A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE FIRST

VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD BY

MAGELLAN BY ANTONIO
PIGAFETTA
and
ANALYSIS OF PIGAFETTA’S
CHRONICLE
 FERDINAND MAGELLAN
 February 3 1480- April 25,
1521
 Portuguese Explorer who
organised the Spanish
Expeditions to the East
Indies from 1519-1522 to
search for western route
to the Maluku Islands
( the Spice Island)
resulting in the first
circumnavigation of the
Earth, completed by Juan
Sebastian Elcano
 ANTONIO PIGAFETTA
 1491-1531
 Italian scholar and
explorer from the
republic of Venice
 He traveled with the
portugese explorer
Ferdinand Magellan
and his crew by order
of the King Charles 1
of Spain on their
Voyage around the
world.
 His work became a classic that prominent
literary men in the West like William
Shakespeare, Michel de Montaigne and
Giambattista Vico referredto the book in their
interpretation of the New World.
 His travelogue is one of the most important
primary sources in the study of precolonial
Philippines.
 His account was also a major referent to the
events leading to Magellans arrival in the
Philippines, his encounter with local leaders,
his death in the hands of Lapulapu’s forces in
the Battle of Mactan and in the depature of
what was left of Magellan’s fleet from the
islands.
 The First Voyage Around the
World by Magellan
 The document reveals several insights
not just in the character of the
Philippines during pre colonial period,
but also on how the fresh eyes of the
European regard a deeply unfamiliar
terrain, environment, people and
culture.
 Published after Pigafetta returned to
Italy.
 Antonio Pigafetta wrote his firsthand
observation and general impression of
the Far East including their Experiences
in the Visayas.

In Pigafetta’s account, their fleet reached

what he called the Ladrones Islands or
the “Islands of the Thieves”
“These people have no arms, but
use sticks, which have a fishbone
at the end. They are poor, but
ingenious, and great thieves, and
for the sake of that we called
these three islands the Ladrones
Islands”.
 Ladrones Island
 Presently known as Marianas Islands.
 It is located south-southeast of Japan,
west-southwest of Hawaii, north of New
Guinea, and east of Philippines
 March 16, 1521
 Pigafetta reported that they reach the
isle of Zamal, now Samar, but Magellan
decided to land in another uninhabited
island for greater security where they
could rest for a few days.
 After two days, March 18, nine men
came to them and show joy and
eagerness in seeing them and
welcomed them with food, drinks, and
gifts.
 The natives gave them:
› Fish
› Palm wine ( uraca)
› figs
› 2 cochos
› Rice (umai)
› cocos
 Pigafetta described what seemed like a coconut.

