THE SMOKING QUILL | MAY 5, 2025

Correcting Cortesão & Lopo Homem: Colonial Remapping the Lequios Isles

Introduction: When Maps Lie and Scholars Follow

Welcome back to The Smoking Quill Series. In this installment, we shine a piercing light on the 16th-century cartographic manipulations that deliberately removed the Lequios Islands from their accurate Philippine setting and forced them north into the Ryukyus. It is time to reveal how mistranslation, misinterpretation, and outright deception have obscured the geography of the Land of Gold.

We exposed Tomé Pires for ignoring his own maps and eyewitness data. Now we turn our attention to the 1554 Planisphere of Lopo Homem and the suspicious marginal notes of translator Armando Cortesão. What we find is clear: an orchestrated push to relocate Lequios to Japan, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Even the evidence they cite.

Section 1: Cartographic Confusion in Lopo Homem's 1554 Planisphere

🔥 Key Finding: Though Cortesão and others identify the "Os Lequios" label on the Homem map as referring to Ryukyu, this is demonstrably false:

• The Lequios archipelago clearly dips well below the Tropic of Cancer to 23.5 degrees, deep into Philippine territory, matching the latitudes of Batanes, Babuyan, and Northern Luzon.

• The archipelago shown contains more than a dozen islands, matching the complex structure of the Northern Philippines, not the simple arc of the Ryukyu Islands.

• Notably, "Canal of Lequios" is not clearly labeled in the map—yet Cortesão attributes this canal to Ryukyu, from its actual position next to Palawan which he noted and then, forgot. No, Palawan did not move into the Ryukyu's.

Pungor Place Name:

• Pinto describes being taken to "Pungor," the capital city where he and his companions were judged.

• No town or port named "Pungor" exists in Ryukyu historical or linguistic records.

• However, in the Batanes Islands of the Philippines, "pungor" or "pongor" is an ancient Ivatan word meaning "meeting place," "gathering hall," or "assembly court" — fitting Pinto’s description perfectly.

• This linguistic and cultural match further confirms Pinto was describing an area around Northern Luzon and the Batanes/Babuyan Islands, not Okinawa.

🏝️ Gundexilau Decoded: Ivatan and Tagalog Linguistic Echoes

• Gundes (Ivatan):
  Traditional stone houses in Batanes, uniquely engineered to withstand typhoons.
  ➔ "Gunde" = House.

• Ilaw (Tagalog):
  Means "light", as in guiding light (e.g., lighthouse or brightness).

• Gundexilau (as heard by Pinto):
  ➔ Likely a blending of "Gunde" (house) + "Ilaw" (light). Lighthouse!
  ➔ In a region where stone houses and guiding lights (natural high ground, beacon fires) were critical for navigation and survival.

⛯ Logical Reconstruction:
In a seafaring, typhoon-prone culture like the Ivatan, a town named "House of Light" (stronghold + guiding beacon) makes perfect sense.

• 📜 Pinto, a foreigner, may have slightly misheard or conflated the terms into "Gundexilau."

• 📜 This fits the pattern of Iberian transliterations of native words throughout the Age of Exploration.

🔍 No Parallel in Ryukyu:

• Ryukyuan languages have no equivalent for gunde (stone house) or ilaw (light).

• Ryukyu's historical architecture was lightweight wood and tile — nothing like Ivatan coral-limestone structures.

⚡ Summary:

Feature

Stone Houses (Gundes)

• Ivatan/Batanes (Philippines):  ✅ Present

• Ryukyu (Okinawa):  ❌ Absent

Light-related Terms ("Ilaw")

• Ivatan/Batanes (Philippines): ✅ Tagalog/related Austronesian

• Ryukyu (Okinawa): ❌ No equivalent

Typhoon-Hardened Architecture

• Ivatan/Batanes (Philippines):  ✅ Ancient tradition

• Ryukyu (Okinawa):  ❌ Fragile structures

Verdict:
Pinto’s "Gundexilau" town was in the Ivatan/Batanes area, not Ryukyu.
Another critical error exposed in the Colonial remapping!

