UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHEASTERN PHILIPPINES

Iñigo St, Obrero, Davao City, Davao del Sur.

DOCUMENT ANALYSIS: FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD

BY ANTONIO PIGAFETTA

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

SUBMITTED TO: SIR FRANCIS SANICO

RPH Teacher

SUBMITTED BY: IAN HARVEY A. LABUSTRO

BSCS-2A

September 25, 2019

BY ANTONIO PIGAFETTA

Acclaimed Italian explorer conceived in Vicenza around 1490 and kicked the
bucket in a similar city in 1534, who is also known by the name of Antonio Lombardo or
Francisco Antonio Pigafetta. At first connected to the request for Rhodes, which was
Knight, went to Spain in 1519, joined by Monsignor Francisco Chiericato, and was made
accessible from Carlos V to advance the organization started by the Catholic Rulers in
the Atlantic. At that time, Pigafetta says how he heard about Magellan's expedition
when he was in Barcelona in 1519, and wish to know about the globe, he asked for and
received approval to join the trip. Before long he turned into an incredible
companionship with Magellan’s, who went with, together with Juan Sebastián Elcano, in
the popular campaign to the Moluccas started in August of 1519 and completed in
September 1522.

The record of Pigafetta is the absolute most significant source about the voyage of
circumnavigation, in spite of its inclination to incorporate astonishing precision. He took
notes day by day. Pigafetta's work quickly turned into an exemplary that made noticed
by the artistic men in the West like William Shakespeare, etc. — alluded to the book in
their understanding of the New World. Pigafetta's travelogue is one of the most significant
essential sources in the investigation of the pre-colonial Philippines.

Antonio Pigafetta, the author of The First Voyage around the World, indeed has the
authority on the subject for he witnessed those all that happen. As an explorer, he is
indeed a great help to the expedition. He is known as a Seafarer and Geographer, as
well as being Magellan’s assistant that made him relevant to the journey.

His work, The First Voyage around the World was a journal, a source of documents.
Antonio Pigafetta's journal became the basis for his 1525 travelogue. The travelogue
represented “the literary epitome of its genre” and achieved an international reputation,
stated by the scholar Theodore Cachey Jr. This kind of document catch audience like
students who are studying history, and those researchers who are making historical
analysis. The document includes descriptions of peoples, nations, commodities, and even
the languages spoken of which the seafarer attempted to assemble some brief glossaries
that can be observed.

The bravery of the explorer help made the story more interesting, just like in the
part when “they arrived in Patagonia, where they spent winter months in a desolate
solitude. They met local people, who looked like giants in their eyes full of wonder,
because of their robust body types. They survived the mutiny of one of the captains and
some disgruntled sailors and continued the exploration of the coast. One of the vessels
was drowned, but the whole crew managed to be saved.” (Paragraph 3). They endure
all the hardships in their travel, to fulfill their goals. It is very relevant in real life, to not let
the trials on our journey to blow us down.

The section that shows meaningful or surprising to us Filipinos is the part “they
arrived in the Philippines, where they became acquainted with the natives who proved
hospitable and welcomed them as guests in the king’s palace. The indigenous people,
affected by the celebration of Mass and the crucifix planted in the island, promised to
convert to Christianity. Quickly they developed commerce and trade, and the king, the
queen and other notables of Cebu were converted until the entire population rapidly
followed them in the new religion.” It is how it happened according to Jayeel Cornelio
“The complex history behind Asia's most Christian country,” at the point when the
Spaniards touched base in the Philippines in 1521, more than 100 ethno linguistic bunches
previously involved the archipelago of more than 7,000 islands. While they didn't exist as
one nation, the islands were in any case associated with one another through exchange
courses and slave-assaulting that included different regions in the area. Exchange
existed before the tenth century.

The islands additionally overflowed with decent religious variety, and each had their
cosmology, code of morals, and method of love. Local people originally came into
contact with Catholicism when Ferdinand Magellan and his group appeared as a major
aspect of the pioneer race in the sixteenth century that went after assets and the
Christianization of unexplored domains. After meeting with Magellan, Rajah Humabon,
the leader of the island of Cebu, and his subjects grasped Christianity. However, this may
have been to keep away from strife with the knights, soldiers, and explorers of the Spanish
Empire and the Portuguese Empire.

Surprisingly, we Filipinos had an ancestor like Lapu-Lapu that fulfill the country's first
successful resistance to Spanish colonization, apart from successfully defying foreign
invaders. He made happened the disastrous episode that changed the course of the
expedition. It was Magellan who took part in a conflict between some local tribes and
was killed.

The rest of the expedition managed to escape and retired, preparing to leave, but a trap
set by Magellan’s interpreter and the king of Cebu led to another massacre of the
Europeans. The document, particularly the journal of Antonio Pigafetta was indeed most
significant essential sources in the investigation of the pre-colonial Philippines. It tells
about Philippine History, how the Filipinos live before like the trading system, the
government, the characteristics, attitudes on welcoming guest and what happened at
that time, when Spaniards exploring Philippines. That are some reasons why Antonio
Pigafetta’s journal is important in understanding history in the Philippine setting.

It is important not only as a source of information about the voyage itself but also includes
an early Western description of the people and languages of the Philippines, as well as
how Spaniards influenced Filipinos to convert in Catholic Religion.

“From the day when we left this bay of San Lucar until our return thither, we reckoned
that we had run more than fourteen thousand four hundred and sixty leagues, and we
had completed going round the earth from East to West.” (Page 25, Paragraph 23)
Antonio Pigafetta recorded that he completed the first globe-circling expedition; in short,
he made it around the world on September 1522, three years and a month since the
journey began. The Victoria docked back in Seville with only one ship of the original five,
and only 18 men of the original 270 survived the voyage. Among them was Antonio
Pigafetta, the author of the First Voyage around the World, a scholar who had kept a
detailed journal of the expedition.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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

Ligan, Leah C. Apsay, Espino, Cecilie Sharon T. Porras, Salinas, Jose J. Lemana.: Reading
in Philippine History; Malabon City: Mutya Publishing House.

History of Micronesia: A Collection of Source Documents. Ed. Rodrigue Levesque. Vol. 1:

Online Supplementary Reading Materials