“This palm produces a fruit names cocho,

which is large as the head, or thereabouts: its
first husk is green, and two fingers in
thickness, in it they find certain threads, with
which they make the cords for fastening their
boats. Under this husks there is another very
hard, and thicker than that of a walnut. They
burned this second rind, and make with it a
powder which is useful to them. Under this rind
there is a white marrow of a fingers thickness,
which they eat fresh with meat and fish, as we
do bread, and it has the taste of almond, and if
anyone dried it he might make bread of it.
 “very familiar and friendly”
 Willingly showed them different islands
and the names of this islands.
 They went to Humunu Island
(Homonhon) (Watering Place of Good
Signs) where they found the first signs
of gold in the island.
 They named the island with the nearby
islands as the Archipelago of St.
Lazarus
 March 25, they saw two ballangai
(balangay)
 Ballangai( balangay)
 A long boat full of people in Mazzava/
Mazaua.
 The leader (king) (Raia Siagu) sent his
men to the ship of Magellan.
 The king offered to give Magellan a bar
of gold and chest of ginger, Magellan
declined. Instead Magellan asked for
money for the needs of his ships. The
king responded by giving them the
needed provisions and food in
chinaware.
 Magellan exchanged gifts of robes in
Turkish fashions, red cap, knives and
mirrors.
 The two men expressed their desire to
become brothers.
 Magellan also boasted of his men in an
armor who could not struck with swords
and daggers. The king was fascinated and
remarked that men in such armor could be
worth one hundred of his men.
 Magellan showed other weapons, helmets
and artilleries. He also shared his charts
and maps and how they found the islands.
 Magellan was introduced to the king’s
brother who was also king of another
island.
 They went to this island and they saw
mines of gold.
 The gold was abundant that the parts
of the ship and the house of the second
king were made of gold.
 Raia Calambu
 King of Zuluan and Calagan ( Butuan
and Caragua)
 Pigafetta described him as the most
handsome of all men that he saw in
this place.
 He was adorned with sick and golden
accecories like golden dagger, which
he carried with him in a wooden
polished sheath.
 March 31 (Easter Sunday)
 Magellan ordered the chaplain to
preside a Mass by the shore.
 The king sent two dead pigs and
attended the Mass with the other king.
“…when the offertory of the mass came,
the two kings, went to kiss the cross like
us, but they offered nothing, and at the
elevation of the body of our Lord they
were kneeling like us, and adored our
Lord with joined hands.”
 After the Mass, Magellan ordered that the
cross be brought with nails and crowned
in place.
 Magellan explained that the cross, the
nail, and the crown were the signs of his
emperor and that he was ordered to plant
it in the places that he would reach and
the cross would be beneficial for their
people because once the Spaniards saw
this cross, then they would know that
they had been in this land and would not
cause them troubles, and any person who
might be held captives by them would be
released.
 April 7 1521
 Magellan and his men reached the port
of Cebu, the largest and the richest of
the islands with the helped of Raia
Calambu.
 The king of Cebu (Rajah Humabon)
demanded that they pay tribute as it
was customary but Magellan refused.
 Magellan said that he was the captain
himself and thus would not pay tribute
to the other king.
 Magellan’s interpreter explained to the
king of Cebu that Magellan’s king was
the emperor of the great empire and
that it would do them better to make
friends with them than to forge enmity.
 The king consulted his council and the
next day, together with the other
principal men of Cebu, they met in an
open space and the king offered a bit
of his blood demanded that Magellan
do the same.
“Then the king said that he was content, and
as a greater sign of affection he sent him a
little of his blood from his right arm, and wish
he should do the like. Our people answered
that he would do it. Besides that, he said that
all the captains who came to his country had
been accustomed to make a present to him,
and he to them, and therefore they should
ask their captain if he would observe the
custom. Our people answered that he would:
but as the king wished to keep up the
custom, let him begin and make a present,
and then the captain would do his duty.”
 Magellan spoke about peace and God.
People took pleasure in his speech.
 Magellan asked the people who would
succeed the king after his reign and the
people responded that the eldest child of
the king, who happened to be a daughter,
would be the next in line.
 Parents were no longer taken into account
and has to follow the orders of their
children as the new leaders of the land.
 People wished to become Christians
through their free will and not because
they were forced or intimidated.
 April 14
 The people gathered with the king and
other principal men of the island.
 Magellan spoke and encouraged the
king to be a good Christian by burning
all the idols and worship the cross
instead.
 The king of Cebu was baptized as
Christians.
 “To that the king and all his people
answered that thy would obey the
commands of the captain and do all that he
told them. The captain took the king by the
hand, and they walk about on the
scaffolding, and when he was baptized he
said that he would name him Don Charles
(Carlos), as the emperor his sovereign was
named: and he named the Prince Don
Fernand (Fernando), after the brother of the
emperor, and the king of Mazavva Jehan: to
the Moor he gave the name of Christopher,
and to the others each a name of his
fancy.”.
 After eight days, all of the islands
inhabitant were already baptized.
 Pigafetta admitted that they burned a
village down for obeying neither the
king nor Magellan.
 The Mass was conducted by the shore
everyday.
 When the queen (Hara Amihan) came
to the Mass one day, Magellan gave
her an Image of the Infant Jesus made
by Pigafetta himself.
 April 26
 Zula, a principal man from the island of
Matan (Mactan) went to see Magellan and
ask him a boat full of men so that he could
fight the chief name Silalapulapu (Lapulapu).
 According to Zula, Lapulapu refused to obey
the king and was also preventing him from
doing so.
 Magellan offered three boats and went to
Mactan himself to fight Lapulapu.
 They arrived in Mactan in daylight with 49 in
numbers while the islanders of Mactan were
estimated to number 1500.
 “ When we reached land we found the
islanders fifteen hundred in number,
