 February 3 1480- April 25,

1521
 Portuguese Explorer who
organised the Spanish
Expeditions to the East
Indies from 1519-1522 to
search for western route
to the Maluku Islands (
the Spice Island)
resulting in the first
circumnavigation of the
Earth, completed by
Juan Sebastian Elcano
 1491-1531
 Italian scholar and
explorer from the
republic of Venice
 He traveled with the
portugese explorer
Ferdinand Magellan
and his crew by
order of the King
Charles 1 of Spain on
their Voyage around
the world.
 His work became a classic that prominent
literary men in the West like William
Shakespeare, Michel de Montaigne and
Giambattista Vico referredto the book in
their interpretation of the New World.
 His travelogue is one of the most important
primary sources in the study of precolonial
Philippines.
 His account was also a major referent to
the events leading to Magellans arrival in
the Philippines, his encounter with local
leaders, his death in the hands of
Lapulapu’s forces in the Battle of Mactan
and in the depature of what was left of
Magellan’s fleet from the islands.
 The document reveals several insights
not just in the character of the Philippines
during pre colonial period, but also on
how the fresh eyes of the European
regard a deeply unfamiliar terrain,
environment, people and culture.
 Published after Pigafetta returned to
Italy.
 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”
 “These people have no arms, but
use sticks, which have a fishbone at
the end. They are poor, but
ingenious, and great thieves, and
for the sake of that we called these
three islands the Ladrones Islands”.
 Presently known as Marianas Islands.
 It is located south-southeast of Japan,
west-southwest of Hawaii, north of New
Guinea, and east of Philippines
 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
 “This palm produces a fruit names cocho,
which is large as the head, or thereabouts: its
first husk is green, and two fingers in thickness, in
it they find certain threads, with which they
make the cords for fastening their boats. Under
this husks there is another very hard, and thicker
than that of a walnut. They burned this second
rind, and make with it a powder which is useful
to them. Under this rind there is a white marrow
of a fingers thickness, which they eat fresh with
meat and fish, as we do bread, and it has the
taste of almond, and if anyone dried it he
might make bread of it.
 “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)
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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.
“Then the king said that he was content, and
as a greater sign of affection he sent him a
little of his blood from his right arm, and wish
he should do the like. Our people answered
that he would do it. Besides that, he said that
all the captains who came to his country had
been accustomed to make a present to him,
and he to them, and therefore they should
ask their captain if he would observe the
custom. Our people answered that he would:
but as the king wished to keep up the custom,
let him begin and make a present, and then
the captain would do his duty.”
 Magellan spoke about peace and God.
People took pleasure in his speech.
 Magellan asked the people who would
succeed the king after his reign and the
people responded that the eldest child
of the king, who happened to be a
daughter, would be the next in line.
 Parents were no longer taken into
account and has to follow the orders of
their children as the new leaders of the
land.
 People wished to become Christians
through their free will and not because
they were forced or intimidated.
 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.
 “To that the king and all his people
answered that thy would obey the
commands of the captain and do all that
he told them. The captain took the king by
the hand, and they walk about on the
scaffolding, and when he was baptized he
said that he would name him Don Charles
(Carlos), as the emperor his sovereign was
named: and he named the Prince Don
Fernand (Fernando), after the brother of
the emperor, and the king of Mazavva
Jehan: to the Moor he gave the name of
Christopher, and to the others each a
name of his fancy.”.
 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.
 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.
 “ When we reached land we found the
islanders fifteen hundred in number, drawn
up in three squadrons; they came down
upon us with terrible shouts, two squadrons
attacking us on the flanks, and the third in
front. The captain then divided his men in
two bands. Our musketeers and crossbow-
men fired for half an hour from a distance,
but did nothing, since the bullets and
arrows, though they passed through their
shields made of thin wood, and perhaps
wounded their arms, yet did not stop them.
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 had 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.
 The fleet departed and abandoned
Serrano.
 They left Cebu and continued their
journey around the world.
 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 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.
 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.