🔥 “Blogger’s false claims, fabricated for defamation, go up in smoke — as the truth erupts from the Isles of Fire!”

SECTION 1: Colonial Invention — The Impossibility of “Ilha de Fuego” in Ryukyu

• “Ilha de Fuego” is a Portuguese term meaning “Island of Fire.” There was no native name or tradition of this in Ryukyu. The fact a 1554 propaganda map began labeling a Ryukyu after Pinto with a Portuguese name is fraud. 

• The Philippines, however, has: Apoy Island in Batanes. “Apoy” means “fire” in both Tagalog and Ivatan. Babuyan Islands, traditionally called the “Burning Isles.” Multiple active volcanoes within the corridor Pinto describes fit Batanes and Babuyan especially. The island size he heard fits Luzon. 

• Ryukyu’s Suwanosejima Island is too small (27.66 km²), has no horses, and no recorded historical gold trade.

SECTION 2: 🔥 A Laughable Assertion: Suwanosejima as Pinto’s “Island of Fire”?

• 🏝️ Uninhabited in Pinto’s Time [Perhaps he was imprisoned and put on trial by ghosts???]: Suwanosejima suffered a massive volcanic eruption in the 15th century and remained uninhabited until the 19th century, making it impossible for Pinto to have encountered a populated kingdom there in 1544–1545.

• 📜 Pinto Described a Thriving Civilization: Pinto’s own account details a functioning society—towns like Pungor and Gundexilau, horsemen, a legal system, a king, and courts. None of this matches an empty volcanic island.

• 🐎 Horsemen Present? Ryukyu had no historical record of horse culture in the 16th century, yet Pinto describes cavalry. Luzon and Batanes, however, had imported horses before the Spanish arrived and used them culturally.

• 🏛️ Urban and Judicial Structure: Pinto recounts arrest, trial, and royal deliberations—impossible on a barren volcanic rock with no population.

• 💨 Post-Eruption Desolation: The very island some claim was Pinto’s destination (Suwanosejima), that erupted before Pinto, was still recovering centuries later. Meanwhile, Babuyan and Batanes were populated, agriculturally productive, and culturally developed even in a worldwide trade network proven in archaeology. Ryukyu? Oops! Missing!

• 🔥 “Island of Fire” Exists in the Philippines: The Ivatan word “Apoy” means fire, and Apoy Island lies near Mt. Matarem and Mt. Iraya in Batanes—an active volcanic region near the Babuyan “Burning Isles.” Pinto’s description fits here, not Ryukyu.

• 📍 A Geographical Fantasy: The idea that a major Portuguese eyewitness mistook an abandoned island for a thriving civilization is absurd. It speaks more to modern misreading than historical accuracy.
  

SECTION 3: Local Toponyms Expose the Truth — Names Found in Pinto’s Account

• Pungor: No such name in Ryukyu, but Ivatan and Ilocano usage appears in northern Luzon and Batanes defined as a communal town even.

• Gundexilau: A likely corruption of “Gundes Ilaw,” combining Ivatan terms for “houses of light.” "Ilaw" = "light" in Tagalog/Ivatan. Tayid Lighthouse sits near Mt. Matarem today.

• Taydacano: Possibly derived from Tayid (steep) + akonol (rough sea), describing the steep volcanic terrain and surf of Batanes. The area sits at the base of the steep decline of Mt. Matarem, which in Ivatan is 2 words meaning "cutting side of a blade" and "eye socket."

SECTION 4: Pinto’s Coordinates Are Inaccurate — Even His Translator Says So

• Rebecca Catz, translator of Pinto's journal, notes that Pinto: Often misreports distances, coordinates, and dates. Blends multiple stories, leading to conflated geography.

• His claim of 29°N likely resulted from navigation error or retroactive estimation, or it should actually be read between 9-20°N, which is the only way it could be considered accurate. If literal precision as the blogger demands, and Catz refutes, 29°N is open sea and not even an island. 

• Galvão records the same area (Luçones and Lequios) as between 9° and 22°N — matching Luzon, Babuyan, and Batanes, which is Lequios.

SECTION 5: Horses, Gold, and Size — The Ryukyu Theory Implodes

• Pinto describes 14 horsemen. Ryukyu had no horses in the 16th century.

• Philippines had introduced horses pre-Spanish via Malay traders (confirmed by archaeology and Spanish records).

• Luzon is 200+ leagues in circuit. Ryukyu's islands are a fraction of that. Maybe Pigafetta misunderstood 200 as 20. Not in logic.

• Pinto's description of trade with China, abundant gold, and rich soils perfectly match Luzon.

SECTION 6: Linguistic Clues — "Gores," "Guros," and Cultural Markers

• Pires mentions "Gores" as tribal leaders. In Tagalog, "guro" = teacher/elder.

• The Ivatan word family reinforces a rich oral culture, matching Pinto's praise of Lequios craftsmanship and governance.

SECTION 7: A Map Misdirection — How Colonial Portugal Attempted to Shift the Land of Gold

• The Homem 1554 map spreads Lequios over an archipelago south of the Tropic of Cancer — matching North Luzon.

• Cortesão and other colonial cartographers later began pushing Lequios northward to Ryukyu after Spain secured the Philippines. 

