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”

 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
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)

 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.
 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.
 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
“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.