READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

REVIEWER

five ships namely: San Antonio, Trinidad,

Concepcion, Victoria and Santiago. Only the
MAGELLAN’S VOYAGE
Victoria will return full of goods coming from
Antonio Pigafetta the East. The completion of the voyage marks
the first circumnavigation of the world.
• Born around 1490 in the town of Vicenza,
Venice, Italy.

• Studied astronomy, geography and ARRIVAL

cartography and during his younger years
• At dawn of 16 March 1521, they sighted
worked in the ships owned by the Knights of
“high land” and eventually reached the island
Rhodes.
of Zamal (Samar), some 300 leagues distance
• A well-educated young man possessing an from the Ladrones, late in the afternoon of that
avid curiosity of the world around him. day.

• 20th century historian (Fr. Martin Noone)

suggested that the “high land” they saw were
• He presented his credentials to Magellan the mountains of Leyte, some peaks of which
and admitted as one of the sobresalientes rose to three or four thousand feet. They would
(supernumenaries), or men coming from have seen the outlines of the lower elevated
prominent Samar only later in the day. LANDING IN
• families who will join the trip for the love of HOMONHON
adventure and for the advancement of • March 17, 1521
military service. • He vividly described the
expedition including the people they’ve • “ {Magellan} desired to land on another
encountered and the death of Magellan. island which was uninhabited and lay to the
right of (Samar), in order to be more secure,
and to get water and have some rest. He had
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND two tents set up on the shore for the sick and
had a sow killed for them”
• Crusades: The Europeans learned that there
are vast lands to be conquered as well as new • The island they landed is was called HUMUNU
products to be discovered - spices. (Homonhon)

• Silk road- expensive commercial products

• Ottoman Empire closed the route and the GOOD SIGNS

Europeans were forced to look for other routes • They called that island Acquada de li buoni
going East and they decided to use the Segnialli (The watering place of good signs)
waters. because they found “two springs there of the
• Spain and Portugal being the leading clearest water” as well as the first signs of gold
superpowers at that time had a competition of they found in the vicinity.
conquering lands one after another and • The gold items that they saw were perhaps
decided to send expeditions east and west. worn by the natives they met bansil- (gold on
• Magellan’s expedition left Sanlucar de teeth), gold armlets, gold earrings, gold
Barrameda on August 20, 1519 with 270 men ornaments on their daggers, knives and spears,
onboard going West. Their fleet is composed of etc.
FIRST ENCOUNTER • Oil

• On the afternoon of Monday, 18 March 1521, • Milk

the expedition members saw a boat coming
• Water
towards them with 9 men in it. Magellan
ordered that no one should move or say a
word without his permission. Once these men
on the beach, their leader went immediately NATIVE HOSPITALITY AND COMPASSION
to the Captain General and showed signs of • The long narrative of Pigafetta of the
joy with the foreigner’s arrival. Five of the most coconut shows the native’s hospitality to the
elaborately tattooed among them remained foreigners
on the shore while the rest went to fetch the
others who were sill fishing, until they all came. • Panglamaw- picnic in the groves to pick
young coconuts to drink its water and eat its
soft eat. This must have been ordered by the
EXCHANGE OF GIFTS Chief to his followers soon after the pleasantries
were exchanged with Magellan.
• When Magellan saw that the natives were
reasonable men, he ordered food to be set • After the feast, the chiefs left three people
before them and gave them red caps, mirrors, to cater the needs of their visitors.
combs, bells, ivory, bocasine, and other things. • They helped Magellan and his crew in
• In return for the captain’s courtesy, the providing “buko juice” for the sick members
natives “presented fish, a jar of palm wine,
which they called “uraca” (i.e. “arrack”), figs
more than one palmo long (i.e. bananas), and THE FIRST MASS
other which were smaller and delicate, and • Magellan ordered their interpreter Enrique to
two cocoanuts” ask them if they could gather and hear mass in
the island

PLEASANTRIES • Pigafetta described vividly the physical

characteristics of the natives - heathens
• The natives became very familiar with the
members of the expedition, and the latter took • Dress
great pleasure with them, because they were • Tattoos
pleasant and conversable. The language
translations were apparently provided by • Gold Earrings – size of walnuts and egg
Enrique de Malacca, Magellan’s servant and
• Gold teeth
interpreter.
• “Those people were heathens, and go
• The natives told the foreigners many things,
naked and painted. They wear a piece of
including their names and identities of some of
cloth woven from a tree about their privies.
the islands that could be seen from the place.
They are heavy drinkers. Their women are clad
They said their islands is called Zuluan (Suluan),
in tree cloth from their waist down, and their
and that it was not very large.
hair is black and reaches to the ground. They
have holes pierced in their ears which are filled
with gold.
COCONUT

• Bread
• They planted a cross in the island
• Wine - Protection against calamities
- Sign of friendship • as the captain [king] had promised the king
- Remembrance to thank the Lord [captain] to become a Christian on Sunday, a
- They will have a feast (inuman) as platform was built in [on] the consecrated
celebration square, which was adorned with hangings and
palm branches for his baptism.

