This section will focus its' discussion on the content and contextual analysis of selected primary sources;
the identification of historical importance of the text; and the examination of the author's main argument and point
of view. First among the documents, the Pigafetta's account on the first voyage around the world. A corrected
version of the Battle of Mactan was also retold in the account where- it was an attempt of the Filipinos to repulse a
foreign invader.
The First Voyage around the World
(1519-1522)
[a]Antonio Pigfetta, patrician of Vicenua and Knight of Rhodcs,to the most illustrious and excellent Lord,Philipe
Villiers de Flsk: Adam,renowned Grand Master of Rhodes, his most honoured lord'l=]-
[z] Inasmuch as, most illustrious and excellent Lord, there are many curious persons who not only take plcasure
in knowing and hearing the great and wonderful things that God has permitted me to see and suffer during my long
and dangcrous voyage,herein described,but who also wish to know the mcans and manners and paths that I have
taken in making that voyage;and who do not lend full credence to the end unless thcy have a perfect assurance of
the beginning:therefore,your most illastrious Lordship must know [Link] myself, in the year of the nativity of
Our Saviour 1519 in Spain, in the court of the most screne King of the Romans,"with the reverend
Monsignor,Francesco Chicricati," then apostolic protono tary and ambssador of Pope Loo X of holy memory fand
who has since ascended to the bishopric of Aprutino and the lordship of Teramo),1 and having obtained much
information from many books that I had read, as well as from various persons, who discussed the great and
marvellous things of the Occan Sea with his Lordship.I determined,with the good grace of His Cacsarcan Majesty,and
of his Lordship abovesaid, to experience mysclf and to see those things that might satisfy me somewhat, and that
might grant me some renown with postcrity [=]-
[s] Having heard that a floct of five vessels had been fitted out in the city of Seville for the purpose of going to
discower the spicery in the islands of Molucca,5 under command of Captain Gencral Ferdinand
The First Voyage around the World
Magellan,a Portuguese gentleman,comendador of the Order of Santi ago de la Spada," [who] had
many times travelled the Ocean Sea in various capacities,acquiring great praisc, I set out from the
city of Bar-celona,where His Majesty was then residing, bearing many letters of
recommendation,and by ship I went as far as Malaga,and from there,travelling by land, I reached
Seville,7and having been there about three full months,waiting for the said fleet to be set in order
for the departure,finally,as your most excellent Lordship will learn below,we:commenced our
voyage under most happy auspices (sl.
I4l And inasmuch as when I was in Italy and going to sce His Holi ness Pope Clement,"you by
your grace showed yourseIf very kind and good to me at Monterosi,9 and told me that you would
be pleased if I would copy down for you all thosc things that I had seen and suffered during the
voyage; and although I have had little opportunity,yet I have tricd to satisfy your desire according
to my poor ability l4l-Therefore,I offer you, in this little book of mine,all my vigils,hard ships,and
wanderings, begging you, when you will take some rest from your continual Rhodian cares, to dcign
to skim them,by which I shall receive no slight recompense from your most illustrious [Link],to
whose good grace I consign and commend myself 1sl-
I5l The captain general having resolved to make so long a voyage through the Occan Sea, where
furious winds and great storms are always reigning, but not desiring to make known to any of his
men the voyage that he was about to make, fcaring they might bc cast down at the thought of
doing so great and extraordinary a deed,as he did accomplish with the aid of God (the captains who
accompa nied him, hated him exceedingb. I know not why,unless because he was a Portuguese,
and they Spaniards) 16|.°Desiring therefore to accomplish that which he promised under oath to
the cmperor, Don Carlo,king of Spain,and so that the ships might not become sepa rated from one
another during the storms and night, he prescribed the following orders and gave them to all the
pilots and masters of his ships:"' these were [to the cffect] that he should always precede the other
ships at night and they were to follow his ship which would have a large torch of wood, which they
call farl,"" which he always carried hanging from the poop of his ship f7l. This was a signal that
The First Voyage around the World
