Lesson 4 Transes RPH

Medical Laboratory Science (University of La Salette)

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MAGELLAN’S VOYAGE AROUND THE
WORLD

BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR  The book narrated how they gallantly

 Antonio Pigafetta
survived the unforeseen problems and
o Famous Italian traveler born in challenges, such as shortage of food,
Vicenza, Venice , Italy around 1490 various types of diseases, he crew’s lack
and died in the same city in 1534
of confidence in Magellan’s leadership,
o Also known by the name of Antonio
and the hostile attitude of the people
Lombardo or Francisco Antonio
they encountered during the journey.
Pigafetta.
 Pigafetta’s account also included maps,
o He studied astronomy, geography and
glossaries of native words, and
cartography, navigation
geographic information, and
o Well−educated man possessing an
descriptions of the flora and fauna of
avid curiosity of the world around
the place they visited.
him.
o Traveled with the Portuguese explorer
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Ferdinand Magellan and his crew by  Spices: expensive because of great
order of the King Charles I of Spain on demand; indigenous to East.
their voyage to the Indies  Asian goods reached Europe either via
o During the expedition, served as the Silk Road or the Arabian−Italian
Magellan's assistant and kept an trade route. Both routes were
accurate journal expensive and oftentimes disrupted by
o He belonged to a rich family of Vicenza wars, natural calamities, and bandits.
o He was among the 18 survivors who The closing of the land route of the
returned to Spain on September 6, Spice Trade with the conquest by the
1522 Ottoman Empire of Constantinople
BACKGROUND OF THE DOCUMENT (present−day Turkey and the "gateway
 Pigafetta's The First Voyage around the to the West" then) in 1453 forced
World is a classic of discovery and European kingdoms to look for ways to
exploration literature. purchase spices directly from the
 Pigafetta kept a detailed journal of what source. They decided to explore the
happened to them from the time they left oceans to look for a way to the famed
Seville in 1519 until they returned to Spain Spice Islands.
three years later.  During this time, the Portugal and Spain
 Travelogue had a great competition to claimed new
 Pigafetta wasn’t able to find a financier discovered regions.
who would pay the deposit required by the  Treaty of Tordesillas (June 7, 1494),
printer because by that time the accounts signed at Setubal, Portugal.
of Maximiliamus Transylvanus and Peter o Spainish Empire – West
Martyr were already out and interest on o Portuguese Empire – East
Magellan expedition had died downn.
 The original journal of Pigafetta did not  Ferdinand Magellan—Portuguese who
survive time. What was handed to us are renounced his citizenship when King
the copies of the manuscript that were Manuel denied him the chance to travel
never printed in his lifetime. the westward route to reach Moluccas.

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 Westward Route: unexplored yet  Report is rich in ethnographic details

proposed plan to King Charles I of Spain and geographical impact:
(King Charles V).
 King Charles I of Spain granted to support
Magellan, who in turn promise the king ATTITUDE
that his westward sea voyage would bring  Description of the lives and activities of
immeasurable wealth to Spain. the people in the Philippines.
 Enrique of Malacca Magellan slave,  One of the most important sources of
interpreter and assistant living of the natives is the palm trees
(niyog) which made the Spaniards
probably amazed how the natives used
MAGELANS EXPEDITION efficiently the palm tree, from the meat
 Sept. 20, 1519− Magellan and a crew of 270 to the husk of the coconut.
men left Spain aboard 5 ships;  In order to show them the great honor,
o Trinidad; the captain−general took them to his
o Concepcion; ship and showed them all his
o Santiago; merchandise – gloves, cinnamon,
o San Antonio; and pepper, ginger, nutmeg, mace gold, and
o Victoria (returned to Spain). all of the things in the ship.
 He had some mortar fired for them,
JOURNEY GOING BACK TO SPAIN whereat they exhibited great sign of
 Nov. 8, 1521− the 2 ships, Trinidad (Gomez fear and tried to jump of the ship.
de Espinosa) and Victoria (Sebastian de  Aside from the resourcefulness of the
Elcano), landed in Tidore, Moluccas. natives, Pigafetta describe how the
 The Trinidad sailed back to Spain by crossing natives of Zuluan behave and keep their
the Pacific to Panama; but captured by the promise. Also, he mentioned the
Portuguese presence of gold and white corals
 While Victoria sailed back via Cape of Good CLOTHES
Hope.  Pigafetta clearly described how
 Sept. 6, 1522− arrived in Sanlucar de welcoming and hospitable the natives
Barameda Spain with only 18 survivors led are. Aside from the grand reception
by Elcano. they experienced, he illustrated the
 Sept. 8, 1622 − arrived in Seville, Spain. richness of the district
 The voyage lasted 2 years, 11 months and  Pigafetta observed that the natives
16 days. give so much importance to knives:
CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE DOCUMENT  Pigafetta also observed that women
 One of the most reliable sources about the are clothed, according to him:
voyage of circumnavigation. o their women are clad in tree
o Pigafetta took notes in a daily basis; in cloth from their waist down,
his writings, he included detailed and their hair is black and
description of animals, plants, places reaches to the ground. They
and people have holes pierced in their
ears which are filled with
gold.=

