Ruler of Mactan, Philippines (1491–1542)
A Datu on a small island who killed Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 and stopped the Spanish circumnavigation cold. That single morning on Mactan turned him into the Philippines' first symbol of resistance — though no European ever recorded seeing his face or hearing his voice.
Lapulapu ruled Mactan, an island in what would become the Philippines, in rivalry with another local datu named Zula and with Rajah Humabon of neighboring Cebu. In 1521 Spanish expeditionary forces under Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived, and Lapulapu's forces met them in the Battle of Mactan. Magellan died in the fighting. The defeat ended the voyage of circumnavigation and delayed Spanish expansion into the archipelago until Miguel López de Legazpi's expedition forty-four years later. The only primary source that names him is Antonio Pigafetta's account, and no European who docu…
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