THE FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD
circumnavigation of the Earth.
BY ANTONIO PIGAFETTA
(ENGLISH VERSION)
Prominent People in the First Voyage around the
world
Ferdinand Magellan
- Also known as Fernando de Magallanes
- He was born in Porto, Portugal, in 1480.
- His parents were members of the Portuguese
nobility, and the young Magellan found himself in - - The eldest son of Giovanni Pigafetta to his second
the service of royalty at an early age, he was only
twelve when he began serving the queen of
Portugal as a page (a position of employment for
youths in royal courts).
- His father was Rodrigo de Magalhães and his
mother was Alda de Mesquita.
- He studied at Queen Leonora's School of Pages in
Lisbon and spent his days poring over texts on
cartography, astronomy, and celestial navigation—
subjects that would serve him well in his later
pursuits.
- In 1505, when Ferdinand Magellan was in his mid- - -In Seville, Pigafetta heard of Magellan's planned
20’s, he joined a Portuguese fleet that was sailing
to East Africa. By 1509, he found himself at the
Battle of Diu, in which the Portuguese destroyed
Egyptian ships in the Arabian Sea.
- Magellan after being unfavored by the King of
Portugal, headed to Seville, Spain to offer his
services.
- The Spanish King then supported his idea and gave
him 5 ships which were the Trinidad, San Antonio,
Concepcion, Santiago, and Victoria.
- - His crew consisted of 270 men, where only 18
survived and returned to Spain.
- - He died on April 27, 1521 at the Philippines,
because of the revolt of the Mactanese. -He presented his draft to Pope Clement VII, Phillipe de
- - Though Magellan died before the voyage was
completed, he is often credited with the first
circumnavigation on the globe as he initially led the
voyage. He also discovered what is now called the
Strait of Magellan and named both the Pacific
Ocean and South America's Tierra del Fuego.
Juan Sebastián Elcano
(1486-1526)
- He was a Spanish (Basque) sailor, navigator, and
- Original journal of Pigafetta did not survive time.
explorer.
-“You Went Around Me First.”
- Basque navigator who completed the first
- In 1525, Elcano was appointed Chief Pilot on
García Jofre de Loaisa’s expedition to claim the
Molucca Islands for Spain.
- The expedition was ultimately a failure,
though, and both Elcano and Loaisa lost their
lives.
Antonio Pigafetta
(1491-1534)
- - Also known as Antonio Lombardo
wife Angela Zoga.
-He belonged to a rich family in the city of Vicenza
in northeast Italy.
Born on Vicenza Republic of Venice (present time:
Italy)
- - He studied astronomy, geography and
cartography.
- -He then served on board the ships of the Knights of
Rhodes at the beginning of the 16th century.
- -He accompanied the Papal Nuncio, Monsignor
Francesco Chieragati, to Spain in 1519.
expedition and decided to join, accepting the title of
supernumersary (sobresaliente), and a modest
salary of 1,000 maravedis.
-During the expedition, he served as Magellan's
assistant and kept an accurate journal which later
assisted him in translating the Cebuano language.
About the Book
- Pigafetta kept the detailed journal of what
happened to them from the time they left Seville in
1519 until they returned to Spain (1522).
- Many of his associates asked him to write a formal
account of the Magellan expedition and have it
published.
Villiers L’Isle-Adam and to Louis Savoy to finance
its publication.
- He was unable to find a financier who would pay
the deposit required by the printer.
-In 1536, a condensed version of his manuscript was
published in Venice by Jacques Fabre.
- We have copies of his of the manuscript;
- Three of this was in French and two were in the
 Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. The third one as
originally owned by British collector named Sir
Thomas Phillips.
- Beinecke Rare Book bought it and it was kept in the
Manuscript Library of Yale University in New Haven.
- The fourth copy was written in mixed Italian,
Spanish, and Venetian language.
- In 1800, an Italian version was published by Carlo
Amoretti and the following year a French version
came out in Paris.
In 1819, James Alexander Robertson made his own
English version and appeared in “The Philippine
Islands”.
- Pigafetta’s account is the longest and most
comprehensive.
- The book narrated lucidly how they survived the
unforeseen problems and challenges.
- The book also includes maps, glossaries of native
words, and geographic information and descriptions
of the places they had visited.
- His travelogue contributed immensely to the
enrichment of Philippine historiography.
- Also, glimpse of the political, economic, and social
conditions were provided by Pigafetta’s writing.
- He also described the physical appearance, social
life, religious beliefs, and cultural practices of the
people they encountered in the islands of Samar,
Leyte, and Cebu.
- It also contains data about the economic activities
of the local folks and goods they offered for trade.
- Enrique de Malacca, Magellan’s slave/interpreter,
helps Pigafetta to get all this information.
- Pigafetta gave us an eyewitness account
of the death of Magellan in the Battle of
Mactan.
- Pigafetta and Enrique de Malacca were
not natives of the Visayan region.
o southern tip of South America, sail across
September 20, 1519
- A royal commission was sent, allowing
Magellan to lead the expedition.
The five ships used in the expedition:
1. Trinidad (flagship) - under Ferdinand
Magellan
Captain General
2. San Antonio - commanded by Juan de
Cartagena
3.Concepción - commanded by Gaspar de
Quesada
4. Santiago - commanded by Joao Serrano
5. Victoria - commanded by Luis Mendoza
Preparation: Crew
The crew of about 270 included men from
several nations, including Portugal, Spain,
Italy, Germany, Belgium, Greece, England
and France.
Juan Sebastian Elcano- a Spanish merchant
ship captain settled at Seville, embarked
seeking the king's pardon for previous
misdeeds.
Antonio Pigafetta- He became a strict
assistant of Magellan and kept an accurate
journal.
Francisco Albo- who kept a formal logbook.
Juan de Cartagena- named as Inspector
General of the expedition, responsible for
its financial and trading operation.
MAGELLAN-ELCANO CIRCUMNAVIGATION
•The first voyage around the world in
human history.
•It was a Spanish expedition that sailed
from Seville in 1519 under the command of
Ferdinand Magellan,in search of a maritime
path from Spain to East Asia through the
Americas and across the Pacific Ocean, and
concluded by Spanish navigator Juan
Sebastian Elcano in 1522.
•Magellan found he could sail around the
the Pacific Ocean and approach the spice
islands from the east.
•One of their main objective was to search
for new maritime path to the spice island
 that would not violate the 1494’s Treaty of sighted Samar, part of group of islands
Torsedillas, a decree from Pope Alexander they called Archipelago of St. Lazaro (Lazarus)
VI. March 29: Raja Colambu agreed into compact friendship
TIMELINE OF THE FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE (casi-casi) with Magellan.
WORLD March 31: The first Catholic mass in the Philippines was on
1519 Easter Sunday, it was officiated by Father Pedro de
August 10: Departure from Seville. Valderrama in the shore of a town islet named as
September 20: Departure from Sanlucar de Limasawa in the tip of Southern Leyte.
Barrameda. - Limasawa is dubbed as the birthplace of
December 13: Entering the bay of Rio de Roman Catholicism in the Philippines.
Janeiro. April 7: Arrival in Cebu, cordial relation with Raja
December 31: Departure from Rio de Humabon, establishment of Magellan’s Cross.
Janeiro.
1520 April 27: Death of Magellan in the Battle of Mactan
January 10: Entering the Rio de Plata. May 1: At a local banquet Barbosa and 27 are murdered
and Serrao captured, later killed. The three
February 27: Entering Bahia de los Patos. remaining ships escape.

