<div class="image-200">
<a href="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources/death_of_magellan.webp" rel="lightbox">
<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources/death_of_magellan.webp"  alt="The death of Magellan" />
</a>
<div>
(An artist illustration of the death of Magellan (Photo credit: The story of Magellan and the discovery of the Philippines, Hezekiah Butterworth, New York, 1899))
</div>
</div>
<p>
Datu Lapu-lapu declared that Mactan would never submit to the Spanish King.
</p>
<p>  
Zula sent a message to Magellan that <i>"I can overthrow Lapu-lapu if you send me a boatload of men"</i>.  Magellan having received the message in a friendly feeling, resolved to follow Zula's lead.
</p>
<p>
Magellan set out from Cebu to Mactan at midnight with around 60 men in corselets and helmets along with some native allies.  Magellan had become a happy man, he could not doubt that he was on his way to vcitory.  The expedition arrived at Mactan just before dawn.  At the red dawn in the morning Admiral Magellan gave the order to disembark, and 45 men leaped into the water.
</p>
<p>
They faced a fierce army of some 1500 in number.
</p>
<p>
Magellan divided his followers into two bands. The musketeers and cross bowmen began the attack. But the firing was not effective. The native army moved down upon them like a cloud, throwing javelins and spears. Some of them singled out Magellan. They threw at him lances pointed with iron. Magellan, seeing that the odds were against him in such a contest, sought to break their lines by firing their houses. 
</p>
<p>
Some thirty houses burst into flame. The sight of the fire maddened the natives and rendered them furious. 
</p>


April 26, 1521: Zula's Tribute Sparks Rift with Lapu-Lapu