A Brief Summary of the First

Voyage Around the World by

Magellan by Antonio
Pigafetta

Pigafetta, Antonio. The First Voyage Around the World, 1519-1522: An

Account of Magellan’s Expedition. Ed. Theodore J. Cachey, Jr. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 2007.
https://www.scribd.com/presentation/424549111/A-Brief-Summary-of-the-
First-Voyage-Around
 Antonio Pigafetta was an Italian nobleman who accompanied Ferdinand

Mmagellan in his circumnavigation of the world.

 Pigafetta travelogue is one of the most important primary sources in

the study of precolonial Philippines.

 Pigafetta chronicles reveal different insights not just in the character of

the phillipines during the precolonial period, but also on how the fresh
eyes of Europeans regard a deeply unfamiliar terrain, environment,
people and culture.
 Antonio Pigafetta wrote his firsthand observation and
general impression of the Far East including their
Experiences in the Visayas.

 In Pigafetta’s account, their fleet reached what he called the

Ladrones Islands or the “Islands of the Thieves”

LADRONES ISLAND
 Presently known as Marianas Islands.
 It is located south-southeast of Japan, west-southwest of
Hawaii, north of New Guinea, and east of Philippines
MARCH 16, 1521
 Pigafetta reported that they reach the isle of Zamal, now

Samar, but Magellan decided to land in another uninhabited

island for greater security where they could rest for a few
days.

 After two days, March 18, nine men came to them and show

joy and eagerness in seeing them and welcomed them with

food, drinks, and gifts.
 The natives gave them:
 Fish
 Palm wine ( uraca)
 figs
 2 cochos
 Rice (umai)
 cocos
Pigaffeta characterized the people as ;

 “very familiar and friendly”

 Willingly showed them different islands and the names of this

islands.

 They went to Humunu Island (Homonhon) (Watering Place of Good

Signs) where they found the first signs of gold in the island.

 They named the island with the nearby islands as the Archipelago

of St. Lazarus

 March 25, they saw two ballangai (balangay)

BALLANGAI (BALANGAY)

 A long boat full of people in Mazzava/ Mazaua.

 The leader (king) (Raia Siagu) sent his men to the ship of

Magellan.

 The king offered to give Magellan a bar of gold and chest of

ginger, Magellan declined. Instead Magellan asked for money

for the needs of his ships. The king responded by giving
them the needed provisions and food in chinaware.
 Magellan exchanged gifts of robes in Turkish fashions, red

cap, knives and mirrors.

 The two men expressed their desire to become brothers.

 Magellan also boasted of his men in an armor who could not

struck with swords and daggers. The king was fascinated and
remarked that men in such armor could be worth one
hundred of his men.

 Magellan showed other weapons, helmets and artilleries. He

also shared his charts and maps and how they found the
islands.
 Magellan was introduced to the king’s brother who was also

king of another island.

 They went to this island and they saw mines of gold.

 The gold was abundant that the parts of the ship and the

house of the second king were made of gold.

RAIA CALAMBU
 King of Zuluan and Calagan ( Butuan and Caragua)

 Pigafetta described him as the most handsome of all men

that he saw in this place.

 He was adorned with sick and golden accecories like golden

dagger, which he carried with him in a wooden polished

sheath.
MARCH 31 (EASTER SUNDAY)
 Magellan ordered the chaplain to preside a Mass by the

shore.

 The king sent two dead pigs and attended the Mass with the

other king.

“…when the offertory of the mass came, the two kings, went
to kiss the cross like us, but they offered nothing, and at the
elevation of the body of our Lord they were kneeling like us,
and adored our Lord with joined hands.”
 After the Mass, Magellan ordered that the cross be brought

with nails and crowned in place.

 Magellan explained that the cross, the nail, and the crown

were the signs of his emperor and that he was ordered to

plant it in the places that he would reach and the cross
would be beneficial for their people because once the
Spaniards saw this cross, then they would know that they
had been in this land and would not cause them troubles,
and any person who might be held captives by them would
be released.
APRIL 7 1521
 Magellan and his men reached the port of Cebu, the largest

and the richest of the islands with the helped of Raia

Calambu.

 The king of Cebu (Rajah Humabon) demanded that they pay

tribute as it was customary but Magellan refused.

 Magellan said that he was the captain himself and thus

would not pay tribute to the other king.

 Magellan’s interpreter explained to the king of Cebu that

Magellan’s king was the emperor of the great empire and

that it would do them better to make friends with them than
to forge enmity.

 The king consulted his council and the next day, together

with the other principal men of Cebu, they met in an open

space and the king offered a bit of his blood demanded that
Magellan do the same.
APRIL 14
 The people gathered with the king and other principal men of

the island.

 Magellan spoke and encouraged the king to be a good

Christian by burning all the idols and worship the cross

instead.

 The king of Cebu was baptized as Christians.

 After eight days, all of the islands inhabitant were already

baptized.

 Pigafetta admitted that they burned a village down for

obeying neither the king nor Magellan.

 The Mass was conducted by the shore everyday.

 When the queen (Hara Amihan) came to the Mass one day,

Magellan gave her an Image of the Infant Jesus made by

Pigafetta himself.
APRIL 26
 Zula, a principal man from the island of Matan (Mactan) went

to see Magellan and ask him a boat full of men so that he

could fight the chief name Silalapulapu (Lapulapu).

 According to Zula, Lapulapu refused to obey the king and

was also preventing him from doing so.

