The First Voyage Around The World

Author

Born in Vicenza in 1490 and died in the same city in 1534

Studied astronomy, geography and cartography

Have great friendship with Ferdinand Magellan

Also wrote a treatise of navigation

Served on board the galleys of the Knights of Rhodes

An italian seafarer and geographer

Antonio Pigafetta

Historical Context of the Document

The First Voyage Around The World by Antonio Pigafetta was written on board one of the 5 ships that
was first to circumnavigate the world during an expedition that was lead by the Portuguese explorer,
Ferdinand Magellan and after his death during the voyage, by Juan Sebastián Elcano.

Spanish Fleet: Armada de Molucca

Navigator

Fernão de Magalhães in Portuguese

Fernando de Magallanes in Spanish

38 year-old Portuguese, when started the fleet

First European to cross the Pacific Ocean

Ferdinand Magellan

Treaty of Tordesillas

Pigafetta presented his book to high personages.

The original journal was said to be lost and it was not clear on what language it was written.

An account of the voyage survives in four manuscript versions: one in Italian, and three in French

Account of Pigafetta

The Ships

The Ships
The government of Spain provided 5 ships for the Magellan expedition.

Ferdinand Magellan led the five Spanish ships and 237 men in what was to become the first voyage
around the World.

The names of the ships were the Trinidad, the San Antonio, the Concepcion, the Santiago and the
Victoria.

The Santiago

Santiago

Under the Command of Juan Serrano

Crew: 32

Smallest of the 5 ships

Called as a "caravel"

The first ship that has been lost

San Antonio

The San Antonio

Under the Command of Juan De Cartagena

Crew: 60

Soon led by Alvarado De Mesquita

The largest in the fleet

Sailed back to Spain

The second ship that has been lost

Concepcion

The Concepcion

Under the Command of Gaspar de Quesada

Crew: 45

Captain was executed because of a mutiny

Burned

The third ship that has been lost

The Trinidad

Trinidad
Under the Command of Ferdinand Magellan

The Flagship

Crew: 55

Was attacked by a Portuguese ship

Left shipwrecked

The fourth ship that has been lost

Victoria

Under the Command of Luiz Mendoza

Crew: 43

Soon led by Juan Sebastian Elcano

The ship where Antonio Pigafetta was on board

The first ship that circumnavigated the World

The only ship to complete the voyage

The Victoria

Content Analysis of the Document

On September 8, 1522, the crew of the Victoria cast anchor in the waters off of Seville, Spain, having just
completed the first circumnavigation of the world.

On board was Antonio Pigafetta, a young Italian nobleman who had joined the expedition three years
before, and served as an assistant to Ferdinand Magellan en route to the Molucca Islands.

Magellan was dead. The rest of the fleet was gone: the Santiago shipwrecked, the San Antonio
overtaken, the Concepcion burned and the Trinidad abandoned. Of the 237 sailors who departed from
Seville, eighteen returned on the Victoria. Pigafetta had managed to survive, along with his journal—
notes that detailed the discovery of the western route to the Moluccas.

And along the way, new land, new peoples: on the far side of the Pacific, the fleet had stumbled across
the Marianas archipelago, and some three hundred leagues further west, the Philippines.

Introduction

Key Points

Throughout the expedition, there served a translator named Enrique

Enrique was from Sumatra (present day Indonesia) and was a slave of Ferdinand Magellan

The Voyage

Timeline
Magellan and his men entered the port of Cebu

Initially, Magellan and his men encountered some struggle when first entering the port of Cebu.

The “king” of Cebu wanted Magellan and his men to pay tribute to them but, Magellan refused and told
the translator that they are working for the King of Spain and threatens him with war.

The first mass in the Philippines was held in Mazaua (Limasawa)

It was attended by Magellan, Raia Colambu (Rajah Kolambu), Raia Siaui (Rajah Siagu), Spanish voyagers,
and the local islanders.

April 27, 1521

March 17, 1521

April 1, 1521

Datu Zula's Request

Arrival in Samar

The First Mass in the Philippines

April 8, 1521

April 15, 1521

Christianity

Interaction with the Cebuanos

A mass was held with Raia Humabon and his people attending the ceremony.

800 souls were baptized.

Pigafetta showed the queen an image of our Lady, a very beautiful wooden child Jesus, and a cross.

She asked for the little child Jesus to keep in place of her idols and this image of child Jesus is now
known as the Sto. Niño found in Cebu.

