Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture has a serious problem. Tim's misrepresentation of primary sources undermines his already shaky academic integrity. His continuous distortion of facts excavated out of obscure books indicates he is less interested in the truth and more concerned with his agenda. Tim's article about the voyage of Francis de Ovalle is a prime example of his deceptive practices.
The 1582 Voyage that Destroys the Ryukyu Lequios Theory
When geography tells the truth… and historians ignore it.
🔎 Forgotten Navigator, Critical Discovery
In 1582, a lesser-known Spanish navigator, Francis de Ovalle, unknowingly shattered centuries of cartographic confusion. His voyage from Acapulco to the Philippines and back, documented in the 1704 edition of The History of Navigation, includes a pivotal observation:
"…passed through the islands called Lequios… and came upon the coast of California in 38 degrees and a half of latitude."
(Churchill, 1704, p. 466)
Let that sink in. Ovalle sailed from Macao through the Lequios and then reached California at 38.5°N — without touching land along the way.
🧭 The Geography That Cannot Lie
We traced his route using his precise navigation data. Here's what we found:
📍 Macao sits at 22.2°N. One exits the bay South of Hainan toward the East (18°N).
📍 California at 38.5°N on a straight Northeast trajectory touching no land.
📍 Philippines lie directly in this corridor (13–21°N).
📍 Ryukyu Islands? Way off course at 24–29°N, east of Taiwan — unreachable on a straight northeast run from Macao to California.
So what? If Ovalle sailed through Lequios and never deviated from that northeast heading, there is no geographic possibility that he passed through Ryukyu. His line of travel crossed the Philippines, not Japan.
https://thegodculturephilippines.com/the-1582-voyage-that-destroys-the-ryukyu-lequios-theory/
I know Tim reads this blog. On May 28th, 2025, I published an article that had the exact quote he is using from Churchill. That book leads to the original source, which is Richard Hakluyt. I included what Hakluyt wrote about that voyage in the same article. You can read all that here. This same voyage was also written about in a second article published on May 29th concerning Navarrete's "Logbook."
Hakluyt is not the primary source of Francis de Ovalle's voyage. That would be Jan Huygen van Linschoten.
Francisco Gali (1539 in Seville – 1586 in Manila) was a Spanish sailor and cartographer, active in the second half of the 16th century across the Pacific Ocean and in New Spain and Spanish East Indies, particularly Philippines. He is best known for his three trans-Pacific crossings: Acapulco to Manila in 1583, Macau to Acapulco in 1584 and in 1585 again Acapulco to Manila, where he died. At least the last trip was by order of the Spanish viceroy of New Spain, Pedro Moya de Contreras. His journeys were on the Manila galleons which had started the route in 1565.
For reasons unknown, Gali's report on the Macau-Acapulco journey fell into the hands of Jan Huygen van Linschoten who included that information in his Itinerario (1596).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Gali
Jan Huygen van Linschoten's original Itinerario can be read here. It was published in 1596. Two years later an English translation was published. That is the basis for Hakluyt which is the basis for and reference in Churchill.
That is from page 466, the same page Tim cites. Had he bothered to check the reference he would have been led to the full story just as I was. That story says Francis Guallé, which is the same as Gali and de Ovalle, sailed southwest from Macao to circumvent the strong current, then north east around Taiwan, through the Lequios Islands, past Japan, and then towards America. Tim omits ALL of that crucial information saying:
His line of travel crossed the Philippines, not Japan.
That is false and Tim knows it. Here is the rest of the story from the English translation of Jan Huygen van Linschoten.
The 54. Chapter.
The Navigation or course of the aforesaid Francis Guallé out of the Haven of Macau in New Spain, with the description and situation of the Isles, with other notable and memorable things concerning the same voyage.
When we had prepared ourselves and taken our leaves of our friends in Macau, we set sail upon the The four and twentieth of July, holding our course Southwest, and Southwest and by South, when the moon was at the full; for when the moon increaseth it is hard holding the course between the Islands, because in the river are and streams become very strong to the North, for we sailed through many narrow Channels by night, having the depth of eight and ten fathom, with soft muddy ground; until we were about the Island Oha, before we were past it, but by the height we knew we were past them.
Being beyond it, we held our course East and East by east, an hundred and fifty miles, to get above the lands called Os Bancos dos Pescadores, and the beginning of the Islands Lequios on the East side; and the Islands are called As Illas Fermosas, that is, the fair Islands; this I understood by a Chinar called, Santy of Chinchon, and he said that they lie under 21 degrees; from there it is thirteen fathom deep, although we saw them not, not withstanding by the height, by the water, we knew we were past them.
