Antonio Pigafetta’s The First Voyage Around the World by Magellan: Shownotes

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Have you listened to the pilot episode of Primary Sources & U where we discussed the accounts of the chronicler Antonio Pigafetta entitled, "The First Voyage Around the World by Magellan"? Do you need to revisit the episode? We whipped out a short guide to the episode to help you.

We started the episode with an introduction:

"On the 20th of September 1519, Ferdinand Magellan left Spain to find a route to the famed Spice Islands in the East through the west. Granted with Spanish provisions, the Portuguese navigator left with over 200 men and five ships. For almost two years, the fleet of Magellan experienced starvation, disease, and mutiny. In March 1521 Magellan, would reach the islands which would be called the Philippines. And through interpreters, he was able to reach Cebu, where he found himself entangled in a case of classic inter-island politics, leading to his violent death in the hands of the natives of Mactan in April 1521.”

So while the account of Pigafetta was a long one (as their journey was long, as well), we focused on the arrival of Magellan in the Visayas up until his misadventure in Cebu and eventual death in the Battle of Mactan. Click the link below if you want to see the accounts of Pigafetta in full.

Primary Source Quotes from the Episode

The primary source that we used for this episode remains one of the most important documents on the period. We chose an English translation for easier access and comprehension. Pigafetta's First Voyage Around the World is the most complete account of Magellan's successful circumnavigation. Here are some quotes that we handpicked from the document.

Pigafetta on the beginning of their journey and introduction to Magellan:

"Now in order to decypher the commencement of my voyage; having heard that there was in the city of Seville, a small armada to the number of five ships, ready to perform this long voyage, that is to say, to find the islands of Maluco, from whence the spices come: of which armada the captain-general was Fernand de Magallanes, a Portuguese gentleman, commander of St. James of the Sword, who had performed several voyages in the ocean (in which he had behaved very honourably as a good man, I set out with many others in my favour from Barcelona, where at the time the Emperor was, and came by sea as far as Malaga, and thence I went away by land until I arrived at the said city of Seville."

Pigafetta recounts the Battle of Mactan:

"We were forty nine in number, the other eleven remained in charge of the boats. When we reached land we found the islanders fifteen hundred in number, drawn up in squadrons; they came down upon us with terrible shouts, two squadrons attacking us on flanks, and the third in front. The captain then divided his men in two bands. Our musketeers and crossbow-men fired for half an hour from a distance, but did nothing, since the bullets and arrows, though they passed through their shields made of thin wood, and perhaps wounded their arms, yet did not stop them... the islanders seeing that the shots of our guns did them little to no harm would not retire, but shouted more loudly , and springing from one side to the other to avoid our shots, they at the same time drew nearer to us, throwing arrows, javelins, spear hardened with fire, stones, and even mud, so that we could hardly defend ourselves. Some of them cast lances pointed with iron at the captain-general.

...they perceived that our bodies were defended, but that the legs were exposed, and they aimed at them principally. The captain had his right leg pierced by a poisoned arrow, on which account he gave orders to retreat...we were oppressed by the lances and stones which the enemy hurled at us, and we could make no more resistance... as they knew the captain, they aimed especially at him, and twice they knocked the helmet off his head... we fought for more than an hour, until an Indian succeeded thrusting a cane lance into the captain's face. He then, being irritated, pierced the Indian's breast with his lance, and left it in his body, and trying to draw his sword he was unable to draw it more than half way, on account of a javelin wound he received in the right arm. The enemies seeing this all rushed against him and one of them with a great sword gave him a great blow on the left leg, which brought the captain down on his face, then the Indians threw themselves upon him...so that they deprived of life our mirror, light, comfort, and true guide."

And finally, Pigafetta's account of their return to Spain after almost two years:

"At last, when it pleased Heaven, on Saturday the 6th of September of the year 1522, we entered the bay of San Lucar; and of sixty me who composed our crew when we left Maluco, we were reduced to only eighteen, and these for the most part sick. Of the others, some died of hunger, some had run away at the island of Timor, and some had been condemned to death by their crimes.

From the day when we left this bay of San Lucar until our return tither, 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.

Monday 8th of September, we cast anchor near the mole of Seville, and dischaged all the artillery. Tuesday, we all went in shirts and barefoot, with a taper in our hands to visit St. Mary of Victory, and of St, Mary de Antigua.

Then, leaving Seville, I went to Valladolid, where I presented to his Sacred Majesty Don Carlos, neither gold nor silver, but things more precious in the eyes of the so great a Sovereign. I presented to him among other things, a book written by my hand of all the things that had occurred day by day in our voyage."

Scholarly Works Mentioned in the Episode

William Henry Scott, 1978. Cracks in the Parchment Curtain. A historiographic essay which discussed how certain archival details can reveal details that were inadvertently expressed by the author.

Jose Amie Angeles. 2007. The Battle of Mactan and the Indigenous Discourse on War. An essay that looks at the Battle of Mactan in proper context and from indigenous perspective.