This Happened Here
Eastern Visayas: San Lazaro, the first name
On 17 March 1521 Magellan's crew landed on Homonhon and called the islands the archipelago of San Lazaro, the country's first European name. Felipinas came 22 years later.
0:59 · Eastern Visayas · October 9, 2026
The story
Before they were the Philippines, these islands had another name, given here. Dawn, March 16, 1521. Magellan's battered fleet sighted a high land called Zamal: Samar. The next day, the feast of Saint Lazarus, they went ashore on little Homonhon.
They found springs of clear water and named it the Watering-place of Good Signs. The crew were tired, sick and hungry. People from nearby Suluan brought them food. Pigafetta wrote that they named the islands the archipelago of San Lazaro.
On March 25 they sailed on to Limasawa, where the first Mass was held on Easter Sunday. Twenty-two years later, another expedition gave islands here a second name: Felipinas. That name grew to cover the whole country. But San Lazaro came first, at Homonhon.
Waray or Leyteño? What do your elders call Samar's old name: Tandaya, Ibabao, or another? Tell us in the comments.
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