Arrival in Zamal (Samar at present)

The island was called Humunu (now Homonhon)

Magellan and his men called it Acquada da li buoni Segnialli (“The Watering-place of Good Signs”)

There are many islands in that district, and therefore they called them the archipelago of San Lazaro, as
they were discovered on the Sunday of St. Lazarus

"When morning came, forty-nine of us leaped into the water up to our thighs, and walked through
water for more than two cross-bow flights before we could reach the shore. The boats cound not
approach nearer because of certain rocks in the water. The other eleven men remained behind to guard
the boats. when we reached land, those men had formed in three divisions to the number of more than
one thousand five hundred persons. When they saw us, they charged down upon us with exceeding loud
cries, two divisions on our flanks and the other on our front." - Antonio Pigafetta's Account

According to Datu Zula, the chief of Mactan, Lapu-Lapu refused too obey the king of Spain.

Lapu-Lapu did not want to pay Magellan and his men the goat that they were promised.

Magellan was not pleased since they went to Mactan to garner food for their expedition.

Datu zula requested the captain to defeat Lapu-Lapu

Magellan ordered three boats to be equipped with a matter of fifty or sixty men and went againsts the
place

April 28, 1521

Death Of Magellan

At midnight, sixty of Magellan’s men set out armed with corselets and helmet

Magellan orders an attack but miscalculates

They found three thousand or four thousand men who fought with such a good will and there happened
the death of Magellan

Relevance to Contemporary Times

RELEVANCE TO CONTEMPORARY TIMES

He proved to our explorers and to the people today that circumnavigating the world was possible
His circumnavigation proved that the world is round

He discovered a strait that connected Atlantic and Pacific Ocean and called it Strait of Magellan

This book aids the researchers and students of today in understanding the context of the Magellan
expedition and how the whole Europe-Philippines conflict commenced..

Spaniards introduced Christianity to the Filipinos

Growing up, we’ve understood this issue just simply as the start of the Spanish era and Magellan being
the Philippines’ villain without taking into debate the context and different reasons of the expedition.

The international dateline was established.

• It proved that the earth is not flat, and one can go to the east by sailing west.

Significance of the Magellan Expedition • The main significance of his voyage was that he showed it was
possible to sail around the world, and left a record of how to do it. • Magellan’s voyage vastly increased
the geographical knowledge of mankind and proved once and for all that the earth is round. •
Considering the inadequacy of marine instruments at the time, Magellan´s voyage can be considered as
the greatest single trip ever undertaken. In terms of the hardships the men endured and the courage
they displayed, Magellan’s maritime exploit has perhaps never been surpassed. The route he took to
reach the Philippines was entirely new, and the Venetian monopoly of the trade route to the east was
thus broken. Spain became the supreme power in the building of a colonial empire

15. • His discovery of the Philippines brought the archipelago into the awareness of Europe. • Finally,
the voyage paved the way to Spanish colonization and Christianization of the Philippines. The later
voyages of Fernando de Villalobos and Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, to a certain extent, owed their success
to Magellan’s epochal voyage to the Far East. • From the point of view of the Filipinos, Magellan’s
expedition was significant because it paved the way for contacts between the Philippines and western
civilization

Contribution and relevance of the First Voyage around the world inunderstanding the grand
narrative of Philippine history:It is the only known document about Lapu-Lapu’s life.Due to the daily
notes Pigaletta took and details about the expedition that hewrote about, he is considered the best
source today of the customs and usagesof the Filipinos in the early 16th century.A primary source
account assisted us in understanding how early Filipinos lived.Several "Datus" are said to have joined
forces with the Europeans. As a result,we can conclude that societies of varying sophistication existed in
the Philippinesprior to Magellan's expedition.

It emphasizes the native’s generosity and hospitality to the expedition team. Afterall, there might not
have been a circumnavigation if the locals on HomonhonIsland had not offered food and water to the
Europeans, and the ships' rationshad not been replenished from local sources. The emphasis on
hospitality – asupposedly benign Filipino national character quality — adds another layer tonational
myth-making that could shape the next 500 years of Philippine history.It helped us understand how
Filipinos lived in the past and how they dealt withMagellan and his men when they arrived in the
Philippines.Contains the first vocabulary of Visayan words ever presented by a European

Starting point of the first expedition around the world.The book serves as evidence that the world is
round and not flat.This book assists today's researchers and students in comprehending
thecontext of the Magellan expedition and the origins of the entire European-Philippine
conflict commenced.Magellan discovered Pacific Ocean.Businesses rose because of the discoveries
that made up the different products.Collaborations were also made that benefited the different
sides.Opened many doors in the Philippines. We discover what religion Filipinos in the past used to
have.

We found out that our ancestors fought and delayed the Spanish occupation foryears. Profetta
presented the events in a chronological order that gives readers a vividimage of what it was like to be a
part of the first voyage around the world.

 It is important to know these things (our origin) because we can understand our own identity,
we can learn to preserve our culture and can correct the mistakes that happened in the past