📍 Conclusion: The map itself contradicts Cortesão’s claim. He projects Ryukyu onto what is clearly the Philippines, conveniently pushing Lequios northward away from Ophir changing historic precedence recording on especially Spanish Government Maps and Documents.

Section 2: Colonial Motivation

💥 The Portuguese Response to Spanish Expansion

• Following the Treaty of Tordesillas, Portugal was defensive of its claimed eastern routes.

• The Philippines, later conquered by Spain, was suddenly rebranded cartographically.

• Lopo Homem, a Portuguese royal cartographer, appears to have begun this geopolitical repositioning to preserve Portuguese prestige and territorial assertions.

🛑 Evidence of Propaganda:

• The omission of the Philippines as a major naval and trade power is glaring. Equally obvious is this translator listing the major areas of East Asia skipping the Philippines, yet, elevating the tiny Ryukyu's in its place. The reason is clear. 

• Pigafetta documented over 200 Philippine ships, including 12+ massive junk-style vessels rivaling Spanish ships.

• Lequios, described by Pires, matched Luzon and surrounding islands, not Ryukyu. [See previous blog]

Section 3: The Wine of Lequios & the Fabric of Truth

🍷 Tomé Pires noted Lequios as having wine trade with Japan.

• Ryukyu only produced rice alcohol, not wine.

• The Philippines produced "basi" (sugarcane wine) and "tuba" (coconut wine), both well-documented in early Spanish chronicles contemporaneously.

🧵 Pires also described Lequios as trading "cloths" with Japan.

• In a footnote, Cortesão questions this, arguing it must mean Lucoes (Luzon). Indeed, they are neighbors.

• He undermines his own translation—because it contradicts his Ryukyu claim, as does every map he uses in his footnotes [see previous blog].

Section 4: A Timeline of Manipulation

1512 Jorge Reinel Map: [below]

• Places Lequios near Luzon, south of Ryukyu.

1527 Diogo Ribeiro Map: [below]

• Lequios shown in northern Philippine latitudes.

1539 Santa Cruz Map (Spanish Government Royal Map): [below]

• Luzon explicitly labeled Liquios. Not near Japan. Not Ryukyu.

1554 Lopo Homem Map:

• Shows an archipelago matching Luzon-Batanes, not Okinawa stretched and embellished into North Japan. That is fraud.

• Cortesão applies Ryukyu label without geographic justification. You don't justify those tiny islands as the definition of such a large space.

Section 5: Summary of Distinct Features

Criteria

Latitude

Luzon/Northern Philippines: 17°–20°N

Ryukyu (Okinawa): 26°–27°N

Island size

Luzon/Northern Philippines: 200+ leagues (Luzon)

Ryukyu (Okinawa): Tiny (100 leagues total)

Horse culture

Luzon/Northern Philippines:Yes (via Malay/Japan trade)

Ryukyu (Okinawa): No, but the blogger only asks where the Philippine horses are having done no research that it did nor that Ryukyu does not. Snotty ridicule of a child. A responsible party would try to answer his own questions and bother to ask about Ryukyu as well. 

Wine

Luzon/Northern Philippines: Yes (basi, tuba)

Ryukyu (Okinawa): No (only rice liquor)

Trade with China/Japan

Luzon/Northern Philippines: Yes

Ryukyu (Okinawa): Yes

Volcano ("Island of Fire")

Luzon/Northern Philippines: Yes (Babuyan, etc.)

Ryukyu (Okinawa): Debatable (Suwanosejima), this fails and Catz even admits that even though Lequios appeared on previous maps, Fire Island was added to maps after. There are Fire Islands in the Philippines as well and that little island of less than 30 km2 is laughable in the face of such a large island.

Gold

Luzon/Northern Philippines: Yes (proven archaeology)

Ryukyu (Okinawa): No historical record

Town Called "Pungor"

Luzon/Northern Philippines: Yes, an Ivantan word even for a place. ""Pungor" or "Pongor" in the Ivatan language of Batanes refers to a large, communal area used for grazing livestock, particularly cows and goats. These pasturelands are a defining feature of the Batanes landscape and are important for the local economy and way of life." [Oops!]