 Magellan offered three boats and went to Mactan himself to

fight Lapulapu.

 They arrived in Mactan in daylight with 49 in numbers while

the islanders of Mactan were estimated to number 1500.

“The captain shouted not to fire, but he was not listened to.
The islanders seeing that the shots of our guns did them little
or no harm would not retire, but shouted more loudly, and
springing from one side to the other to avoid our shots, they
at the same time drew nearer to us, throwing arrows, javelins,
spears hardened in fire, stones and even mud, so that we
could hardly defend ourselves. Some of them cast lances
pointed with iron at the captain-general.”
 Magellan died in the battle.

 The natives perceiving that the bodies of the enemies were

protected with armors, aimed for their legs instead.

 Magellan was pierced with a poisoned arrow in his right leg.

 A few of their men charges at the natives and tried to

intimidate them by burning an entire village but this only

enraged the natives further.

 Magellan was specifically targeted because the native knew

he was the captain general.

 Magellan was hit with a lance in the face. Magellan retaliated

and pierced the same native with his lance in the breast and
tried to draw his sword but could not lift it because of his
wounded arms. One native with a great sword delivered a
blow in Magellan’s left leg, brought him face down and the
natives ceaselessly attacked Magellan with lances, swords
and even their bare hands.
“Whilst the Indians were thus overpowering him, several
times he turned round towards us to see if we were all in
safety, as though his obstinate fight hada no other object
than to give an opportunity for the retreat of his men.”
 The king of Cebu who was baptized could have sent help but

Magellan instructed him not to join the battle and stay in the
balangay so that he would see how they fought.

 The king offered the people of Mactan’s gifts of any value

and amount in exchange of Magellan’s body but the chief

refused. They wanted to keep Magellan’s body as a
momento of their victory.
 Duarte Barbosa is elected as the new captain.

 Henry, Magellan’s slave and interpreter betrayed them and

told the king of Cebu that they intended to leave as quickly

as possible. The slave allegedly told the king that if he
followed his advice, the king would acquire the ships and the
goods of Magellan’s fleet.

 The two conspired and betrayed what was left of Magellan’s

men.
 The king invited these men to a gathering where he said he

would present the jewels that he would send for the King of
Spain.

 Twenty-four men attended while Pigafetta was not able to

joined because he was nursing his battle wounds.

 The natives had slain all the men except the interpreter and

Juan Serrano who was already wounded.

 From the original five ships set to sail( San Antonio,
Concepcion, Victoria, Trinidad and Santiago) only Victoria
returned to Spain.

 And from the original 237 men only 18 men survived.

 The fleet departed and abandoned Serrano.

 They left Cebu and continued their journey around the world
ANALYSIS OF
PIGAFETTA’S
CHRONICLE
“The best storyteller is the
one who not only knows
the story but saw it.”
 One of the most cited documents by historians who wished
to study the pre colonial Philippines.
 One of the earliest written accounts.
 Pigaffetta was seen as a credible source for a period, which
was prior unchronicled and undocumented.
 Earliest detailed documentation.
 It was believed that Pigafetta’s writing s account fot the
“purest” precolonial society.
 Pigafetta’s work is a great importance in study and writing of
Philippine history.
 We should recognized certain biases accompanying the
author and his identity, loyalties, and the circumstances that
he was in; and how it affected the text that he produced.
 We need to understand that he was a chronicler
commissioned by the King of Spain to accompany and
document a voyage intended to expand the Spanish empire.
A noble descent who came from a rich family in Italy.
 These attributes influenced his narrative, his selection of
details to be included in the text, his characterization of the
people and of the species that he encountered, and his
interpretation and retelling of the events.
 Being a scholar of cartography and geography, Pigafetta was
able to give details on geography and climate of the places
that their voyage has reached.
 Pigafetta’s description to people was coming from sixteenth
century European perspective.
 Pigaffetta regarded the indigenous belief systems and way of
life as inferior to Christianity and of the Europeans.
 He always remarks on the nakedness of the natives or how
he was fascinated by their exotic culture.
 He emphasized the native’s amazement and illiteracy to the
European artillery, merchandise and other goods.
 He repeatedly mentioned the abundance of spices like
ginger, and of precious metals like gold.
 When they saw the indigenous attires of the natives,
Pigafetta saw them as being naked because from the
European standpoint, they were wearing fewer clothes.
 Pigafetta’s perspective was too narrow to realize that such
attire was only appropriate to the tropical climate of the
islands.
 The same for the materials that the native used for their
houses like palm and bamboo that would let more air come
through the house and compensate for the hot climate in the
islands.
 We should understand that such observations were rooted
from the context of Pigafetta and his era.
EUROPE
 Dominated by the Holy Roman Empire.
 Loyalty and purpose was the domination of the Catholic
Church all over the world. Other belief systems different from
that of Christianity were perceived to be blasphemous and
barbaric, even demonic.
 Sixteen century European economy was mercantilist (system
measures the wealth of kingdom based on their
accumulation of bullions or precious metals like gold and
silver.
 That’s why Pigafetta always mention the abundance of gold
in the islands as shown in his description of leaders wearing
gold rings and golden daggers, and of the gold mines.
 An empire like Spain would indeed search for new lands
where they could acquire more gold and wealth to be on top
of all the European nations.
 The obsession with spices might be odd for Filipinos because
of its ordinariness in the Philippines, but understanding the
context would reveal that spices were scarce in Europe.