they should continue to follow him (8). If he showed another light with a lantern or by
means of a picce of rush wicking called strengue,3 3made of esparto that is well beaten
in the water and then dried in the sun or in the smoke (a most excellent matcrial for
such use),they were to answer him so that he might know by that signal whether all
of the ships were coming together [Link] he showed two lights without the farol, they
were to veer or take another tack ([Link] the wind was not favourable or suitable
for us to continue on our course,or when he wished to sail slowly,he showed three
lights,so that they were to take away the bonnea (bonnet sail),which is a part of the
sail that is fastened below the mainsail when the weather is good, in order to make
better time, it is taken away so that it may be casier to furl the mainsail when it is
struck hastily during a sudden squall [ax].If he showed four lights, they were to strike
all the saik, after which he showed a signal by one light (az). When he was standing
still, if he showed many lights, or fired a mortar, it was a signal of land or of shoals
[:3].Then he showed four lights when he wished to have the sails set full,so that they
might ahways sail in his wake by the torch on the poop [:4l. When he desired to set
the bonnet sail, he showed three lights ([Link] he desired to alter his course,he
showed two [a6].Then if he wished to ascertain whether all the ships were follow ing
and whether they were coming together, he showed one light,so that each one of the
ships might do the same and reply to him [x7]-
[6]Three watches were set nightly:the first at the beginning of the night, the second
(which they call modora)'4 in the middle, and the third at the end [of the night] [a8].All
of the men in the ships were divided into three colonelle'5 the first was that of the
captain or bexat-swain,those two alternating nightly,the second,of either the pilot or
boatswain's mate;and the third,of the master [Link] did the cap tain general order
that all the ships obscrve the above signals and watches,so that their voyage might be
more secure (zol.16
[7 On Monday morning,to Angust, St Lawrence's day, in the abovesaid year, the
fleet, having been supplied with all the things nec-essary for the sea and with men of
every sort'? (our number was 237),'"the five ships made ready in the morning to leave
the Mole of Seville,9 and discharging many pieces of artillery, the ships sct their
5
The First Voyage around the World
foresails to the wind,and descended the river Betis, at present called Guadakquivir,"
passing by a village called San Juan de Arnalfarache,once a lrge Moorish setilement,
in the midst of which was once a bridge that crossed the said river,and led to
Seville,where two cohamns of that bridge have remained even to this day at the botto
of the water;and when ships sail by there,they need men who know well the location
of the columns, so as to avoid them [=a].And it is necessary to pas them when the
river is at high tide, as with many other places along the river that have insufficicnt
depth for ships that are laden and too hage to pass (aa). Then the ships reached
another village called Coria,"' and pased by many other villages along the river,until
they canc to a catle of the duke of Medina Sidonia,called Sankicar,which is a poet by
which to enter the Occan Sca,in an cast and west direction with the Cape of San
Vincente,which lies in thirty scven degrecs of tat itude, and ten leagues from the said
port lesl."'From Sevill: to this point [Sanhicar], it is wwnteen or twonty keagues by
river i=4l.
[8] Some days after, the captain general, with his other [Link] the
river in the small boats beloaging to thcir ship,and we remained there for a
considerable number of days in order to finish Iproviding| the fleet with some things
that it needed [Link] day we went ashore to hear mass in a village called Our Lady
of Barrameda, near Sanhicar (a6]. Before the departure, the captain general wished
all the men to go to confession, and he would not allow any woman to sail in the fleet
for the sake of better order l=71
Igl We left that village called Sanhicar on Tucsday,zo September,of the sane
year,and took a southwest course,and on the twenty sixth of the same month we
reached an island of the Grand Canary islands,""called Tenerife,which lies in a latitude
of twenty cight degrees.|[Link] there] in order to get meat, wates,and wood
[Link] stayed there for three and one half days in order to furnish the fleet with
those sup plics,and then we went to a port of the same island called Monte Rosso'4
to get pitch,staying [there] two days l=g).