• The captain and the king sat down in chairs

• Kulambu thought that the visitors will do a
of red and violet velvet, the chiefs on cushions,
ritual and therefore, he sent a swine to be
and the others on mats. The captain told the
eaten/offered during the feast
king through the interpreter that he thanked
• “casi-casi” God for inspiring him to became [become] a
Christian, and that [now] he would more easily
• “Nganga”- “if they ceased to use it, they conquer his enemies than before.
would die”
• The captain told them that if they wished to
• There are dogs, cats, swine, fowls, goats, rice, become Christians as they had declared on
ginger, coconuts, figs, [i.e., bananas], oranges, the previous days, that they must burn all their
lemons, millet, pancium, sorgox, wax, and a idols and set up a cross in their place. They
quantity of gold in that island. were to adore that cross daily with clasped
• Those people live in accordance with justice, hands, and every morning after their [i.e., the
and have weights andmeasures. They love Spaniards’] custom, they were to make the
peace, ease, and quiet. They have wooden sign of the cross (which the captain showed
balances, the bar of which has a cord in the them how to make)
middle by which it is held. • He told the king that he would call him Don
Carlo, after his sovereign the emperor; the
prince, Don Fernando, after the emperor’s
TO CEBU brother; the king of Mazaua, Johanni; a chief,
• Ceylon, Bohol Canighan, Baybai and Fernando, after our chief, that is to say the
Gatighan captain; the More, Christoforo; and then the
others, now one name, and now another.
• Pigafetta described the natural resources/
animals / creatures they have encountered on • After dinner the priest and some of the others
their way to Cebu went ashore to baptize the queen, who came
with forty women.
• doves, turtle-doves, parrots and black birds
as large as domestic chickens • Her mouth and nails were very red, while on
her head she wore a large bat of palm leaves
• Their houses are constructed of wood and in the manner of a parasol, with the crown
are built of planks and bamboo, raised high about it of the same leaves, like the tiara of the
from the ground on large logs, and one must Pope; and she never goes any place without
enter them by means of ladders. such a one. She asked us to give her the little
child Jesus to keep in place of her idols; and
The next day…
then she went away.
• For metals, iron, and other large merchandise
• There are many villages in that island. Their
they gave us gold. For the other smaller articles
names and those of their chiefs are as follows:
they gave us rice, swine, goats, and other
Cinghapola and its chiefs, Cilaton,
food.
Ciguibucan, Cimaningha, Cimatichat, and
• On Saturday, Cicanbul; one, Mandaui and its chief,
Apanoaan; one Lalan, and its chief, Theteu;
one, Lalutan, and its chief, Tapan; one Cilumai; history, it gave us the idea of how life ought to
and one, lubucun. All those villages rendered be during precolonial times.
obedience to us, and gave us food and
• We have our own civilization.
tribute.
• most all we are not heathens as what they
• On Friday, April 26, Zula, a chief of the island
wanted us to believe before their arrival. The
of Matan, sent one of his sons to present two
physical appearance of our Visayan ancestors
goats to the captain-general, and to say that
is well documented in Pigafetta’s account.
he would send him all that he had promised,
but that he had not been able to send it to him • It also shows our socio-cultural activities
because of the other chief, Cilapulapu, who during the pre-hispanic times. This primary
refused to obey the king of Spain. source will also validate the facts of secondary
sources that we encountered

MAGELLAN IN MACTAN

MAGELLAN’S DEATH

• “Thus did we fight for more than one hour,

refusing to retire farther. An Indian hurled a
bamboo spear into the captain’s face, but the
latter immediately killed him with his lance,
which he left in the Indian’s body. Then trying
to lay hand on sword, he could draw it out but
halfway, because he had been wounded in
the arm with a bamboo spear. When the
natives saw that, they all hurled themselves
upon him. One of them wounded him on the
left leg with a large cutlass, which resembled a
scimitar, only being larger. That caused the
captain to face downward, when immediately
they rushed upon him with iron and bamboo
spears and with their cutlasses, until they killed
our mirror, our light, our comfort, and our true
guide.”

RELEVANCE

• The most notable feat of the document is

that it documented the first circumnavigation
of the world. The expedition proved that the
Earth was round and the East can be reached
by way of the West. In terms of Philippine