Introduction
The first confirmed European contact with Bali occurred in 1512 when a Portuguese expedition led by António de Abreu and Francisco Serrão reached the island’s northern coast as part of their journey to the Moluccas. This expedition also produced the first European map of Bali through Francisco Rodrigues’s chart that same year. Subsequent European encounters included possible sightings by the Magellan expedition (1519-1522) and a brief visit by Sir Francis Drake in 1580.
CONTACT AND CONFLICT IN THE BANDA ISLANDS, EASTERN INDONESIA 11TH -17TH CENTURIES
While the context is specifically about Banda and not Bali, it illustrates and confirms the broader historical pattern referenced in the dissertation’s quote: “the year 1512 marked the moment when Portuguese maritime expansion systematically “collided” with the indigenous histories of the Indonesian archipelago.”
PETER VANDERFORD LAPE
M.A. SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY, 1995
“We know little of the trajectory of Bandanese history until it collided with that of an expanding Europe in 1512 AD, when the first Portuguese ships dropped anchor under the smoking Gunung Api volcano.”
Source: CONTACT AND CONFLICT IN THE BANDA ISLANDS, EASTERN INDONESIA 11TH -17TH CENTURIES, May 2000
Celebrated Travels and Travellers
The original topic of this page addresses the specific commanders (António de Abreu and Francisco Serrão) and the timing (the 1512 expedition). However, Celebrated Travels and Travellers by Jules Verne documents their contact with a different island (Bali) than those listed in the quote below (Banda, Amboyna, etc.), showing they were active in exploring the broader region.
Jules Verne
Author
“He took part in the expedition sent by Albuquerque about 1510, to seek for the famous Spice Islands, under
the command of Antonio de Abreu and of Francisco Serrão, which discovered Banda, Amboyna, Ternate, and Tidor.”
Source: Celebrated Travels and Travellers, March 7, 2008
EARLY MODERN PORTUGUESE CARTOGRAPHIC REPRESENTATIONS OF THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN AND THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE (1480–1526)
The Atlas Miller charts used conventional Mediterranean place-name styles for the still-unfamiliar regions of the China Sea and Indonesia as of 1519. This cartographic tradition lagged behind actual Portuguese exploration, as evidenced by the earlier 1511 arrival of António de Abreu and Francisco Serrão in Banda.
Dejanirah COUTO
Prof. Dr. Dejanirah Couto, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Section des Sciences Historiques et Philologiques, Sorbonne, Paris
“The toponymy follows the conventional pattern of Mediterranean portolan charts in the
China Sea and Indonesia, regions that were still little known to Portuguese navigators in 1519 – António
de Abreu and Francisco Serrão reached the island of Banda in the Moluccas archipelago in 1511.”
Source: EARLY MODERN PORTUGUESE CARTOGRAPHIC REPRESENTATIONS OF THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN AND THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE (1480–1526), 2024
Conclusion
Based on the available expert perspectives, there is a clear consensus supporting the core historical context of the claim, but the experts do not directly confirm or address the specific event of the 1512 Bali contact.
The experts unanimously affirm that the Portuguese expedition under António de Abreu and Francisco Serrão was actively exploring the Indonesian archipelago in the precise period of 1511-1512, reaching Banda. This corroborates the broader historical pattern of a European “collision” with the region around 1512, as stated in the claim. However, none of the cited experts comment on or verify the specific assertion that this expedition made the first confirmed European landing on Bali in 1512; their focus remains on the Banda Islands and the broader cartographic record of the era.
References
1. VANDERFORD LAPE, P. (2000). “CONTACT AND CONFLICT IN THE BANDA ISLANDS, EASTERN INDONESIA 11TH -17TH CENTURIES.” Dissertation. Retrieved from https://faculty.washington.edu/plape/Lapediss.pdf
2. Verne, J. (2008). “Celebrated Travels and Travellers.” eBook. Retrieved from https://atlas.cs.brown.edu/data/gutenberg/2/4/7/7/24777/24777-8.txt
3. COUTO, D. (2024). “EARLY MODERN PORTUGUESE CARTOGRAPHIC REPRESENTATIONS OF THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN AND THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE (1480–1526).” Academic Journal. Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/11FaeC2VIhHzYVQ0NdxihsnItnRjhi755/view?usp=sharing
