Cagayan River = Lequios River. That's Not Ryukyu!

📜 Pinto Said “Five Very Large Isles” — But These Aren’t Them

Let’s be clear: the “Five Isles” west of Batanes, drawn on this map, are not the five massive islands Pinto described. In fact, they don’t appear to exist in real geography. So, what are they?

They were an attempt by European cartographers to interpret Pinto’s account. They knew:

• The shipwreck occurred in or near Batanes.

• Pinto then traveled westward to a group of five massive, resource-rich isles.

• These were west of the Bashee Isles [Batanes]—not north like Ryukyu.

The mistake? Assuming they were small isles rather than what Pinto really meant: Luzon, Mindoro, Panay, Negros, and Cebu—major islands west of Batanes, all matching his descriptions of size, trade, courts, ships, and gold.

[Read Our Blog on the Five Very Large Isles of Pinto]

🧭 Directional Logic Matters
If Pinto's 5 Very Large Isles were WEST of Batanes, how can they possibly be north like Ryukyu? They can't. The orientation alone disproves it.

🗺️ And Then There's the Leoques River...

Here’s the clincher. The Cagayan River, clearly marked on the 1794 map, is labeled “Lequios R.” That’s not a guess. That’s confirmation. The Lequios were anchored to Luzon’s north.

And it gets even deeper:

• Aparri, at the river mouth, matches the Hebrew Aupir (Ophir). The entrance to the River of Gold. 

• The local Ibanag tribe uses the word Aparri to mean priest, aligning with Ophir’s spiritual heritage.

• The river’s source lies in Luzon’s most gold-rich highlands, exactly as described by ancient sources.

• The entire Northern Portion of Luzon and the Islands to the North have Ilocono populations and that, too, is no coincidence.

• [Watch Ancient Entrance to Ophir / Aupir, Philippines]

🧭 Pliny’s Tubero River = Tubig Arao on the Lequios River

Evidence of the Philippines as Ancient Chryse (The Golden Isle)

On the 1794 map (cross-referencing Murillo Velarde), just north of the Lequios River (Cagayan) and South of Aparri, we find a river labeled Tubig Arao.

• “Tubig” = Water (in Tagalog and related languages)

• “Araw” = Sun

• So: Tubig Arao = “Water of the Sun” or “Sunlit Waters”

Pliny the Elder, writing in Natural History (Book 6), refers to the River Tubero flowing through Chryse, the “Golden Isle.” The match is striking:

• Tubero likely derived from a local term—like “Tubig Arao”—transliterated by Roman ears

• “Tubig Arao” fits the Chrysean theme of gold and light, as “sunlit water” in the land of Ophir is more than symbolic—it’s literal

• This river is geographically placed where Pliny described it: east of India, near the rising sun, and abundant in gold

• Pliny began his mapping in China passing 2 Chinese and 1 Vietnamese River, then, crossing a bay (South China Sea) to Chryse, which is the Philippines. That is the land where he described this river.

Thus, this river—flowing into the Lequeos River, into the gold trade port of Aparri—isn’t just a match in name, but in location, language, and thematic symbolism.

⚠️ Colonial Mapmakers Lost the Plot—But Not the Coordinates

They didn’t grasp Pinto’s symbolic and cultural depth. They drew five islands, but missed the fact that Pinto’s “five” weren’t tiny dots—they were the entire Philippine core, all with coordinates West of Batanes.

But they got the orientation right: west of Batanes, anchored to the Leoques River, and nowhere near Japan.

🧭 Final Thoughts

This 1794 map—validated by both Spanish and British sources—solidifies the case:

• Pinto's Lequios Isles are in the Luzon Region.

• The Lequios River is real.

• The Five Isles were misunderstood, but they still debunk Ryukyu.

• The truth was right there, etched in ink centuries ago.

🔥 Let the map speak for itself.