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HOUSE  Magellan and his crew went to Zubu (Cebu)

 <Their houses are constructed of wood and
on April 7, upon hearing good reports from
are built of planks and bamboo, raised high
the King of Mazaua. They are not
from the ground on large logs and one
immediately warmly welcomed for they are
must enter them by means of ladders.
asked to pay tribute but Magellan refused to
They have rooms like ours and under the
do so. There were negotiations through
house they keep their swine, goats, and
notary where the King of Zubu asked for a
fowls=
drop their bloods as a sign of their
friendship, both agreed.
 On Zubu, the captain’s power to influence
FIRST ENCOUNTER the faith of people worked. The captain told
 On March 16, 1521, Magellan and his team the king through the interpreter that he
arrived in the Islands of the Philippines. They thanked God for inspiring him to became
first reached the land of Zamal (Samar). [become] a Christian, and that [now] he
 On Monday afternoon, March 18, we saw a would more easily conquer his enemies than
boat coming toward us with nine men in it. before. The king replied that he wished to
they were reasonable men, ordered food to become a Christian, but that some of his
set before them, and gave them red caps, chiefs did not wish to obey, because they
mirrors, combs, bells, ivory, bocasine, and said that they were as good as men as he.
other things. When they say the captain’s  A large cross was set up in the middle of the
courtesy, they presented fish, a jar of palm square. The captain told them that if they
wine which they call uraca [i.e., arrack], figs wished to become Christians as they had
more than one palmo long [i.e., bananas], declared on the previous days, that they
and other which were smaller and more must burn all their idols and set up a cross in
delicate, and two cocoanuts [coconuts]. their place.
 At noon on Friday, March 22, those men  The captain led the king by hand to the
came as they had promised us in two boats platform while speaking these good words in
with cocoanuts, sweet oranges, a jar of order to baptize him. He told the king that
palm− wine and a cock, in order to show us he would call him Don Carlo, after his
that there were fowls in that district. sovereign the emperor; the prince, Don
 Magellan succeed over his plan to influence Fernando, after the emperor's brother; the
faith of the people in the island he have king of Mazaua, Johanni; a chief, Fernando,
conquered, including ours. The native after our chief, that is to say the captain; the
Filipinos have their own idols before and a Moro, Christoforo; and then the others, now
God which they called <Abba= but they one name, and now another. Five hundred
threw this belief away as they embraced men were baptized before mass
Christianity which was introduced by  After dinner the priest and some of the
Magellan. others went ashore to baptize the queen,
 The first mass in our country happened on who came with forty women.
the last of March, and the first cross was set  Thereupon, she was overcome with
up in Mazau (Limasawa) as wished by contrition and asked for baptism amid her
Magellan for the benefits of the natives. tears. We named her Johanna, after the
emperor's mother; her daughter, the wife of
the prince, Catherina; the queen of Mazaua,

