Magellan's Voyage Around the World

This flashcard set covers the historical context, ships, key dates, and primary sources related to Ferdinand Magellan's voyage and Antonio Pigafetta's chronicle.

Spice Islands (Moluccas)

Islands in present-day Indonesia famous for valuable spices and the primary goal of European trade motivations.

$$1453$$

The year the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople blocked traditional land trade routes, forcing Europeans to seek ocean routes to Asia.

Prince Henry the Navigator

The Portuguese figure who established a maritime school that trained explorers to find an eastern sea route to the Spice Islands.

Treaty of Tordesillas

An agreement where Spain and Portugal divided exploration rights; Portugal received the Eastern Sea route and Spain recovered the Western Sea route.

Trinidad

The flagship of Ferdinand Magellan; it was later captured by the Portuguese while trying to return via the eastern route.

Victoria

The ship led by Juan Sebastián Elcano that successfully completed the first circumnavigation and returned to Spain on September $7$, $1522$.

Santiago

One of the five ships in Magellan's fleet that wrecked during a storm while exploring ahead of the expedition.

San Antonio

The ship that deserted the expedition and returned to Spain before reaching the Spice Islands.

Concepción

The ship burned by the survivors because there were not enough sailors remaining to man it.

March $16$, $1521$

The date of the first landfall of Magellan's expedition in the Philippines at Homonhon Island.

Limasawa Island

The location in Southern Leyte where the First Mass was celebrated on Easter Sunday, March $31$, $1521$.

Rajah Humabon

The chieftain of Cebu who was baptized into Christianity along with his wife and approximately $800$ people.

Lapu-Lapu

The chieftain of Mactan who refused Spanish authority and is recognized as the first Filipino resistance leader against colonization.

Battle of Mactan

The conflict on April $27$, $1521$, where Ferdinand Magellan was killed by native forces.

Antonio Pigafetta

A well-educated Italian supernumerary from Vicenza who kept the most comprehensive primary source journal of the Magellan expedition.

Supernumerary

An adventure-seeker from a prominent family who joins an expedition, such as Antonio Pigafetta did for the voyage.

Maximilianus Transylvanus

Author of De Moluccis Insulis ($1523$), a shorter primary source based on interviews with the survivors of the voyage.

Francisco Albo

The pilot of the ship Victoria who kept a journal that focused primarily on geographic locations and dates.

Peter Martyr d'Anghiera

An Italian historian of Spain who documented Magellan's circumnavigation in the fifth decade of his work published in $1523$.