March 31: Begin of the overwintering stay
at Puerto San Julian.
April 1 and 2: Mutiny on Victoria,
Concepcion and San Antonio; death of Louis
de Mendoza. Later execution of de
Quesada, marooning of de Cartagena.
Alvaro de Mesquita becomes captain of San
Antonio, Duarte Barbosa of Victoria.
November 8: Arriving at Tidore in the Moluccas.
End of April: Santiago is sent on a mission
to find the passage. The ship is caught in a
storm and wrecked. Survivors return to
Puerto San Julián. Serrano becomes captain
of the Concepcion.
End of October: San Antonio, charged to explore Magdalen 1522
Sound, fails to return to the fleet, instead sails
back to Spain under Estevao Gomes who
imprisoned captain de Mesquita. The ship arrives April
in 6: Trinidad under the command of Espinosa leaves
Spain on May 21, 1521.
November 28: The fleet leaves the strait and enters
the Pacific Ocean.
1521
March 6: Arrival at Guam and encounters with the
Chamorro People.
March 16: Arrival of Magellan's expedition to one
of the Philippine Islands. They headed to Suluan
and dropped anchor for a few hours of respite.
March 18: They reached the island of Homonhon in
the Philippines (their first meeting with Filipinos)
May 2: There are not enough men to handle three
ships, thus the worm-infested Concepcion is
burned down. Two ships remain: Victoria and
Trinidad. The ships sail to Mindanao and Brunei.
September 21: Carvalho is replaced by Martín
Méndez as Captain General, Espinosa becomes
captain of the Trinidad and Juan Sebastian Elcano,
captain of Victoria.
December 21: Victoria under the command of
Elcano leaves the Moluccas to return home, sailing
west towards the Cape of Good Hope. Trinidad
remains at Tidore for repair.
January 25: Victoria reaches Timor and starts to
cross the Indian Ocean.
the Moluccas heading home sailing east. After five
weeks, Espinosa decides to return to the Moluccas
where he and his ship are captured by a Portuguese
fleet under Antonio de Brito. But the ship was
wrecked during a storm.
May 22: Victoria passes the Cape of Good Hope and
enters the Atlantic Ocean.
July 9: Victoria reaches Santiago, Cape Verde.
September 6: Victoria returns to San Lucar de
Barrameda under the command of Elcano, two
weeks shy of three years after setting sail.
 September 8: Victoria arrives at Seville, technically
completing the circumnavigation.

Significance of Pigafetta’s account

● Pigafetta’s account also contributed to

Philippine history, because it contains
important details about the conditions of the
Visayan Island during the 16 century.
● His account contained information about the
prominent leaders during those times, including
the people’s economic activities, social and
cultural practices, and religious beliefs.
● Pigafetta has also has numerous accounts about
the reaction of the Filipinos when they first met
the Spaniards.
● Lapu-lapu is the most prominent character in
Pigafetta’s narrative, he was the first Filipino
who led the resistance movement against
Spanish rule and successfully thwarted the first
attempt of the Spaniards to take control of the
Philippines.

● Pigafetta wasn’t really the only one to write

about the expedition, One based his book on
interviews of the survivors of the Victoria.
● Another was made by Victoria’s pilot Francisco
Albo, although his work isn’t really as
informative as Pigafetta’s.
*FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE*

(REPORTING MS WORD FILE)