NGEC 2

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

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You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, publish, display, perform, modify, create derivative works, transmit, or in
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GILBERT ECUBEN gilbert.ecuben@jblfmu.edu.ph

Instructor

General Instructions: Read and analyze each section of the lesson. Answer the quiz and
activities at the end of the class. The quiz for every lesson will be posted in the JeL. However,
the activity should be pass-thru JeL in pdf (only). The deadline for submission is regularly
updated in the JeL every academic week.

Lesson 3 Doing the Analysis of Selected Primary Sources

1.1 Magellan's Voyage: A Narrative Account of the First Circumnavigation by

Antonio Pigafetta (1519- 1522)

1.1.1 Antonio Pigafetta

Antonio Pigafetta (1491-c.1534), born around 1490 in the town of Vicenza, Venice,
Italy, was the eldest son of Giovanni Pigafetta to second wife Angela Zoga. He studied
astronomy, geography, and cartography and during his younger years, he worked in the
ships owned by the Knight. His biographers described him as a well-educated young man
possessing an avid curiosity of the world around him.

Antonio Pigafetta (1491 — 1534), Italian chronicler of Ferdinand Magellan's 1519-1522

expedition.

1.1.2 Pigafetta’s Accounts

Pigafetta kept a detailed journal of what happened to them from the time they left
Seville in 1519 until they returned to Spain three years after. He was unable to find a
financier who would pay the deposit required by the publication.

1 © 2022 Ecuben
 NGEC 2
READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
Copyright Notice:
You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, publish, display, perform, modify, create derivative works, transmit, or in
any way exploit any such content, nor may you distribute any part of this content over any person, sell or offer it
for sale, or use such content to construct any kind of database.
The original journal of Pigafetta did not survive time. In 1800, Carlo Amoretti
published an Italian version and the following year a French version came out in Paris. An
English version was published in 1819.
It recounted the individual fates of the five ships (Trinidad, San Antonio, Concepción,
Santiago, and Victoria comprised the Magellan expedition.
It narrated lucidly how they gallantly survived the unforeseen pre unforeseen
problems and challenges, such as shortage of food, various types of diseases, the crew's lack
of confidence in Magellan's leadership, and the hostile attitude of the people they
encountered during the journey.

Magellan's Voyage by Antonio Pigafetta (1519- 1522).

Pigafetta's account also included maps, glossaries of native words, geographic

information and descriptions of the flora and fauna of the places they visited. Pigafetta's
travelogue contributed immensely to the enrichment of Philippine historiography. His
writing provided us with a glimpse of the political, economic, and social conditions of the
islands in the Visayan region during the 16th century.
He described vividly the physical appearance, social life, religious beliefs, and cultural
practices of the people they encountered in the islands of Samar, Leyte, and Cebu.
His account also contains data about the economic activities of the local folks and
the goods they offered for trade. He got all this information with the help of Magellan's
slave/interpreter, Enrique de Malacca.
Pigafetta likewise gave us an eyewitness account of the death of Magellan in the
Battle of Mactan.

2 © 2022 Ecuben
 NGEC 2
READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
Copyright Notice:
You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, publish, display, perform, modify, create derivative works, transmit, or in
any way exploit any such content, nor may you distribute any part of this content over any person, sell or offer it
for sale, or use such content to construct any kind of database.

Magellan's death as described by Antonio Pigafetta (1521).

1.1.3 Analysis of Pigafetta's Accounts of Magellan’s Voyage as a Primary Source

Pigafetta's chronicle contributed immensely to European historiography as it

preserved and popularized the achievements of the Magellan-Elcano expedition. If Pigafetta
did not survive the journey, we would have very little knowledge of Magellan's numerous
contributions in the fields of geography, navigation, history, and other related areas. First,
credit must be given to the Magellan expedition for proving that the earth is not flat but an
oblate sphere. Moreover, they demolished the myth that there is boiling water at the
Equator.
Second, Magellan and his men completed the first circumnavigation of the world.
Third, they confirmed that the Portuguese route is not the only way to the Spice Islands.
They proved the theory that one can go to the east by sailing west. Fourth, they brought to
the attention of the Europeans that on the other side of the American continent exists a
large body of water which they named Pacific Ocean (Mar Pacifico). All these discoveries
altered the European map of the world and resulted in the inclusion of new territories in
their world view.
The account of Pigafetta also enriched Philippine historiography because it contains
important details about the conditions of the Visayan Islands in the 16th century. Some of
the prominent leaders during that time, their economic activities, social and cultural
practices, and religious beliefs were Moreover, local textbook writers use his book as their
identified source and the story of the image of the Sto. Niño were mostly taken others
refused to interact and trade with them. Lapu-lapu is the most prominent Filipino character
in Pigafetta's narrative. He was the first Filipino who led the resistance movement against
Spanish rule and successfully thwarted the first attempt of the Spaniards to take control of
the Philippines.

It was mentioned earlier that Pigafetta was not the only one who wrote about the
expedition. The year after the ship Victoria arrived in Spain, Maximilianus Transylvanus' De
Moluccis Insulis (The Moluccas Islands) came off the press. Its subject matter is the same as

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 NGEC 2
READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
Copyright Notice:
You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, publish, display, perform, modify, create derivative works, transmit, or in
any way exploit any such content, nor may you distribute any part of this content over any person, sell or offer it
for sale, or use such content to construct any kind of database.
that of Pigafetta's book but it is not an eyewitness account because the author is not part of
the expedition. He based his narrative on the interviews that he conducted with the
survivors of the Victoria. His prominent interviewees were Juan Sebastián Elcano, Francisco
Albo, and Hernando de Bustamante. Compared to Pigafetta's work, his account is far much
shorter and contains less details. Another survivor who maintained a journal of the voyage
was Francisco Albo (Victoria's pilot). His work is the shortest and it focused mainly on the
location of the expedition on certain dates.
Finally, the last contemporaneous source of information about Magellan is the
Italian-born historian of Spain, Peter Martyr d'Anghiera. From 1511 to 1530, he wrote
accounts of the Spanish of historical information about the beginning of Christianity in the
Philippines. The accounts about the First Mass in the from Pigafetta's book. Finally, Pigafetta
has numerous accounts about the reaction of the Filipinos when they met the Spaniards,
explorations of the New World which he divided into “decades." The fifth decade appeared
in 1523 and it recounted the conquest Philippines, the conversion of Rajah Humabon and his
wife, Some Filipinos were easily befriended by the Spaniards while of Mexico and the
circumnavigation of the world by Magellan.

References:

Pigafetta, A. Dos travesías, dos formas de relatar la vuelta al mundo: Antonio

Pigafetta, Richard Hakluyt y The World Encompassed.

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