The Forgotten Children of 1606: When Spanish Sailors Took Them Away”

Did you know that back in 1606, Spanish sailors kidnapped children as young as four to ten years old and took them to the Philippines? No one ever heard from those children again. Who knows — maybe their bloodlines mixed with the Filipinos of today. This is the untold story of what really happened.

"Did you know that back in 1606, Spanish sailors kidnapped children as young as four to ten years old and took them to the Philippines? No one ever heard from those children again. Who knows — maybe their bloodlines mixed with the Filipinos of today. This is one of those untold story of what really happened

Nearly 400 years ago, Spanish sailors attacked and killed many people on Mailu Island, off the South-East coast of Papua New Guinea. The Spanish, led by the explorer Luis Vaez de Torres, arrived at Mailu on August 24th 1606.
Mailu if you do not know, were creators of Superb canoes and were also great sailors. They begin a trading expedition to Aroma in the 1920s. They sailed every year to the East and West trading their pots and pigs, dogs, betel nuts necklaces and arm shells.
So Torres on his route anchored his ship, the San Pedrico close to the Island and next morning led armed sailors ashore. The Mailuans did not want the white strangers to enter their village and blocked the narrow pathway to their village and shouted with their bows and arrows and shields for the strangers to leave.
However the Spanish ignored their threats and marched forward until they were close enough for their bullets to reach the Mailu defenders, they stopped and maked signs of peace but that had no meaning or effect to the Mailu people.

Torres had no intention of retreating knowing the natives had no knowledge of a musket. The Spanish knelt and prayed, then shouted a war cry as they started chasing and shooting the Mailuans and many of the villagers were killed others escaped in canoes to the mainland.
There were about 300 houses there, as the Spanish spotted many women, children and old people trying to take refuge on a high cliff and ignored to come down to Torres. The Spanish decided to climb when the villagers started throwing stones and were pelted as several Spanish lost their lives. This then angered the Spanish as they charged with their muskets killing almost 300 people.

The villagers were fully surrounded then Torres chose 14 boys and girls between 4 and 10 years of age and took them onboard and even took useful items, mats, decorations, valuable items. The 14 children were taken to Manila in the Philippines, then a colony of Spain.
They were baptized as Catholics given Spanish education and there is no doubt today that Mailuans have distant relatives somewhere in the Philippines.

References:

1. National Library of the Philippines – Spanish Colonial Era Records (1600–1700)

2. Australian National University – Pacific and Early Contact History Archives

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