The God Culture Philippines Biblical History Library

Archaeological Evidence of Ophir’s Gold

In 1946, archaeologists discovered inscribed pottery shards referencing Ophir's gold...

The Deeper We Dig… The More Truth Surfaces!
Each map unveils another layer of suppressed history. With so much direct evidence, one must ask: Why aren’t these documented in modern textbooks? And how could scholars like Rebecca Catz justify guessing Ryukyu when the maps speak so clearly?

🔥 THE SMOKING QUILL | May 28, 2025

Pinto’s Five Isles & the Bifurcated Island: Smoking Maps of Northern Luzon

🔍 Rediscovering the Lost Archipelago of the Lequios

In his 16th-century account, Fernão Mendes Pinto identifies “five islands” situated west of Lequios—an ancient toponym that has long been conflated with the Ryukyu Islands. However, centuries of European cartography reveal a different story. Four separate maps—across languages, publishers, and decades—chart a consistent group of five northern islands above Luzon, two of which are explicitly labeled as silver-producing. Their consistency in geography, count, and mineral wealth unmistakably supports Pinto’s own testimony. These are not Japanese waters—this is northern Luzon, Babuyan, and Batanes.

🗺️ MORE Maps That Confirm the Five Isles

📌 1. 1705 Nicolas de Fer Map (Paris)

Label: I. et Rochers de Prata (“Islands and Silver Rocks”) — a direct reference to silver mines. This French-language map marks Luzon clearly, placing silver-bearing islands nearby.

Note: Luzon is Labeled with 2 names as Lucon OR Manille with a position placement for Lucon in Ilocos and Manilla positioned separately as well. The dynamic of a bifurcated Luzon is FACT!

📌 2. Herman Moll World Atlas (1732)

Label: 5 Islands Bashee isl. This is another member of the same 5-isle cluster reminiscent of Pinto's shipwreck. His account did not disappear from the annals of history. It is just ignored.

📍 3. Georges-Louis Le Rouge Atlas (1748)

Label: la Basse d'Argent– meaning The Silver Banks of Pinto. I. Babuyanes, I. Grafton, I. d’Orange and others consistently map a tight grouping of five islands just above Luzon. It reinforces the Cassini positioning.

[Read Testing Pinto's Accuracy Blog]

📌 4. 1797 Giovanni Maria Cassini Map (Rome)

Label: “le cinque isole” (“the five islands”) is prominently displayed above the Babuyanes and Batanes. These five match Pinto’s count precisely, with placement anchored in the region just northwest of Luzon.

🌄 Luzon’s Forgotten Divide: House Lequios & House Lucoes

These same maps do more than just confirm Pinto—they visually echo a division of Luzon long obscured by colonial centralization. The upper portion of Luzon, frequently tied to Cagayan, Ilocos, and Batanes, reflects a distinct ethnic and cultural identity from the Manila-dominated south.

Whether labeled as Samtoy, Ilocanos, or the Lequios, the north is repeatedly differentiated—while the south bears the name of the Lucoes, whose trade and military records tie them to mercenary fleets in Malacca and India.

This duality appears not only in explorer accounts but also in geographic renderings:

Cassini centers the Cagayan coast and clearly separates northern tribal zones.
Le Rouge includes both Ilocos and Tagalaos—distinctly marked peoples.
Moll shows Lucon but separately denotes Bashsee, Engano, and Babuyanes.

💥 Smoking Quill Verdict:

📍 The Five Isles cited by Pinto are well-preserved across four major cartographic sources—positioned above Luzon, never near Ryukyu. This Colonial Trail of Tears continues to turn the tables.

📍 Two of the islands are labeled with the word “silver” (Prata, Argent), affirming Pinto’s notes on mineral wealth.

📍 The geography of Luzon, as shown on these maps, affirms a cultural bifurcation: the northern Lequios vs. the southern Lucoes.

