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| Portion of 1734 Philippine map of Fr. Pedro Murillo de Velarde with Marinduque. 134 maps owned by private collectors will be shown to the public for the first time in an exhibit titled "Three Hundred Years of Philippine Maps 1598-1898". This is part of several activities to mark Philippines-Spain Friendship Day and will run from June 26 to July 31 at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila. |
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| The Philippines had been a Spanish colony for more than three centuries so the exhibit will give an idea "of how the Spanish authorities saw the Philippines in those days", said Spanish Ambassador Jorge Domecq, "you will be seeing many of the features which resound in many of you, in your minds these days with all the maritime issues", he was quoted to have said. |
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| For Marinduquenos, the exhibit will also show how the island of Marinduque was seen by the Spaniards in those days. Marinduque was among the islands in the Philippines which played a vital role in Spain's maritime enterprise, the galleon trade. Not only were the galleons San Juan Bautista and San Marcos built in shipyards on this island, but merchant vessels during that era sailed along the south Luzon coast through the sea surrounding Marinduque then though the San Bernardino Strait across the Pacific to Acapulco, |
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| Cartographers during the 18th to early 19th century apparently did not see Marinduque as a heart-shaped island as shown in today's maps. In those ancient maps the island was leaf-shaped. |
