ABSTRACT
The phenomenon of the Spanish-speaking slave may therefore be best understood by a consideration of the Mediterranean connection. After seizing the people from the Luzon ship, the Spaniards continued on to the Spice Islands, and there they encountered Uzman of Tidore who also knew Spanish. Traditional histories, whether written in Spanish or Arabic, do not distinguish Moros from Spaniards, but from Christians. All the Filipinos were so closely associated with Borneo that many Portuguese thought they came from there: even that Luzon prince captured in 1521 had just come from a victorious raid as Brunei Rajah Sarripada's captain general. This Luzon mercenary tradition seems to have survived into fairly modern times the Dutch had a company of Pampanga Christians in Batavia as late as 1721. Slaves were regularly employed as translators in international trade. A modern inclination to exaggerate the problem of language barriers no doubt adds to our surprise.
