On April 27, 1521, some 1,500 local warriors under the leadership of Lapulapu defeated at the Battle of Mactan the 60-strong Spanish force commanded by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (Fernando de Magallanes). Unable to optimize the use of their firearms, doing "little to no harm" against Lapulapu's troops, it was reported that eight Spanish were killed while 15 died on Lapulapu's side at the aftermath of the engagement. This victory stood in stark contrast with Spanish military missions elsewhere, whereas conquistadors such as Hernan Cortes (who faced more than 80,000 Aztec warriors) and Francisco Pizarro (who faced more than 8,000 Inca warriors) met unparalleled successes for their initial military campaigns against native empires despite being similarly outnumbered. Cortes had around 1,500 soldiers at Tenochtitlan, and Pizarro 168 at Cajamarca.
Initially backed by Lapulapu's rival, Rajah (Raia) Humabon, the Spanish would later be ambushed by Humabon's troops, further cutting down the number of survivors of the Magellan expedition. While interpretations behind the rationale of Humabon's response after Mactan remain varied, similar to Lapulapu's motivations in resisting the armed foreigners, Spanish colonization as a result would not begin until four decades later with the arrival of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in 1565.
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