Portal:Indonesia/BOTW/9, 2007

Francisco Serrão (died 1521) was a Portuguese explorer and was a cousin or personal friend of Ferdinand Magellan. His 1512 voyage as captain of one of three vessels (and second in overall command under Antonio de Abreu was the first known European sailing east past Malacca through Indonesia to its lucrative 'Spice Islands' of Maluku.

Malay pilots guided the expedition east via Java and along the Lesser Sundas before steering them north to Banda via Ambon. In 1512 his ship was shipwrecked but he managed to reach Luco-Pino island (Hitu), north of Ambon. The expedition remained in Banda for about one month, purchasing and filling their ships with spices. Serrão's martial skills impressed the rulers of Hitu. The visitors were recruited as military allies and their subsequent exploits were heard of in the rival neighbours of Ternate and Tidore who each rushed emissaries to induce the visitors to assist them.

Allying himself with Ternate, the area's strongest power, Serrão served as the head of a mercenary band of Portuguese warriors under the service of the island's Sultan Bayan Sirrullah, one of two feuding powerful sultans who controlled the spice trade. They became close friends and the Sultan appointed Serrão as his personal adviser for all matters, including military (Portuguese document purport) and family issues. He remained in Ternate where he died mysteriously around the same time Magellan died. (Read more...)