe or wade into water, which survives in Cebuano as sugbu, to dive. Early Europeans wrote down what they heard as Zubu or Cubu, and that eventually settled into Cebu. Folklore says the pre-Spanish kingdom was founded by Sri Lumay, half Malay and half Tamil, from Sumatra, and that its capital was Singhapala, a Tamil-Sanskrit name meaning lion city, sharing its root with Singapore.
Magellan, having lost the backing of Portugal's king for his plan to reach the Spice Islands by sailing west, took the idea to Spain. His five ships and about 250 people left Sanlucar de Barrameda on September 20, 1519, and reached the Philippines on March 16, 1521. A local rajah pointed them toward Cebu for trade. Humabon and Lapu-Lapu were probably rivals for the busy local trade, and Magellan stepped into that feud. After the Battle of Mactan on April 27, his body was never recovered, and Juan Sebastian Elcano took command and sailed the fleet home to Spain.
Spain came back in force on April 27, 1565, when Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived ready for either peace or war, remembering what had happened 44 years earlier. Cebu City became the oldest city and first capital of the Philippines, nicknamed the Queen City of the South.
Today the province covers the main island plus 167 smaller islands and islets, and its coastline ranks among the most important sites for marine biodiversity in the Coral Triangle. With 53 cities and municipalities it has more than any other Philippine province, and Metro Cebu is the country's third largest urban area, after Manila and Davao.
Source: Cebu