drawn up in three squadrons; they came
down upon us with terrible shouts, two
squadrons attacking us on the flanks,
and the third in front. The captain then
divided his men in two bands. Our
musketeers and crossbow-men fired for
half an hour from a distance, but did
nothing, since the bullets and arrows,
though they passed through their shields
made of thin wood, and perhaps
wounded their arms, yet did not stop
them.
 The captain shouted not to fire, but he
was not listened to. The islanders seeing
that the shots of our guns did them little
or no harm would not retire, but shouted
more loudly, and springing from one side
to the other to avoid our shots, they at
the same time drew nearer to us,
throwing arrows, javelins, spears
hardened in fire, stones and even mud,
so that we could hardly defend ourselves.
Some of them cast lances pointed with
iron at the captain-general.”
 Magellan died in the battle.
 The natives perceiving that the bodies
of the enemies were protected with
armors, aimed for their legs instead.
 Magellan was pierced with a poisoned
arrow in his right leg.
 A few of their men charges at the
natives and tried to intimidate them by
burning an entire village but this only
enraged the natives further.
 Magellan was specifically targeted
because the native knew he was the
captain general.
 Magellan was hit with a lance in the
face. Magellan retaliated and pierced
the same native with his lance in the
breast and tried to draw his sword but
could not lift it because of his wounded
arms. One native with a great sword
delivered a blow in Magellan’s left leg,
brought him face down and the natives
ceaselessly attacked Magellan with
lances, swords and even their bare
hands.
 “Whilst the Indians were thus
overpowering him, several times he
turned round towards us to see if we
were all in safety, as though his
obstinate fight had no other object than
to give an opportunity for the retreat of
his men.”
 The king of Cebu who was baptized
could have sent help but Magellan
instructed him not to join the battle
and stay in the balangay so that he
would see how they fought.
 The king offered the people of Mactan’s
gifts of any value and amount in
exchange of Magellan’s body but the
chief refused. They wanted to keep
Magellan’s body as a momento of their
victory.
 Duarte Barbosa is elected as the new
captain.
 Henry, Magellan’s slave and interpreter
betrayed them and told the king of
Cebu that they intended to leave as
quickly as possible. The slave allegedly
told the king that if he followed his
advice, the king would acquire the
ships and the goods of Magellan’s fleet.
 The two conspired and betrayed what
was left of Magellan’s men.
 The king invited these men to a
gathering where he said he would
present the jewels that he would send
for the King of Spain.
 Twenty-four men attended while
Pigafetta was not able to joined
because he was nursing his battle
wounds.
 The natives had slain all the men
except the interpreter and Juan Serrano
who was already wounded.
 The fleet departed and abandoned
Serrano.
 They left Cebu and continued their
journey around the world.
 From the original five ships set to
sail( San Antonio, Concepcion, Victoria,
Trinidad and Santiago) only Victoria
returned to Spain.
 And from the original 237 men only 18
men survived.
ANALYSIS OF PIGAFETTA’S
CHRONICLE
 “The best storyteller is the
one who not only knows
the story but saw it.”
 One of the most cited documents by
historians who wished to study the pre
colonial Philippines.
 One of the earliest written accounts.
 Pigaffetta was seen as a credible source
for a period, which was prior unchronicled
and undocumented.
 Earliest detailed documentation.
 It was believed that Pigafetta’s writing s
account fot the “purest” precolonial
society.
 Pigafetta’s work is a great importance in
study and writing of Philippine history.
 We should recognized certain biases
accompanying the author and his
identity, loyalties, and the
circumstances that he was in; and how
it affected the text that he produced.
 We need to understand that he was a
chronicler commissioned by the King of
Spain to accompany and document a
voyage intended to expand the
Spanish empire. A noble descent who
came from a rich family in Italy.
 These attributes influenced his
narrative, his selection of details to be
included in the text, his
characterization of the people and of
the species that he encountered, and
his interpretation and retelling of the
events.
 Being a scholar of cartography and
geography, Pigafetta was able to give
details on geography and climate of
the places that their voyage has
reached.
 Pigafetta’s description to people was
coming from sixteenth century
European perspective.
 Pigaffetta regarded the indigenous
belief systems and way of life as
inferior to Christianity and of the
Europeans.
 He always remarks on the nakedness
of the natives or how he was fascinated
by their exotic culture.
 He emphasized the native’s
amazement and illiteracy to the
European artillery, merchandise and
 He repeatedly mentioned the
abundance of spices like ginger, and of
precious metals like gold.
 When they saw the indigenous attires
of the natives, Pigafetta saw them as
being naked because from the
European standpoint, they were
wearing fewer clothes.
 Pigafetta’s perspective was too narrow
to realize that such attire was only
appropriate to the tropical climate of
the islands.
 The same for the materials that the
native used for their houses like palm
and bamboo that would let more air
come through the house and
compensate for the hot climate in the
islands.
 We should understand that such
observations were rooted from the
context of Pigafetta and his era.
 Europe
 Dominated by the Holy Roman Empire.
 Loyalty and purpose was the domination
of the Catholic Church all over the world.
Other belief systems different from that
of Christianity were perceived to be
blasphemous and barbaric, even
demonic.
 Sixteen century European economy was
mercantilist (system measures the
wealth of kingdom based on their
accumulation of bullions or precious
metals like gold and silver.
 That’s why Pigafetta always mention the
abundance of gold in the islands as shown
in his description of leaders wearing gold
rings and golden daggers, and of the gold
mines.
 An empire like Spain would indeed search
for new lands where they could acquire
more gold and wealth to be on top of all
the European nations.
 The obsession with spices might be odd for
Filipinos because of its ordinariness in the
Philippines, but understanding the context
would reveal that spices were scarce in
Europe.