📍 This constellation of evidence from Rome, Paris, and London maps eviscerates the Ryukyu narrative, replacing it with a historically grounded Philippine origin for the Lequios archipelago.

“History may forget—but the map remembers.”

Another colonial curtain falls. The truth of the Lequios Islands rises again—etched in copper, ink, and gold. And now.... A Colonial Trail of Tears...

Yah Bless.

The God Culture Team

ADDITION:

🗺️ A Colonial Trail of Tears
The visual record of how truth was displaced, overwritten, and erased.

🎉 “The maps were never lost… only silenced. Now, the silenced speak.”

Cantino World Map

1502

[See above]

Lequios of Zambales at 17N. Affirmed within.

Jorge Reinel/Rodriguez Chart

1512

[Click Image for Blog Link]

"The Main Island of Lequios" is charted and noted geographically near Luzon, not near Okinawa.

Diogo Ribeiro Map

1527

[Click Image for Blog Link]

Locates Lequios near Luzon, reinforcing the Philippines as the center of early Southeast Asian trade routes.

Anonymous Penrose Chart

1535

[Click Image for Blog Link]

Lequios plotted between 17°–20° North Latitude, matching Northern Philippines, not Okinawa.

Santa Cruz Map

1539

[See above]

SPANISH GOVERNMENT MAP! Luquios as Luzon, Philippines With Visayas and Mindanao Charted With It.

Sebastian Cabot Map

1544

[Click Image for Blog Link]

Cabot's 'Canal of Lequios' flows into the West Philippine Sea, cementing Lequios’ geographic tie to the Philippines. 10-15N.

Lopo Homem Planisphere

1554

[Click Image for Blog Link]

Colonial Propaganda Begins! Homem still places Lequios closer to the Philippines; later maps begin shifting it northward under colonial reinterpretations.

Giacomo Gastaldi

1561

Lequios Canal continues to be recognized near Palawan, and labels North Luzon as "Cangu", the likely Zipangu of Marco Polo.

Italian Urbano Monti Map

1587

Canal route for major trade between Palawan and Borneo still referenced where Lequios Canal is on previous maps.

Spanish Maris Pacifici: Abraham Ortelius

1589

[Click Image for Blog Link]

Ortelius’ 1589 map silently reversed Portuguese propaganda by restoring the Philippines’ true heritage.

Mercator Map

1607

[Click Image for Blog Link]

The famous Mercator labels Batanes just South of Taiwan as Lequio Major where Pinto was shipwrecked.

Dutch Globe

1613

[Click Image for Blog Link]

Flemish and Dutch engraver and cartographer preserves Batanes as Pintos' location for Lequios while bending to Colonial pressure for Ryukyu.

Hondius, Jodocus, and Giuseppe Di Rossi.

1615

Batanes maintained as Lequio and Ryukyu as Lequi Grand.

P. Bertius Map

1627

Lequios Minor and Pequeno are both place in the Batanes Islands in the Philippines, while moving Lequeo Grande to Ryukyu in error.

Albernaz Map

1630

4 Maps include Lequios in one Atlas. All equate Batanes Islands, Philippines as Lequeo–3 of them as Grande (main) and 1 confuses it with Ryukyu. One can see the mindset waffling into Colonial propaganda.

Bleau Map

1640

The 5 Isles of Pinto's legend appear just to the West of Batanes defining it as Lequios. This same dynamic occurs on the:

1676 Speed Map

1700 Visscher Map

French Map

1752

Just west of the Bashee Isles (Batanes), the map boldly labels:

“Les 5 Isles” — The Five Islands

Relating the legend from Pinto's shipreck with Batanes as Lequios.

Spanish-British Map

1794

[Click Image for Blog Link]

Lequios River, Batanes as Pinto's Shipwreck, Five Isles, and the Final Blow to Ryukyu Theory.

Italian Map

1799

[Click Image for Blog Link]

Pinto's legend of The 5 Isles appears West of Batanes, as Lequios.

🪶 “History didn’t just speak — it sang… and the world finally listened.”