[io] Your most illustrious Lordship mus know that among these Grand Canary
islands,thereis one where not a single drop of fresh water is to be found: but that at
midday a clod descends from the sky and encirdes a large tree which grows in that
isand,the lcavcs and branches
The First Voyage around the World
of which distil a great quantity of water, and at the foot of the tree runs a trench
that resembles a fountain, where all the water falls, and from which the people
living there, and the animaks,both domestic and wild,amply satisfy themselves
every day with this water and no other 13o1.75
[11]At midnight on Monday, s October, the sails were trimmed toward the
south, and we took to the open Ocean Sca,passing between Cape Verde and its
islands in fourteen and one half degrees (311. Thus for many days did we sail
along the coast of Ghinea,or Ethiopiachere there is a mountain called Sicrra
Lcone,which lics in eight degrees of latitade, with contrary winds, calms, and
rains with out wind,until we reached the equinoctial line,where we had sixty
days of continual rain, contrary to the opinion of thce ancients|=1..20Before we
reached the line,at fourteen degrees,many furious squalls of wind and currents
of water struck us head on [Link] we were unable to advance,and so as to
avoid being wrecked,all the sails were struck;and in this manner did we wander
here and there on the sea,waiting for the squall to cease, for it was very violent
134l. When it rained there was no wind, when the sun shone, it was calm
[351.*7
[1z]Some large fish with fcarsome teeth called liburma" came to the side of
the ships, and whenever thcy find men in the sea they devour them (s6l. We
caught many of them with iron hooks,although they are not good to cat unless
they are small,and even then they are not very good 1371-
[i3] During those storms the Holy Body, that is to say St Elmo,9appeared to
us many times in the form of light 1s81. Once he appeared during an
exceedingly dark night, with the brightness of a blazing torch, on the maintop,
where he stayed for about two hours or more, to our consolation, for we were
weeping 139l. When that blessed light was about to leave us,so darrling was the
brightness that it cast into our cyes, that we all remained for more than an
cighth of an hour blinded and calling for mercy,for truly we thought that we
were dead men [Link] sea suddenly grew calm14+1.30
[14]I saw many kinds of birds,among them one that had no anus |x=1-
Another, [which] when the female wishes to lay its cggs,it docs so on the back
of the male and there they are hatched, the latter bird has no feet, and always
lives in the sear' also, [there is] anothcr kind
7
The First Voyage around the World
that lives on the ordure of the other birds, and in no other manner;for I often
sow this bird, which is called cagassela,fly behind the other birds, until they are
constrained to drop their ordure 143l. Immedi ately, the cagassea seizes it and
lets the bird go 144l.5 I also saw many flying fish, and many others collected
together,so that they resem-bled an island|45|.33
[15] After we had passed the equinoctial line going south,we lost the North
Star,and hence we sailed south south west until [we reached]a land called 'the
land of Verzin,"34 which lies in twenty three and one half degrees of the
Antarctic Pole [south latitude],35 and it is the land extending from the Cape of
Santo Agostinho,which lies in cight degrees of the same pol,where we got a
plentiful refreshment of fowls,potatoes, many sweet pine cones (in truth the
most delicious fruit that can be found),? the flesh of the anda,s which
resembles beef,sugar cane, and innumcrable other things, which I shall not
mention in order not to be prolix 146).9 For one fish hook or one knife, those
people gave five or six chickens,for onc comb,a pair of geese;for one mirror or
one pairof scissors, as many fish as would be safficient for ten men; for a bell
or a lace, one basketful of potatoes (these potatoes resemble chestnuts in
taste, and are as long as tur-nips); for a king of diamonds, which is a playing
card,"they gave me six fowls and thought that they had even cheated me
