Katherine Ann Ronatay
BLOCK N7
Worksheet for Pre-Colonial Philippines
Antonio Pigafetta. First Voyage Around the World
Author’s background ● Italian scholar and explorer from the republic
of Venice.
● His work became a classic that prominent
literary men in the West like William
Shakespeare, Michel de Montaigne and
Giambattista Vico referred to in their
interpretation of the New World.
● Italian scholar and explorer from the republic
of Venice.
● His travelogue is one of the most important
primary sources in the study of pre-colonial
Philippines.
When was the account
written? (Context) ● An account of the voyage, written by Pigafetta
(between 1522 and 1525), survives in four
manuscript versions: one in Italian and three
in French.
● The manuscript volume (from around 1525)
was about Ferdinand Magellan's voyage
around the world in 1519-22.
Social status/Social ● King
Stratification ● Captain General Women were naked except
that they wore a narrow strip of bark as thin
as paper. They are delicately formed, and
lighter complexioned than the men.
● Seignior (Lord)
● Slave
Physical Appearance ● Men were naked, with a cloth woven from
the bark of a tree about their privies, except
some of the chiefs who wear cotton cloth
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WORKSHEET: Pre-Colonial Philippines
Juan de Plasencia, Customs of the Tagalogs
● A Franciscan missionary who first arrived in the
Philippines in 1577.
● He is not a native Tagalog
● He wrote the Doctrina Cristiana, an early book
on catechism and is believed to be the first
book ever printed in the Philippines.
● He was tasked by the King of Spain to document
the customs and traditions of the colonized
natives based on his own observations and
judgments.
● They appeared initially in Blair and Robertson’s
55 volumes, The Philippine Islands (1903) and in
the Philippine Journal of Sciences (1958).
● Written during the Spanish Colonial Period in
1589
● Customs of Tagalog is a part of a book written
by the chronicles of the Spanish expeditions to
the Philippines during the early 16th and 17th
centuries.
● Maharlika (Nobles)
● Datu (Chieftain)
● Aliping Saguiguilir (Slaves)
● Aliping Namamahay (Commoners)
● Females wear Baro or Camisa, and Saya.
● Males wear a headgear called Putong, which
symbolizes the number of persons the wearer
Katherine Ann Ronatay
BLOCK N7
Mention of economic
activities/ way of living
Belief system or rituals
Differences between the two
accounts
embroidered with silk at the ends by means
of a needle. They are dark, fat, and painted.
● Women were naked except that they wore a
narrow strip of bark as thin as paper. They are
delicately formed, and lighter complexioned
than the men.
● Anoint the body and the hair with coconut
and beniseed oil.
● Weaving baskets from palm leaves
● Houses are built of wood covered with planks
and thatched with leaves of the fig-tree.
● Eat coconuts, camotes, birds, figs one palm in
length (bananas), sugarcane, and flying fish
● Christianity
● The Economic Activities/ Way of Living of the
Tagalogs and the people from Pigafetta’s work
are close to similar.
● The Tagalogs have more belief systems or
rituals compared to the people in Antonio
Pigafetta’s work.
● The Social Status/Social Stratification is very
different since the Tagalogs use a different set
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WORKSHEET: Pre-Colonial Philippines
killed. A jacket with short sleeves called
kanggan, and bahag.
● Foreign trade with countries like Borneo, China,
Japan, Cambodia, Java, and Thailand.
● Agriculture in the plane lands: planting of rice,
corn, banana, coconut, sugar canes and other
kinds of vegetables and fruits.
● Fishing in river banks and sea.
● Shipbuilding, weaving, poultry, mining and
lumbering.
● Hunting in the highlands.
● Domestic trade of different barangays by boat.
● Believes in the magical power of amulets and
charms: Anting-Anting, Kulam and Gayuma
(Love Potion).
● Believes in sacred animals and trees.
● Worships many gods and goddesses: Bathala
(Supreme Being), Idayanale (God of
Agriculture), Sidarapa (God of Death), Agni (God
of Fire), Balangaw (God of Rainbow),
Mandarangan (God of War), Lalahon (God of
Harvest), Siginarugan (God of Hell).
● Believes in Aswang, Dwende, Kapre, Tikbalang,
Patyanak/Tiyanak.
● In de Plasencia’s work, Tagalogs already have
their own terms in social status.
● Tagalogs in the point of view of Juan de
Plasencia’s point of view are more modernized
compared to the point of view of Antonio
Pigafetta.
● Pigafetta’s work were written before de
Plasencia
Katherine Ann Ronatay
BLOCK N7
Your own analysis of the
differences between the two
accounts
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WORKSHEET: Pre-Colonial Philippines
of language which is hard to understand
compared to the people of First Voyage
Around the World who use words that are
understood by many.
Both authors wrote different and unique works. His work continues to serve the history of the Tagalogs.
However for me, Juan De Placencia’s work was more
reliable and precise because he wrote a very detailed
work.