First Voyage Around the World – Concise Exam Notes

Background of the Author

  • Born 1490, Vicenza, Venice, Italy; eldest son of Giovanni Pigafetta & Angela Zoga

  • Studied astronomy, geography, cartography; sailed with Knights of Rhodes

  • Joined Papal Nuncio delegation to Spain 1519; learned of Magellan’s spice voyage

  • Admitted as sobresaliente on Magellan’s expedition; wounded at Battle of Mactan

  • One of 18 survivors who returned to Spain 6 Sept 1522 aboard Victoria

  • Presented handwritten journal to Emperor Charles V; unpublished in his lifetime

Manuscript History

  • Original journal lost; five surviving copies (three French, one It-Spa-Venetian, one mixed)

  • Key repositories: Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris), Yale (Beinecke), Ambrosian Library (Milan)

  • Major printed editions: Amoretti 1800 (Italian), French 1801, Pinkerton 1819 (Eng.), Robertson 1906 (Eng.)

Historical Context

  • Spices (food preservation, medicine) → high European demand & profit

  • Overland Silk Road/Arab-Italian routes costly & risky; Portugal pioneered sea route via Atlantic–Indian Oceans

  • Spain–Portugal rivalry resolved temporarily by Papal bull 1493 & Treaty of Tordesillas 1494

  • Spanish Crown funded Magellan to reach Spice Islands by sailing west; five ships left Spain 1519, only Victoria returned 1522

Key Chronology in the Philippines (1521)

  • 16 Mar (Sat dawn): sighted Zamal (Samar)

  • 17 Mar: landed Humunu (Homonhon); named Archipelago of St Lazaro

  • 28 Mar: anchored Mazaua (Limasawa); meeting with Raja Kulambu

  • 31 Mar (Easter): first mass & cross on hill

  • 7 Apr: entered Cebu; diplomacy with Raja Humabon

  • 14 Apr: baptism of Humabon, wife, subjects

  • 27 Apr: Battle of Mactan; Magellan killed by Raja Cilapulapu’s forces

  • 1 May: 21 Spaniards massacred in Cebu; fleet withdraws

Descriptions of Pre-colonial Filipinos

  • Physical & adornment: tattoos, gold earrings/teeth, silk kerchiefs, embroidered cotton to knees, perfumes, armlets, valuable necklaces

  • Dwellings: raised wooden houses thatched with fig & palm leaves

  • Food & drink: umay (rice), coconut, meat, fish, uraca (arrack/palm wine)

  • Trade: incoming ships pay tribute; active barter including Chinese goods

  • Customs: lengthy feasts, ritual toasts (hands to sky & guest), heavy drinking

  • Entertainment: drums, gongs (aghon), bells; dancing

  • Beliefs: supreme deity “Abba”, wooden anito idols, no formal religion pre-Christianity

Key Terminologies (Pigafetta’s Lexicon)

  • uraca (arrack) – palm wine

  • (h)umay – rice

  • baloto – small boat; balanghai – large boat

  • aghon – gongs; laghan – whale-killing sea snail

  • caphri – heathen; anime – tree resin used for lights

Contribution & Relevance

  • Most detailed eyewitness chronicle of Magellan-Elcano circumnavigation

  • Precise latitudes, routes, distances → advanced 16^{th}-century cartography

  • Earliest extensive European account of Visayan societies: economy, politics, culture, language

  • Primary source for first mass, baptism of Humabon, Sto. Niño image, introduction of Christianity

  • Continues to underpin Philippine historiography and textbook narratives on early Spanish contact