1471.f' We entered that port on St Lncy's day,"" and on that day had the sun
on the zenith and we were subjected to greater heat on that day and on the
other days when we had the sun on the zenith than when we were beneath
the equator (481-
[16]That land of Verzin is very bountcous and is larger than Spain, France,
and Italy put together 1491.t5 It belongs to the king of Portugal|x0 |.4|The
people of that land are not Christians, and do not worship anything; they live
according to the dictates of nature,and reach an age of 125 and L4o years
(5a).45 Both the men and the women go naked (sz). They live in certain long
houses which they call boii, and sleep in cotton hammocks called amarhe17
which are fastened in those houses by each end to large beams, a fire is built
on the ground between the beams [Link] cach one of those boii,thecre are one
hundred men with their wives and children, and they make a
The First Voyage around the World
great racket ([Link] have boats called cancet" made of a single but flattened+9 tree,
hollowed out by the usc of stone5? (those people:employ stones as we do iron, as they
have no iron);thirty or forty men occupy one of those boats Issl. They paddle with
blades like a baker's peel,5' and thus, black, naked, and shaven, they resemble,when
paddling,the inhabitants of the Stygian marsh 1y61.5
[17]The men and women are proportioned like us [Link] cat the human flesh of
their enemies, not because it is good,but because it is a certain established custom (s8).
That custom, which is mutual was begun by an old woman, who had but one son who
was killed by his enemics (s9l. In return some days bater, that old woman's friends
captured one of the company who had killed her son, and brought him to the place of
her abode [6ol. When she saw him,remembering her son,she ran upon him like an
infuriated bitch, and bit him on the shoulder (6a]. Shortly afterward he escaped to his
own [Link] he told that they had tried to cat him, showing them lin proof] the
marks on his shoulder (6x). Whomever the latter captured afterward at any time from
the former they ate, and the former did the same to the latter, so that sach a custom
has sprung up in this way [63]53 They do not cat the bodies all at once, but everyone
cuts off a picce,and carries it to his house,where he smokes it [Link] every cight
days,he cuts off a small bit, which he cats thus smoked with his other food to remind
him of his encmics (6y).54 The above was told me by the pilot,Joao Carvalho,who came
with us,and who had lived in that land for four years (661.55
[18]Those people paint the whole body and the face in a wonder-ful manner with
fire in various fashions, as do the women also;the men are smooth shaven and have no
beard,for they pull it out;they clothe themselves in a dress made of parrot feathers,with
barge round arrangements at their buttocks made from the largest feathers,and it is a
ridiculous sight [671. Almost all the men,except the women and children,have three
holes pierced in the lower lip,where they carry round stones, one finger or thereabouts
in length and hanging down outside (68|. Those people are not entirely black, but olive
skinned;they keep the privics uncovered, and the body is without hair,while:both men
and women always go naked ([Link] king is called carich
([Link]
2.6.1 REFERENCES:
Pigafetta,A.,Cachey, T.J., & Gibson Library Connections, I.(2007).The First Voyage Around
the World (1519-1522): An Account of Magellan's Expedition. University of Toronto
Press, Scholarly Publishing Division.
[Link] ost-live
The First Voyage Round the World/Pigafetta's Account of Magellan's Voyage
.[Link] First VoyageRound the World/Pigafetta%27s Acc ount of
Magellan%27s Voyage
2.6.2 SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS
Antonio [Link] and [Link]://[Link]/files/42884/42884-h/42884-
[Link]
Magellan's Interpreter, Enrique was the first to circumnavigate the world
[Link]
circumnavigate-the-world
Mansueto, T. (2013) Reexamining Pigafetta's Battle of Mactan.
[Link]
Ocampo, A (2019) Magellan's last will and testament.
[Link]
(2019) Lapu-Lapu, Magellan and blind patriotism.
[Link]
2.6.3 VIDEO LINKS
Alamat ni Lapu-lapu:[Link]://[Link]/watch?v=3QjmUS7eySY