• This cartographic migration was a desperate attempt to retain Portuguese control and downplay Spanish success.

SECTION 8: Addendum — Town Names That Confirm Batanes

• Pinto’s mention of Pungor and Gundexilau cannot be found in Ryukyu.

• But Ivatan terms confirm: Pungor as a Batanes coastal marker, and a communal place of gathering or as Pinto called it, a town. Gundes = house; Ilaw = light; Gundexilau = bright homes. Tayid, a real place with a lighthouse, sits beneath the volcano Mt. Matarem.

• “Dakwang” = “big step”; “agchin” = descend; “akonol” = wild sea. These accurately describe the area Pinto landed. The etymology is obvious. In Ryukyu? Nothing!

📜 Section 9: The Big One Just Dropped…

The Batanes Islands — long known for their isolated beauty — were in fact a strategic node in one of the most important trade networks in ancient Asia: the Maritime Jade Road.

This wasn't just a minor side-route. The Maritime Jade Road was a robust inter-regional trade system stretching across the Philippines, Taiwan, southern China, and Southeast Asia, operating from c. 2000 BCE to 1000 CE — far earlier and more enduring than the Silk Road.

🔍 Confirmed Archaeological Evidence in Batanes:

• ✅ Nephrite Jade Workshops: Excavations by Peter Bellwood and the Batanes Archaeological Project revealed jade workshop sites on Batanes itself. Jade wasn’t just arriving here — it was being worked and processed locally.

• ✅ Jade Artifacts: Dozens of nephrite tools and lingling-o ear ornaments have been uncovered, directly connecting Batanes to both Taiwan and Luzon in shared craft and design.

• ✅ Cultural Continuity: These jade styles and trade artifacts confirm that Batanes was a participant in a high-level trade civilization — not an isolated tribal backwater as colonial thinking implies.

📉 Where Is the Ryukyu Archaeology?

Let us now ask the question the blogger should have asked:
Where is the Ryukyu archaeological record of ancient jade production, large-scale inter-island maritime trade, or monumental gold and silver wealth?

• ❌ No jade production.

• ❌ No monumental or ancient shipbuilding remains.

• ❌ No massive pre-16th century gold trade.

• ❌ No evidence of 200-league island fortifications, cavalry culture, or city-states of Lequios scale.

• ❌ Suwanosejima, the blogger’s proposed match for Pinto’s island, was uninhabited from the 15th to 19th centuries due to volcanic eruptions.

• Unless the ghosts did it!

Meanwhile, Batanes:

• ✅ Has a volcanic island named Apoy — “fire” in Tagalog and Ivatan — next to Mount Matarem.

• ✅ Contains a steep coastal area called Tayid, possibly reflected in Pinto’s "Taydacano."

• ✅ Hosts traditional Ivatan settlements named Gundes Ilaw (lit. “houses of light”) and Pungor — names Pinto recorded.

• ✅ Retains oral traditions, architectural continuity, and even recorded trade flows going back over 3,000 years.

The silence from Ryukyu archaeology is deafening.

📍 Verdict: There is no comparison.

This section alone destroys the fabricated argument of Lequios = Ryukyu and shows the Philippines as the only candidate matching historical, archaeological, geographic, linguistic, and cultural criteria.

Stay tuned. The deeper we go, the more truth rises.

CLOSING: Final Fire

"The blogger demanded, 'Where are the Philippine horses?' We found them. He forgot to ask, 'Where are the Ryukyuan horses?' They never existed. Perhaps instead of assuming ghosts detained Pinto, he should learn how to read!"

The totality of evidence — geographic, linguistic, cultural, archaeological — points to Luzon, Batanes, and Babuyan as the Lequios Isles. Pinto landed in the Philippines, not in Ryukyu. The colonial remapping is hereby dismantled. He said we did not further research is defamation again and again, yet he has no fire left. Perhaps he can visit the real Fire Island and regain what he has clearly lost.

🔎 Point: Our critics attacked 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 the truth do.

🔥 "Blogger curses and complains… but produces nothing. Not even fire!" 🔥
—The smoke has cleared, and still no evidence.

🗯️ 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.

🛡️ Note on the Blogger’s May 1 Assault:

We have reviewed the latest defamatory blog entry dated May 1, 2025, and again found no substantial refutation of our published research. Not once does the blogger offer a linguistic or geographic counter-explanation for the terms Pungor or Gundexilau, nor does he demonstrate any evidence of these being found in Ryukyu—because they are not. Instead, he deflects with ridicule, misquotes our material, falsely frames etymological exploration as deception, when his rant is only deception, and outright ignores every primary source we carefully cited. That is not academic response—it is cyber libel dressed in sarcasm and insult.

The repeated unwillingness to engage evidence directly, while manufacturing slander and misrepresenting our work, reveals not intellectual rigor but a demonic strategy of entrapment. Like a Trojan horse, he enters cloaked in scholarly tone, but inside carries only a legion of accusations devoid of substance, ready to pounce with defamation the moment one opens the door. We will not open that door again.

As we have repeatedly done, we continue to deepen our research, cite primary sources, and allow truth to speak for itself. Our position stands—undisturbed and undeterred. This blog stands unchallenged.

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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