THE MAGELLAN

EXPEDITION
PRESENTED BY
DR. MARIA ELENA D. DAVID
 ANTONIO PIGAFETTA
(1491 — 1534)

•  The First Voyage Round the World by Antonio Pigafetta

• Pigafetta was born into a wealthy Vicenza family, and
studied navigation among other things. He served on board
the galleys of the Knights of Rhodes, and accompanied the
papal nuncio, Monsignor Chieregati, to Spain. Later, he
joined the Portuguese captain Ferdinand Magellan and his
Spanish crew on their trip to the Maluku Islands. While in
the Philippines Magellan was killed, and Pigafetta was
injured. Nevertheless, he recovered and was among only 18
of Magellan’s original crew who, having completed the first
circumnavigation of the world, returned to Spain on board
another vessel, the Victoria.
THE MAGELLAN EXPEDITION • ALSO KNOWN AS
“MAGELLAN-DELCANO CIRCUMNAVIGATION”
• The first voyage around the world in human history. It was a Spanish expedition that
sailed from Seville in 1519 under the command of Ferdinand Magellan.
• A major breakthrough in perception of the Europeans towards world geography
• Objective was to discover this alternate path to Moluccas because of 1494’s Treaty of
Tordesillas, a decree from Pope Alexander VI that had essentially divided the world in half
between the Spanish and the Portuguese.
• Lasted for 3 years (1519-1522) • Chronicled by Antonio Pigafetta
FERDINAND MAGELLAN

• Portuguese explorer who sailed, under Spain, to reach Moluccas without

crossing Portuguese territory.
• Proposed route to Moluccas by sailing west and through an Atlantic
passage to the Pacific could be found.
• Discovered Philippines (named it Archipelago of St. Lazarus) • Introduced
Christianity in the Philippines.
MAGELLAN-DELCANO CIRCUMNAVIGATION ROUTE
PREPARATION: THE FLEET

• September 20, 1519 - a royal commission was sent, allowing Magellan to head the
expedition.
• The Spanish Armada de Molucca consisted of five ships with 237 men:
• • Santiago under Juan Rodriguez Serrano.
• • San Antonio under Juan de Cartageña;
• • Concepcion under Gaspar de Quesada;
• • Trinidad (flagship) under Ferdinand Magellan Captain General
• • Victoria under Louis de Mendoza;
PREPARATION: CREW
• • The crew of about 237 included men from several nations: including Portuguese,
Spanish, Italians, Germans, Flemish, Greeks, English and French.
• • Spanish authorities were wary of Magellan, so that they almost prevented him from
sailing, switching his mostly Portuguese crew to mostly men of Spain. Nevertheless, it
included about 40 Portuguese, among them Magellan's brother-in-law Duarte Barbosa,
João Serrão, a relative of Francisco Serrão, Estêvão Gomes and also Magellan's
indentured servant Enrique of Malacca.
• • Juan Sebastián del Cano, a Spanish merchant ship captain settled at
Seville, embarked seeking the king's pardon for previous misdeeds

• • Antonio Pigafetta, a Venetian scholar and traveller, had asked to be on

the voyage accepting the title of "supernumerary" and a modest salary,
becoming a strict assistant of Magellan and keeping an accurate journal.
• • The only other sailor to report the voyage would be Francisco Albo, who
kept a formal logbook.
• • Juan de Cartageña was named Inspector General of the expedition,
responsible for its financial and trading operations.
STRAIT OF MAGELLAN AND PACIFIC OCEAN
• • After Santiago was shipwrecked, four ships began an arduous trip through the 373-mile
(600 km) long passage that Magellan called the Estrecho (Canal) de Todos los Santos,
("All Saints' Channel"), because the fleet travelled through it on 1 November or All
Saints' Day. The strait is now named the Strait of Magellan.
• Magellan first assigned Concepcion and San Antonio to explore the strait, but the latter,
commanded by Gómez, deserted and returned to Spain on 20 November. •
• On 20th of November the three remaining ships entered the South Pacific. Magellan
named the waters the Mar Pacifico (Pacific Ocean) because of its apparent stillness.
• Magellan and his crew were the first Europeans to reach Tierra del Fuego just east of the
Pacific side of the strait.
ARRIVAL IN THE PHILIPPINES • ARRIVAL TO
MARIANAS AND GUAM

• • March 17, 1521, sighted Samar, part of a group of islands they called Archipelago of St.
Lazarus
• • reached the island of Homonhon in the Philippines, (their first meeting with the Filipinos)
• • March 31, 1521 - First catholic mass in Limasawa (Easter Sunday)
• • April 1, 1521 – Arrival in Cebu, cordial relations with Raja Humabon (conversion of 800
natives with Humabon, his wife and daughter to Christianity), establishment of Magellan’s
Cross
• • April 27 – in a war with Lapu-lapu, chief of Mactan and Humabon’s enemy, was fatally
wounded with a poisoned arrow thus causing his men to retreat.
THE SHIP ARRIVES IN SPAIN ON MAY 21, 1521

• . • November 28: The fleet leaves the strait and enters the Pacific Ocean.

• • March 6: Guam. • March 17: Arrival at Suluan in the Philippines.

• • April 7: Cebu.
• • April 27: Death of Magellan participating in the Battle of Mactan. Serrano and Barbosa are voted
co-commanders.
• • May 1: At a local banquet Barbosa is murdered and Serrano captured, later killed. The three
remaining ships escape.
• • May 2: There are not enough men to handle three ships, thus the worm- infested Concepcion is
burned down. Two ships remain: Victoria and Trinidad. Gonzalo Gomez de Espinosa becomes captain
of the Victoria. Joao Lopez Carvalho is Captain General. The ships sail to Mindanao and Brunei.
• • September 21: Carvalho is replaced by Martin Mendez as Captain
General, Espinosa becomes captain of the Trinidad and Juan Sebastián del
Cano captain of the Victoria.
• • November 8: Arriving at Tidore in the Moluccas.
• • December 21: Victoria under the command of Elcano leaves the
Moluccas to return home sailing west towards the Cape of Good Hope.
Trinidad remains at Tidore for repairs.
1522

• • January 25: Victoria reaches Timor and starts to cross the Indian Ocean.
• • April 6: Trinidad under the command of Espinosa leaves the Moluccas heading
home sailing east. After five weeks, Espinosa decides to return to the Moluccas
where he and his ship are captured by a Portuguese fleet under Antonio de Brito.
• • May 22: Victoria passes the Cape of Good Hope and enters the Atlantic Ocean.
• • July 9: Reaching Santiago, Cape Verde.
• • September 6: Victoria returns to Sanlucar, completing the circumnavigation.
• • September 8: Victoria arrives at Seville.
RETURN AND LEGACY

• • The circumnavigation was completed by one ship, the Victoria, under the command of
Juan Sebastián del Cano and a crew of 18 men.
• • Antonio Pigafetta's journal is the main source for much of what we know about
Magellan and del Cano's voyage.
• The other direct report of the voyage was that of Francisco Albo, last Victoria's pilot, who
kept a formal logbook.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MAGELLAN EXPEDITION

• • Themain 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
• 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