“The final page wasn’t colonial ink — it was joy, justice, and memory.”

Archaeological Evidence of Ophir’s Gold

Want Exclusive Research Updates?

The Deeper We Dig… The More Truth Surfaces! Each map unveils another layer of suppressed history. With so much direct evidence, one must ask: Why aren’t these documented in modern textbooks? And how could scholars like Rebecca Catz justify guessing Ryukyu when the maps speak so clearly?

🔥 THE SMOKING QUILL | May 28, 2025

Pinto’s Five Isles & the Bifurcated Island: Smoking Maps of Northern Luzon

🔍 Rediscovering the Lost Archipelago of the Lequios

🗺️ MORE Maps That Confirm the Five Isles

📌 1. 1705 Nicolas de Fer Map (Paris)

Label: I. et Rochers de Prata (“Islands and Silver Rocks”) — a direct reference to silver mines. This French-language map marks Luzon clearly, placing silver-bearing islands nearby.

📌 2. Herman Moll World Atlas (1732)

Label: 5 Islands Bashee isl. This is another member of the same 5-isle cluster reminiscent of Pinto's shipwreck. His account did not disappear from the annals of history. It is just ignored.

📍 3. Georges-Louis Le Rouge Atlas (1748)

Label: la Basse d'Argent– meaning The Silver Banks of Pinto. I. Babuyanes, I. Grafton, I. d’Orange and others consistently map a tight grouping of five islands just above Luzon. It reinforces the Cassini positioning.

📌 4. 1797 Giovanni Maria Cassini Map (Rome)

Label: “le cinque isole” (“the five islands”) is prominently displayed above the Babuyanes and Batanes. These five match Pinto’s count precisely, with placement anchored in the region just northwest of Luzon.

🌄 Luzon’s Forgotten Divide: House Lequios & House Lucoes

💥 Smoking Quill Verdict:

ADDITION:

🗺️ A Colonial Trail of TearsThe visual record of how truth was displaced, overwritten, and erased.

1502

Lequios of Zambales at 17N. Affirmed within.

1512

1527

Locates Lequios near Luzon, reinforcing the Philippines as the center of early Southeast Asian trade routes.

1535

Lequios plotted between 17°–20° North Latitude, matching Northern Philippines, not Okinawa.

1539

SPANISH GOVERNMENT MAP! Luquios as Luzon, Philippines With Visayas and Mindanao Charted With It.

1544

1554

Colonial Propaganda Begins! Homem still places Lequios closer to the Philippines; later maps begin shifting it northward under colonial reinterpretations.

1561

Lequios Canal continues to be recognized near Palawan, and labels North Luzon as "Cangu", the likely Zipangu of Marco Polo.

1587

Canal route for major trade between Palawan and Borneo still referenced where Lequios Canal is on previous maps.

1589

Ortelius’ 1589 map silently reversed Portuguese propaganda by restoring the Philippines’ true heritage.

1607

1613

1615

1627

Lequios Minor and Pequeno are both place in the Batanes Islands in the Philippines, while moving Lequeo Grande to Ryukyu in error.

1630

4 Maps include Lequios in one Atlas. All equate Batanes Islands, Philippines as Lequeo–3 of them as Grande (main) and 1 confuses it with Ryukyu. One can see the mindset waffling into Colonial propaganda.

1640

1676 Speed Map

1700 Visscher Map

1752

1794

Lequios River, Batanes as Pinto's Shipwreck, Five Isles, and the Final Blow to Ryukyu Theory.

1799

Pinto's legend of The 5 Isles appears West of Batanes, as Lequios.

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The Deeper We Dig… The More Truth Surfaces!
Each map unveils another layer of suppressed history. With so much direct evidence, one must ask: Why aren’t these documented in modern textbooks? And how could scholars like Rebecca Catz justify guessing Ryukyu when the maps speak so clearly?

🗺️ A Colonial Trail of Tears
The visual record of how truth was displaced, overwritten, and erased.