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João Rodrigues Serrão (d. May 1521), also known asJuan Rodríguez Serrano, was aPortuguese andSpanishpilot andexplorer. He served in thePortuguese India Armadas that secured control of theIndian Ocean and theStrait of Malacca for the Portuguese but is most well known for his participation inFerdinand Magellan's 1519–1521expedition to theSpice Islands forCharles I ofSpain, which discovered a path aroundSouth America to thePacific and initiatedSpanish involvement in thePhilippines. Serrão andDuarte Barbosa became leaders of the expedition after Magellan's death at theBattle of Mactan but did not live to complete thecircumnavigation withElcano. They were both killed shortly thereafter during a massacre of the Spanish by their supposedconvert and allyHumabon,raja ofCebu.
João Rodrigues Serrão is thePortuguese form of theSpanishname Juan Rodríguez Serrano and more common inEnglish sources,[1] althoughAntonio Pigafetta—aVenetian who accompanied Magellan's expedition as a supernumerary and subsequently wrote an account of his voyage—considered Serrão notablySpanish.[2] The name is usually shortened to Serrão rather than Rodrigues Serrão. It also appears in some sourcesanglicized toJohn Serrano.[2]
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Serrão was born in Frixinal[3] (nowFregenal de la Sierra),Badajoz, in a border area long contested betweenPortugal andSpain. He was the brother or cousin ofFrancisco Serrão.
Like Magellan, for the first part of his life, João Serrão served thePortuguese kingManuel I. He served as thepilot of a roundcaravel in theFourth India Armada led byVasco de Gama in 1502. Together with Magellan and his relative Francisco, he also took part in theSeventh India Armada led byFrancisco de Almeida in 1505. In that expedition, hecaptained the round caravelBotafogo. Serrão and Magellan also took part in thePortuguese conquest ofMalacca led byAfonso de Albuquerque in 1511.
Subsequently, Francisco stayed in theEast Indies and wrote descriptions of the area to João and Magellan. Finding himself in disgrace in the Portuguese court and thinking Francisco's information suggested theSpice Islands (nowIndonesia'sMaluku Islands) fell within the Spanish hemisphere created by theTreaty of Tordesillas, Magellan approached the young Spanish kingCharles I (subsequentlyEmperor Charles V of theHoly Roman Empire) for funding. When this was granted, Serrão joined Magellan as one of the captains forhis expedition.
Serrão captained theSantiago across theAtlantic in 1519. After an attemptedmutiny that led to the execution or flight of the three other captains, he subsequently commanded theConcepción across thePacific in 1520. Magellan had hoped to meet Francisco Serrão when he arrived in the Spice Islands but, after theFirst Mass in the Philippines, he was killed at the 1521Battle of Mactan while attempting to shore up the power of hisconvert and allyHumabon, theraja ofCebu. Upon his death, Serrão became joint leader of the expedition with Magellan'sin-lawDuarte Barbosa. (Francisco Serrão died shortly thereafter onTernate.)
Magellan's will had provided for thefreeing of hisMalayslaveEnrique. Either Barbosa or Barbosa and Serrão together refused to honor this provision, preferring to keep Enrique as theirMalay interpreter for the rest of the mission and to return him later to Portugal as the property of Magellan's widow Beatriz Barbosa. Subsequently, probably though not certainly by Enrique's doing, Humabon massacred the Spanish leadership at a feast onCebu on 1 May 1521 and drove them from his lands, with Enrique surviving and escaping captivity. Serrão also survived the initial trap and reached the island's beach, where he called to the men still on the boats for rescue.João Lopes Carvalho, who became leader of the expedition at this point, feared that theCebuanos were only using Serrão as bait to lure more men into the massacre and ordered his men not to go to shore. Serrão seems to have been recaptured and killed shortly afterward.