GE 2: READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

The First Voyage Round the World

The book “The First Voyage Round the World” talks about Ferdinand Magellans’s voyage
around the world, it was written by Antonio Lambardo Pigafetta or “Antonio Pigaffeta” who
became the assistant of Ferdinand Magellan, Antonio Pigafetta was said to be a well-educated,
possessing ardent curiosity of the world around him, he used this traits to write a book about
their expedition that later on became the primary source of the history about the Voyage of
Magellan here in the Philippines.

Antonio Pigafetta highlighted that the main theme of his book is the journey taken by
Ferdinand Magellan to discover the world, demonstrate its realism, and find pre-colonial
societies. This book also served as a referent to the events leading to Magellan’s arrival in the
Philippines, Magellan’s encounter with the local leader, his demise at the hands of Lapu-Lapu's
soldiers during the Mactan battles, the dispersal of Magellan's fleet from the islands thus,
Antonio Pigafetta’s tavelogue is one of the most important source in the study of pre-colonial
Philippines.