CONTEXTUAL

ANALYSIS OF
PIGAFETTA’S
CHRONICLES
Who is Antonio Pigafetta?
O Antonio Lombardo or
Francisco Antonio Pigafetta.
O Italian traveller born in Vicenza
around 1490 and died in 1534
O The account of Pigafetta is the
single most important source
about the voyage of
circumnavigation, despite its
tendency to include fabulous
details.
 The Pigafetta Chronicle is indeed a
very significant work document in the
study of the Philippine history. Antonio
Pigafetta was a key player of one of the
most amazing world exploration trips. He
was born in Vicenza in 1492, and he was
an Italian seafarer and geographer. His
works were believed as the most relevant,
detailed and accountable for the pre
colonial soceity.
 The relevance of his own venture,
fundamentally lies in the fact that he
took part to the first globe
circumnavigation, between 1519 and
1522, and he was able to accomplish it
after the murder of Ferdinand Magellan,
leaving a detailed description of the
journey in the report of the first trip
around the world.
 Antonio Pigafetta, fascinating and
fleeing personality, for scholars he still
represents a partial mystery. Nevertheless,
it was truly mesmerizing the know that is
was just commanded by the King of
Spain to document and associate in the
voyages in order to expand and give
enormous extension in the great empire
of Spain.
 Moreover, his own narration about
the first world circumnavigation was one
of the greatest achievements in the
history of navy exploration and
discovery. In this narration can be found
descriptions of peoples, countries,
goods and even the languages that
were spoken, of which the seafarer was
trying to assemble some brief glossaries.
 Pigafetta tells how, being in
Barcelona in 1519, he heard about
Magellan’s expedition, and being
wishful to learn about the world, he
asked for and obtained the permission
to join in the voyage.
 Magellan’s fleet weighed anchor
from Seville on August 10th of the same
year with five smaller vessels, heading
towards Canary Islands and down along
the African coast, and across the
Equator. From there they sailed towards
Brazil coast , where they stayed for some
time, making supplies and weaving
friendly contacts with the cannibalistic
natives who dwelled there.
 They proceeded until the
discovery of the strait, named after,
Magellan himself, on October 21st 1520,
and went through, although one of the
ships deserted, sailing back to Spain.
 Finally, they arrived in the Philippines,
where they became acquainted with the
natives who proved hospitable and
welcomed them as guests in the king’s
palace. And there is Pigafetta, marveling, at
the coconuts and the bananas and the
naked, beautiful people. It's happening
even now in the text, as the Filipino pilots are
captured to direct the way to the
Moluccas, the way to the spices. There is
Pigafetta, roaming and cataloging and
recording, caught up in the first flush of a
new world. The indigenous people, affected
by the celebration of Mass and the crucifix
planted in the island, promised to convert to
Christianity.
 Quickly they developed
commerce and trade, and the king, the
queen and other notables of Cebu
were converted, until the entire
population rapidly followed them in the
new religion.
 Shortly after, happened the
disastrous episode that changed the
course of the expedition. Magellan took
part in a conflict between some local
tribes and was killed. The rest of the
expedition managed to escape and
retired, preparing to leave, but a trap
set by Magellan’s interpreter and the
king of Cebu, led to another massacre
of the Europeans.
 The surviving ships continued
toward Borneo and to the city of Brunei,
where they managed to stock up, then
from there, traveling southbound, they
came to the Moluccas, 27 months after
the departure from Spain, finding a
warm welcome by an astrologer king
who had predicted their arrival.
 But at this point, despite the
perspective of good business and the
rich exchanges that would lie ahead,
their desire to return to Spain urged
them and pushed them to a quick
return.