sail around the world? Most of the Western historians have given this credit to Ferdinand Magellan. Some others gave this honor to Juan Sebastian Del Cano. But the fact is, this honor should belongs to a Malay guy forced to become the slave of Magellen. Nobody knows his name for real, but he is known as Panglima Awang, Henrich or Enrique de Melaka.How does this happen? A travel along the history lane will help us understand this:-
1) 1510 to 1511 - Magellan travels via East and reach Melaka (via the Portuguese King commandment), together with Lopez de Sequiera
2) 10th July 1511 - Melaka sultanate fall to the Portuguese
3) Aug to Sept 1511 - Pendekar Awang was captured and become the slave of Magellan. He was brought back to Lisbon, Portugal to become a navigator and the trusted slave
4) 20th Sept 1519 - Magellan started a new voyage after being funded by King Charles 1 of Spain. The Spanish priest asked Magellan to travel via West route, and not to conflict the route already established under the Portuguese
5) 27th April 1521 - Magellan was killed in the Philippines
6) The commandership of the fleet was taken over by Juan Sebastian Del Cano
7) The fleet still travels West bound (to complete the leg between Philippines and Melaka), thus finishing the cycle for Panglima Awang to claim the honor as the first man to travel via sea around the world
8) 8th Sept 1522 - the vessel reached Seville, Del Cano proved to the King that the world is indeed round
However, I would like to mention that there is another school of thought who is fairly documented but not fully exposed by the Western Historian. A Muslim Chinese mariner by the name of Cheng Ho or also known as Zheng He, has been claimed by the Chinese to be the first man to do this. It was said that the journey started in 1405 for more than 28 years and has covered more than 40 countries in Asia, Arab, Africa and Europe. The only document that is missing from this log is his journey to the American continent. Check this site for further readings: http://www.bharian.com.my/bharian/articles/ChengHokembali/Article/index
This book is actually an epic intertext between history and writer's interpretation of the history to make this book more dramatic. But the actual fact is that all the dates and sequences are kept as close as possible to the originals. For me, this is the easiest and funnest way to learn the history. This book was written by a Singapore teacher Cikgu Harun Aminurrashid. It was first published in 1957 by "Buku Punggok', and I am very lucky still have this copy in almost mint condition, a gift from my father just a few days back!Personal review
This book is highly recommended. Although it was presented in old Malay literature, but I really got engrossed by the historical values of its presentation. I do hope that one of these days; a new publishing company will take the lead to reprint/reproduce back this book back. Actually I am still looking for many other old Malay books like Sejarah Melayu, Hikayat Munshi Ibrahim, Tenggelamnya Kapal Van DiVernk, Degup Jantung and many more. These are old literatures that the youngsters need to read and keep!
Publisher: Buku Punggok, Pustaka Melayu
Year Published: May 1958, First Edition
Writer: Harun Aminurrashid
Panglima Awang was a very high ranking official in the Malacca sultanate. At the same time he was also a Portuguese collaborator. He had never been a slave throughout his life except for being the subject of the Malacca Sultan to whom Panglima Awang had served loyally. Panglima Awang changed his allegiance to Alfonso de Albuqueque and thus become another King of Portugal's subject on 16 July 1511. Panglima Awang fought on Portugal's side and eventually help Alfonso de Albuquerque capture Malacca in late August 1511.
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