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Lisabeta; and the others, each [with] their pointed stakes hardened with fire, stones, and
[distinctive] names. mud, that we could scarcely defend
 Counting men, women, and children, we ourselves.
baptized eight hundred souls.  The captain− general sent some men to burn
ENCOUNTER WITH LAPU LAPU their houses in order to terrify them. When
 Near that island of Zubu was an island called they saw their houses burning, they were
Matan [Mactan], which formed the port roused to greater fury. Two of our men were
where we were anchored. The name of its killed near the houses, while we burned
village was Matan, and its chiefs were Zula twenty or thirty house
and Cilapulapu [Lapu−lapu].  The mortars in the boats could not aid us as
 Friday, April twenty−six, Zula, chief of the they were too far away.
island of Matan, sent one of his sons to  Recognizing the captain, so many turned
present two goats to the captain−general, upon him that they knocked his helmet off
and to say that he would send him all that his head twice, but he always stood firmly
he had promised, but that he had not been like a good knight, together with some
able to send it to him because of the other others.
chief, Cilapulapu, who refused to obey the  One of them wounded him on the left leg
king of Spagnia. with a large cutlass, which resembles a
 At midnight, sixty men of us set out armed scimitar, only being larger. That caused the
with corselets and helmets, together with captain to fall face downward, when
the Christian king, the prince, some of the immediately they rushed upon him with iron
chief men, and twenty or thirty balanghais. and bamboo spears and with their cutlasses,
We reached Matan three hours before until they killed our mirror, our light, our
dawn. comfort, and our true guide
 The captain did not wish to fight then, but  When they wounded him, he turned back
he sent a message to the natives by the many times to see whether we were all in
Moro to the effect that if they would obey the boats. Thereupon, beholding him dead,
the king of Spagnia, recognize the Christian we, wounded, retreated, as best as we could
king as their sovereign, pay us our tribute, to the boats which were already pulling off.
he would be their friend; but that if they  Eight of our men were killed with him in that
wished otherwise, they should wait to see battle, and four Indians, who had become
how our lances wounded. Christians and who had come afterward to
 When morning came, forty−nine of us aid us, were killed by the mortars of the
leaped into the water up our thighs, and boats. Of the enemy, only fifteen were
walked through water for more than two killed, while many of us were wounded.
crossbow flights before we could reach the  Despite their superiority in term of arms and
shore. training, the Spaniards lost the battle and
 The musketeers and crossbowmen shot one of the casualties was Magellan himself.
from a distance for half an hour, but When the survivors returned to Cebu, they
uselessly for the shots only passed through were also treacherously attacked by their
the shields which were made of thin wood former allies. This prompted them to leave
and the arms [of the bearers]. the island. By that time, their number was
 They shot so many arrows at us and hurled just enough to man two ships, the Victoria
so many bamboo spears (some of them (now under the command of Juan
tipped with iron) at the captain−general, Sebastian
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Elcano) and the Trinidad. The expedition finally

reached the Spice Islands and managed to
purchase a large amount of spices before
leaving. Unfortunately, the Trinidad and her
crew were captured by the Portuguese on
their journey back.

RELEVANCE TO CONTEMPORARY TIME

 Navigation of Magellan brought
development and new discovery in the
field of geography, cartography, navigation
and trade; it enlightens certain issues like
the shape of the world and eventually
pave way of other route like using the
east−west direction to reach the Far east.
 It only proved that the natives of the island
are civilized and enjoyed freedom.
o Pigafetta’s travelogue contributed
immensely to the enrichment of
Philippine historiography. His
writing provided us a glimpse of
the political, economic, and social
conditions of the islands in the
Visayan region during the 16th
century.
 The book of Pigafetta paves way a wider
venue for discovering other countries aside
from the Philippines. It has opened other
perspective about the other side of the
world.
o Magellan’s circumnavigation to the
spice islands later prove vital in
determining the spherical shape of
the Earth making it the first one to
prove that the earth is round.

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