Being past the fair Islands, we held our course East and East and by South, for two hundred and forty miles, until we were past the length of the Islands Lequios, sailing about fifty miles from them, as the said Chinar told me, that those islands called Lequios are very many, and that they have many and very good Harbours, and that the people and inhabitants thereof have their faces and bodies painted like the Bysayas of the Islands of Luzon of Philippines, and are appareled like the Bysayas, and that there are also mines of gold; he said likewise that they did often come with small ships and barkes laden with Bucks and Harts hides; and with gold in grains of very small pieces, to trade with them on the coast of China, which be assured me to be most true, saying that he had been nine times in the small Island, bringing of the same wares with him to China; which I believe to be true, for that afterwards I inquired thereof at Macau, and upon the coast of China, and found that he said true. The furthest or uttermost of these Islands both Northward and Eastward lie under 29 degrees.
Being past these Islands, then you come to the Islands of Japon whereof the first lying West and South is the Island of Hirado, where the Portuguese use to trade. They [the Japanese islands] are in length altogether one hundred and thirty miles, and the furthest Eastward, lies under thirty-two degrees [latitude]. We ran still East, and East by North, until we were past the said one hundred and thirty miles.
Running this East, and East by North for about three hundred miles from Japan, we found a very deep water, with the current running out of the North and Northwest, with a full and very broad sea, without any hindrance or trouble in the way that we passed, and whatever wind blew, the Sea continued all in one [direction], with the same deep water and current, until we had passed seven hundred miles, about two hundred miles from the coast and land of New Spain, where we began to lose the said deep sea and current, whereby I most assuredly think and believe, that there you shall find a Channel or straight passage, between the firm land and New Spain, and the Countries of Asia and Tartaria. Likewise, all this way from the aforesaid seven hundred miles, we found a great number of whale fishes, and other fish by the Spaniards called Atun [tuna], whereof many are found in the coast of Gibraltar in Spain, as also Albacore and Bonitos, which are all fishes, which commonly keep in Channels, Straits, and running waters, where to disperse their feed when they breed, which makes me more assuredly believe, that thereabouts is a Channel or Straight to pass through.Being by the same course upon the coast of New Spain, under seven and thirty degrees and a half, we passed by a very high and fair land with many Trees, wholly without Snow, and four miles from the land you find thereabouts many roots, leaves of Trees, Reeds, and other leaves like Fig leaves, the like whereof we found in great abundance in the country of Japan, which they eat, and some of those that we found, I caused to be boiled with flesh, and being boiled, they eat like Coleworts [cabbage]. There likewise we found a great many of Sea wolves, which we call Sea dogs, whereby it is to be presumed and certainly to be believed, that there are many Rivers, Bays, and Havens along those coasts to the Haven of Acapulco.
From thence we ran Southeast, Southeast by South, and Southeast by East, as the wind allowed us, to the point called Cape San Lucas, which is the beginning of the land of California; on the Northwest side, lying under twenty-two degrees, being five hundred miles distant from Cape Mendocino.Along this course of five hundred miles, along the coast, there are many islands, and although they are small, yet undoubtedly they have some good harbors, as also on the mainland, where you have these harbors following, now lately discovered, such as that of Saint Augustine Island, lying under thirty and a half degrees. And the island called Cedros Island, scarcely under twenty-eight and a quarter degrees. And the island lying beneath Saint Martin, under twenty-three and a half degrees. I think all this coast and country is inhabited, and appears to be a very good country, for at night we saw fire, and by day smoke, which is a very sure sign that they are inhabited.
Iohn Huighen van Linschoten his Discours of voyages into ye Easte & West Indies : deuided into foure bookes, pg. 414
This entire chapter contradicts Tim's theory on every level and he omitted it. He purposefully omitted the route, which follows Macao-Taiwan-Lequois Islands-Japan. That makes the map Tim has added with a route bypassing Japan, wholly fictitious. The map is a visual manifestation of Tim's selective interpretation and misrepresentation of the primary source material.
He also left out the description of the Lequois Islands' inhabitants who are clearly described and compared to the Visayans of Luzon. They are not Filipinos. Lastly, he discarded the fact the Lequios Islands extend to 29° which agrees with Pinto who wrote:
Essa ilha léquia jaz situada em vinte e nove graus
https://fundar.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/peregrinacao-vol-ii.pdf pg. 53
The voyage of Francis Guallé predates Pinto's published journal by decades. That is two independent eye-witnesses to the Lequios Islands being at 29°. Tim loves to quote the following Bible verses as an epistemological foundation.
Deut. 19:15 KV "at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established."
Matt. 18:16 KJV "in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established."
2 Cor. 13:1 KJV "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established."
Therefore 29° is an established fact.
I challenge Tim to publish the full story of Francis de Ovalle's voyage. It is doubtful he will do so because there is no way he can twist it to fit his thesis. It would also expose his article for what it is: a deliberate misrepresentation of the facts.
As I said, I know Tim reads this blog. He has responded to it directly in the past. In this case, he took a source I cited first and has deliberately misrepresented it to fit his false thesis that the Philippines are the Lequios Islands. That thesis is fundamentally misguided and his article is a deliberate fabrication. No amount of crying libel and defamation will change the fact that the intellectual integrity of Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture is severely compromised.