Ryukyu (Okinawa): NO! Blogger forgot to check this before assuming it is there. It is not!

Gundexilau

Luzon/Northern Philippines: Yes! Gundes Ilaw = Lighthouse!

Ryukyu (Okinawa): No!

🔚 Verdict: Luzon matches Lequios. Ryukyu fails.

Section 6: Satire of a Blind Blogger

🔎 Point:
Our critics attack a minor overreach we already clarified — yet ignore the overwhelming body of evidence.

We respond not in shame, but in deeper scholarship.

This is what those who truly represent truth do.

Meanwhile, the blogger vomits defamation onto the screen, ridiculing questions he himself cannot answer — questions a simple search would expose his ignorance.

The Blogger's Self-Destruction Checklist

Every dishonest critic eventually collapses under the weight of their own lies. Here is the checklist for the blogger's epic failure:

• ✅ Misquotes the very scholars he cites
  (Quotes Rebecca Catz for "accuracy" while she openly says Pinto's dates, distances, and coordinates are unreliable.)

• ✅ Demands horses in the Philippines but never checks if Ryukyu even had any
  (They did not. Philippines did. Oops.)

• ✅ Ridicules Pungor and Gundexilau without checking if they exist in Ryukyu
  (They don't. But they match Philippine/Batanes words and locations.)

• ✅ Pretends to read maps but ignores clear labeling
  (Lequios Islands sprawling down to 23.5°N, which matches Luzon not Okinawa.)

• ✅ Screams about "gotchas" while ignoring overwhelming historical, cartographic, and linguistic evidence

• ✅ Claims dishonesty when a simple editorial correction was transparently made
  (While real scholars publish corrections and notes routinely.)

• ✅ Blocks those he attacks from even responding publicly
  (Then claims "victory" when no response is seen — pure cowardice.)

• ✅ Recycles old attacks already answered years ago
  (When new research leaves him in the dust, he digs up old bones.)

• ✅ Accuses "no team exists" despite visible contributors and an expanding movement

• ✅ Believes copying colonial bias and map misreadings somehow counts as research

• Final Verdict:

• ⚫ Epic Fail.

• ✈️ "The Smoking Quill exposes. The Blogger combusts."

"If Mr. Magoo and Lucy McGillicuddy had a love child, surely this blogger would be it."

Final Note:

We corrected our Galvão blog by adding clarification, not deletion. This is editorial transparency. What we don’t do is distort, erase, or attack.

We don’t publish under fake names to manipulate opinion. And we don’t pretend to be unbiased while using manipulated AI and cherry-picked sources.

Instead, we let the evidence speak.

🖋️ A Season of Refinement: Moving Forward in Truth
📍 Explore our broader historical journey: [Link to Garden of Eden & Ophir Research]

🔔 Editor's Note (April 30, 2025):

Upon deeper scholarly review, we transparently clarified that Peter Fidalgo and Fernão Mendes Pinto were distinct individuals in historical accounts. As always, our goal is to maintain academic rigor and integrity.

While a few critics attempted to characterize our good-faith correction as "damage control" or "dishonesty," such attacks only reveal their unfamiliarity with standard editorial and scholarly practice.

Corrections, clarifications, and deeper research are the marks of serious researchers—not deception. In fact, this refinement further strengthens the overwhelming body of evidence that Lequios refers to the Philippines and not the Ryukyus. We continue moving forward in truth, guided by facts, scholarship, and integrity—not by insults from anonymous, agenda-driven blogs.

History—and readers of good conscience—will discern the difference.

🗯️ Blogger fails to look at the full position, fails to read the material he quotes, fails to tell the truth—and fails to land another blow.

Textual Clues Confirm It:

• 🖋️Tomé Pires (1518): Describes islands far from India (Philippines route, not Japan), rich in gold, 200 leagues from China — fits Batanes/Luzon.

• 💎Gold Mines: Philippines had abundant gold — Ryukyu did not.

• 👤People Description: "White like Germans" — fits lighter-skinned Batanes/Ivatan people, not Okinawans.

