A Critical Essay: Antonio Pigafetta’s “The First Voyage Around the World”

One of the most relevant and widely known primary sources in the study of the Philippine History
during its Pre-colonial period is Antonio Pigafetta’s, “First Voyage Around the World”. The book
portrays a detailed description of the expedition of the first trip around the world. To this day, it remains
as one of the most important historical documentary of the geographical discoveries of the sixteenth
century.
During the journey Pigafetta served as Magellan's aide and kept a diary bookkeeping all that
appeared to be captivating and foreign to him. This diary would later be utilized as a source of perspective
for some, history related works. Pigafetta kept a broad assortment of information accumulated from the
lands that they have visited. It is the main recorded archive concerning the language. Pigafetta's enduring
diary is the hotspot for a lot of what is thought about Magellan and Elcano's journey.
The First Voyage Around the World is additionally a strikingly precise ethnographic and
topographical record of the circumnavigation, and one that has procured its standing among present day
historiographers and students of the early contacts among Europe and the East Indies. Expertly introduced
and abundantly showed, this release of Pigafetta's exemplary travelogue makes certain to edify new
readers and empower the creative mind as the story has done since it first appeared (Cachey T., 2007).
Known by the name “Antonio Lombardo” or “Francisco Antonio Pigafetta”, Pigafetta is an
Italian seafarer and geographer. In 1519, he joined the journey to the Spice Islands commanded by
Ferdinand Magellan carrying the flag of King Charles I of Spain. The relevance of his own endeavor, on a
very basic level lies in the way that he participated to the principal globe circumnavigation, somewhere in
the range of 1519 and 1522, and he had the option to achieve it after the murder of Ferdinand Magellan.
Antonio Pigafetta, intriguing and escaping character, for researchers he still is an ambiguous
individual. Too little is known to characterize an acceptable biographical profile. Archives and the
declaration of contemporaneous are scarce, and his own character is fundamentally written by himself in
his own report.
His own portrayal about the first world circumnavigation was perhaps the best accomplishment
throughout the entire existence of naval force exploration and discovery. In this portrayal can be
discovered depictions of people, nations, goods and surprisingly the dialects that were spoken, of which
he was attempting to gather some short glossaries. Pigafetta tells how, being in Barcelona in 1519, he
caught wind of Magellan's expedition, and being wishful to discover more about the world, he requested
and acquired the authorization to participate in the journey.
On 10 August 1519, five ships left from Seville for what was to turn into the primary
circumnavigation of the globe. Connected by notoriety to the name of its chief, Magellan, a significant
part of the undertaking is known through the travelogue of one of a handful of the crew members who got
back to Spain, Antonio Pigafetta. A story and cartographic record of the excursion (counting 23 hand-
drawn watercolor graphs) from Patagonia to Indonesia, from the Philippines to the Cape of Good Hope,
Pigafetta's The First Voyage all throughout the world is an exemplary discovery literature.

This study source was downloaded by 100000844585581 from CourseHero.com on 07-11-2022 03:41:33 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/153093294/Critical-Essay-on-The-Voyage-Around-the-Worldpdf/
 In summary of pages twenty-three to forty-eight of the book:

• 16th century European economy was mercantilist. Wealth is estimated dependent on

aggregation of bullion or valuable metals.
• 16th century Europe was conquered by Holy Roman Empire.
• Asian products arrived at Europe either through the Silk Road or the Arabian-Italian
shipping lane. Both are costly and generally disrupted by wars and normal disasters.
• Since land courses were costly and required permission of many influential armed
groups, Portugal investigated the ocean as an substitute route to the Spice Islands.
• The tension between Spain and Portugal became heated enough that the two nations
needed to get the pope to split the New World into parts that would be Spanish and parts
that would be Portuguese-Treaty of Tordesillas.
The main argument and point of view of within chapters twenty-three to forty-eight is the fact
that Magellan and his crew converted some of the natives to Christianity. They also held the first mass in
the Philippine Islands. In summary of the entire book, the author saw Filipinos during that period as
inferior to them especially as the he and his fellow voyagers have Eurocentric perspective on the world.
Even though he saw themselves as superior, he still appreciated the culture and friendship of the rulers of
the islands.
The descriptions of the natives reflect the early lives of the Visayan ancestors which is relevant to
the country’s social and cultural aspect. The journal also shows that even before the pre-colonial
Philippines had its own political system. A barter system was also established wherein they exchange
their good for something they want or need.
Pigafetta kept a detailed diary, the original of which is unfortunately irretrievable. Pigafetta's
work is significant not just as a basis of data regarding the actual journey, yet additionally incorporates an
early Western depiction of individuals and dialects of the Philippines.
The significance of knowing about the first journey of Magellan all throughout the world has
permitted Philippine historians to find out about the populace, plants, creatures, lands, societies and
customs of the Philippines during 1521. Antonio Pigafetta gave a record of people in the Philippines in
1521 and the manner and individual liable for the killing of Ferdinand Magellan, the tribes and the leader
of the islands where they have remained.
Pigafetta’s journal greatly contributed to Philippine history as it documented one of the early
proofs of life in the Visayas region. Pigafetta's portrayal on how the locals were dressed and about their
appearances shows the early existences of the Visayan ancestors and how they lived in the islands in
harmony.
In my own perspective of the primary source, I think the report effectively gave its readers a view
on what the Philippines resembled during those periods. The traditions, customs, and so forth of the
Philippines just as well as the event of the journey was written in a detailed manner. Nonetheless, I
believe this primary source, particularly the opinions of the author in it, has a bias for the Spaniards. The
writer was defending the Spaniards assault on the Latroni public considering as savages. In my relevant
examination, the Spaniards likewise assaulted a great deal of Filipino ladies, yet the author never
referenced them in the record. All in all First Voyage Around the World was an extraordinary
accomplishment throughout the entire existence of navy exploration and discovery. There are simply
inclinations that obstructs the readers to know the general reality of that period.

This study source was downloaded by 100000844585581 from CourseHero.com on 07-11-2022 03:41:33 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/153093294/Critical-Essay-on-The-Voyage-Around-the-Worldpdf/
 One of the secondary sources derived from Antonio Pigafetta’s journal is a critical edition by
Antonio Canova. It incorporates a broad prologue to the work and generous annotations by Theodore J.
Cachey Jr who reviews about the great components of the story through allusions to Magellan's
expeditions by journalists as diverse as Shakespeare and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Nonetheless, Cachey is
mindful so as to point out that Pigafetta's book is far from simply a wonder filled travel narrative.
Other secondary sources are:

• First Voyage Round the World by Magellan: Translated from the Accounts of Pigafetta
and Other Contemporary Writers
• Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo
• Magellan's Voyage
• Diario del viaje de Magallanes
• A primeira viagem ao redor do mundo

This study source was downloaded by 100000844585581 from CourseHero.com on 07-11-2022 03:41:33 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/153093294/Critical-Essay-on-The-Voyage-Around-the-Worldpdf/
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)