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General Atlas of All the Islands in the World, c. mid-16th century. Alonso de Santa Cruz (1505–1567), royal cosmographer. U.S. Library of Congress. Public Domain.

Map Authority: Commissioned under the Spanish Crown for formal geopolitical record by a royal cosmographer, 1539. Luquios as Luzon, Philippines With Visayas and Mindanao Charted With It
1539 Spanish Government MAP Philippines as Liquios: General Atlas of All the Islands in the World, c. mid-16th century. Alonso de Santa Cruz (1505–1567), royal cosmographer.
THE SMOKING QUILL | APRIL 26, 2025

Case Study: Luquios = Philippines
Primary Source Evidence from the Spanish Crown's Official Cartographer

Exhibit Title:

"Luquios is the Philippines: A Cartographic Revelation from the 16th Century"

Introduction

One of the most persistent colonial-era geographic misidentifications is the conflation of "Luquios" (or "Lequios") with the Ryukyu Islands of Japan. However, a newly surfaced cartographic source authored by Alonso de Santa Cruz, the Royal Cosmographer under Charles V and Philip II, dismantles that assumption once and for all.

Primary Source:

  • Map Title: General Atlas of All the Islands in the World

  • Image Reference: Image 58

  • Cartographer: Alonso de Santa Cruz (1505–1567)

  • Commissioned by: Spanish Crown

  • Archive: Library of Congress

  • Direct Link: LOC.gov

Visual Evidence:

  • The map clearly labels "Luquios" over the archipelago that corresponds to the modern-day Philippines, including Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

  • The island shapes and surrounding maritime orientation unmistakably match the Philippine cluster rather than the Ryukyu arc.

Significance:

This map was not speculative or commercial; it was part of a state-sponsored atlas meant to define the Spanish empire's geopolitical understanding. Therefore, its labeling of Luquios as the Philippines carries legal and academic weight.

Impact:

This finding:

  • Refutes the Ryukyu-Japan identification of Luquios

  • Confirms accounts like Fernão Mendes Pinto who placed the "Lequios" in the region of Mindanao

  • Supports the premise that ancient references to Lequios or Luquios referred to the Philippines and not Japan

Conclusion:

The 16th-century map by Alonso de Santa Cruz places Luquios exactly where the Philippines are today. This renders the colonial scholarly claim that Luquios refers to the Ryukyus not only incorrect but definitively disproven by the Spanish Crown's own official documentation.

This is not just a quill stroke of history—it’s the inked signature of truth.

Yah Bless,

The God Culture Team

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