• 🖋️Great Craftsmen and Armorers: Luzon’s tradition of fine metallurgy matches perfectly.

• 💡Gores and Igorots [Gorot]: Pires mentions "Gores," in relation to a tribe of the Lequios, but never supports that as leading to Ryukyu, because it does not. He even Suggests Mongolia in illiteracy as that is not an island group East of China.

• Ghūr in Arab Records and Tagalog Roots:
  Arab manuscripts from 1462 and 1489 mention an island called "Ghūr," linked by later Europeans to Lequios. However, in ancient Tagalog, "guro" means "teacher," and "guros" could mean a group of teachers or elders. This linguistic echo suggests a Philippine, not Ryukyuan, origin — aligning with Northern Luzon's strong oral traditions of leadership, wisdom, and craftsmanship.

⚡ The Colonial Shift

Early maps and explorer accounts consistently align Lequios with the Philippines — not Ryukyu — before colonial narrative rewrites emerged.

Early Evidence: Lequios clearly in the Philippines                               

Later Distortion: Ryukyu retrofitted by colonial narratives

Early Evidence: Maps align with Luzon                                                  

Later Distortion Luzon deliberately ignored

Early Evidence: Routes and geography point to SE Asia                     

Later Distortion History rewritten for a Japan-centered model

Early Evidence: Etymology points to Igorots                                         

Later Distortion Etymology distorted or ignored

🔍 Luzon vs. Ryukyu Criteria Match

Criteria                                                              

Latitude                                                             

Luzon/Northern Philippines: ✔️ Matches 17°-20°N                                                           

Ryukyu (Okinawa): ❌ 26°-27°N, far north

Abundant Gold                                                 

Luzon/Northern Philippines: ✔️ Extensively documented                                               

Ryukyu (Okinawa):  ❌ No significant gold resources

Light-Skinned Population                               

Luzon/Northern Philippines: ✔️ Ivatan/Batanes described as lighter-skinned.           

Ryukyu (Okinawa): ❌ Typical East Asian complexion

Great Craftsmanship (Weapons, Jewelry)    

Luzon/Northern Philippines: ✔️ Documented by early Spanish                                      

Ryukyu (Okinawa): ❌ Minimal compared to Luzon traditions

Direct Trade with China & Malacca               

Luzon/Northern Philippines: ✔️ Well-established networks                                            

Ryukyu (Okinawa): ✔️ (but minor compared to Luzon)

Etymology (Gores/Igorot/Guros)                  

Luzon/Northern Philippines: ✔️ Strong linguistic connection                                          

Ryukyu (Okinawa): ❌ No linguistic tie to Ryukyu

Geographical Proximity to India Route.      

Luzon/Northern Philippines: ✔️ Natural path from Malacca eastward                           

Ryukyu (Okinawa): ❌ Requires deviation from direct route

🔢 PHILIPPINES Lequios SCORE: 100%                           

🔢 RYUKYU Lequios SCORE: 14% EPIC FAIL!

🔫 The Smoking Quill Verdict:

🔢Lequios = Northern Philippines (Luzon, Batanes, Babuyan).
🔴Not Ryukyu (Okinawa).

Even Tomé Pires' own descriptions undermine the Ryukyu narrative. His words consistently point to Luzon, Batanes, Babuyan, and the Igorot people, a proud highland group with rich gold traditions, lighter complexions, and direct trade with China and Malacca. Ultimately, this entire area was populated even in that age by a people group called "Iloconos". They were likely called Lequios originally and altered by the Spanish to conceal the record. 

The colonial remapping is exposed for what it is: a post-facto invention ignoring overwhelming primary evidence.

Another pillar of colonial bias crumbles. The Philippines' ancient role as a major hub in global trade is once again restored to the light.

💬 Stay tuned for more revelations as The Smoking Quill exposes the truth hidden for centuries.

Yah Bless.

The God Culture Team

#SmokingQuill #Ophir #PhilippinesHistory #Lequios #ColonialBias #BiblicalGeography #HistoricalCorrection #Igorots #MapHistory

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