Spanish colonization of the Philippines

“Those people go naked, wearing but one piece of palm-tree cloth about their private parts.” Wrote Antonio Pigafetta (1491 – 1534), the Venetian who, in 1519, joined the expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan to the Moluccas Spice Islands. By March…

“There is no such thing as a free lunch.” The adage that economists used to explain opportunity cost also applies to the invisible cost that comes with every gain or action. The environment and humans who are dependent on them…

In search of a sea route to the spice islands, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) led a fleet of five ships that left Sanlucar de Barrameda, a port in Cadiz, Spain, on September 20, 1519. Three months into the expedition…