Module Readings in Philippine History

CONTENT AND CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF SELECTED PRIMARY SOURCES IN

PHILIPPINE HISTORY

A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD BY

MAGELLAN BY ANTONIO PIGAFETTA

This book was taken from the chronicles of contemporary voyagers and navigators of
the sixteenth century. One of them was Italian nobleman Antonio Pigafetta, who
accompanied Ferdinand Magellan in his fateful circumnavigation of the world.
Pigafetta’s work instantly became a classic that prominent literary men in the West like
William Shakespeare, Michel de Montaigne, and Giambattista Vico referred to the book
in their interpretation of the New World. Pigafetta’s travelogue is one of the most
important primary sources in the study of the precolonial Philippines. His account was
also a major referent to the events leading to Magellan’s arrival in the Philippines, his
encounter with local leaders, his death in the hands of Lapulapu’s forces in the Battle of
Mactan, and in the departure of what was left of Magellan’s fleet from the islands.

Examining the document reveals several insights not just in the character of the
Philippines during the precolonial period, but also on how the fresh eyes of the
Europeans regard a deeply unfamiliar terrain, environment, people, and culture.
Locating Pigafetta’s account in the context of its writing warrants a familiarity on the
dominant frame of mind in the age of exploration, which pervaded Europe in the
fifteenth and sixteenth century. Students of history need to realize that primary sources
used in the subsequent written histories depart from certain perspectives. Thus,
Pigafetta’s account was also written from the perspective of Pigafetta himself and was a
product of the context of its production. The First Voyage Around the World by
Magellan was published after Pigafetta returned to Italy.

For this chapter, we will focus on the chronicles of Antonio Pigafetta as he wrote his
firsthand observation and general impression of the Far East including their experiences
in the Visayas. In Pigafetta’s account, their fleet reached what he called the Landrones
Islands or the ―Island of the Thieves.‖ He recounted:

―These people have no arms, but use sticks, which have a

fish bone at the end. They are poor, but ingenious, and great
thieves, and for the sake of what we called these three islands
the Ladrones Islands.‖

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The Ladrones Islands is presently known as the Marianas Islands. These islands are
located south-southeast of Japan, west-southwest of Hawaii, north of New Guinea, and
east of Philippines. Ten days after they reached Ladrones Islands, Pigafetta reported
that they reached what Pigafetta called the isle of Zamal, now Samar but Magellan
decided to land in another uninhabited island for greater security where they could rest
for a few days. Pigafetta recounted that after two days, March 18, nine men came to
them and showed joy and eagerness in seeing them. Magellan realized that the men
were reasonable and welcomed them with food, drinks, and gifts. In turn, the natives
gave them fish, palm wine (uraca), figs, and two cochos. The natives also gave them
rice (umaii), cocos, and other food supplies. Pigafetta detailed in amazement and
fascination the palm tree which bore fruits called cocho, and wine. He also described
what seemed like coconut. His description reads:

―This palm produces a fruit named cocho, which is a large

as the head, or thereabouts: its first husk is green, and two
fingers in thickness, in its they find certain threads, with which
they make the cords for fastening their boats. Under this husk
there is another very hard, and thicker than that of a walnut.
They burn this second rind, and make with it a powder which
is useful to them. Under this rind there is a white marrow of a
finger’s thickness, which they eat fresh with meat and fish, as
we do bread, and it has the taste of an almond, and if anyone
dried it he might make bread of it.‖

Pigafetta characterized the people as ―very familiar and friendly‖ and willingly showed
them different islands and the names of these islands. The fleet went to Humunu Island
(Homonhon) and there they found what Pigafetta referred to as the ―Watering Place of
Good Signs.‖ It is in this place where Pigafetta wrote that they found the first signs of
gold in the island. They named the island with the nearby islands as the archipelago of
St. Lazarus. They left the island, then on March 25th, Pigafetta recounted that they saw
two ballanghai (balanghay), a long boat full of people in Mazzava/Mazaua. The leader,
who Pigafetta referred to as the king of the ballanghai (balangay), sent his men to the
ship of Magellan. The Europeans entertained these men and gave them gifts. When the
king of the balanghay offered to give Magellan a bar of gold and a chest of ginger,
Magellan declined. Magellan sent the interpreter to the king and asked for money for
the needs of his ships and expressed that he came into the islands as a friend and not
as an enemy. The king responded by giving Magellan the needed provisions of food in
chinaware. Magellan exchanged gifts of robes in Turkish fashion, red cap, and gave the
people knives and mirrors. The two then expressed their desire to become brothers.
Magellan also boasted of his men in armor who could not be struck with swords and

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daggers. The king was fascinated and remarked that men in such armor could be worth
one hundred of his men. Magellan further showed the king his other weapons, helmets,
and artilleries. Magellan also shared with the king his charts and maps and shared how
they found the islands.

After a few days, Magellan was introduced to the king’s brother who was also a king of
another island. They went to this island and Pigafetta reported that they saw mines of
gold. The gold was abundant that parts of the ship and of the house of the second king
were made of gold. Pigafetta describedthis king as the most handsome of all the men-
that he saw in this place. He was also adorned with silk and gold accessories like a
golden dagger, which he carried with him in a wooden polished sheath. This king was
named Raia Calambu, king of Zuluan and Calagan (Butuan and Caragua), and the first
king was Raia Siagu. On March 31st, which happened to be Easter Sunday, Magellan
ordered the chaplain to preside a Mass by the shore. The king heard of this plan and
sent two dead pigs and attended the Mass with the other king. Pigafetta reported that
both kings participated in the mass. He wrote:

―When the offertory of the mass came, the two kings, went to kiss the cross like us, but
they offered nothing, and at the elevation of the body of our Lord they were kneeling
like us, and adored our Lord with joined hands.‖

After the Mass, Magellan ordered that the cross be brought with nails and crown in
place. Magellan explained that the cross, the nail, and the crown were the signs of his
emperor and that he was ordered to plant it in the places that he would reach.
Magellan further explained that the cross would be beneficial for their people because
once other Spaniards saw this cross, then they would know that they had been in this
land and would not cause them troubles, and any person who might be held captives by
them would be released. The king concurred and allowed for the cross to be planted.
This Mass would go down in history as the first Mass in the Philippines, and the cross
would be the famed Magellan’s Cross still persevered at present day.

After seven days, Magellan and his men decided to move and look for islands where
they could acquire more supplies and provisions. They learned of the islands of Ceylon
(Leyte), Bohol, and Zzubu (Cebu) and intended to go there. Raia Calambu offered to
pilot them in going to Cebu, the largest and the richest of the islands. By April 7th of the
same year, Magellan and his men reached the port of Cebu. The king of Cebu, through
Magellan’s interpreter, demanded that they pay tribute as it was customary, but
Magellan refused. Magellan said that he was a captain of a king himself and thus would
not pay tribute to other kings. Magellan’s interpreter explained to the king of Cebu that
Magellan’s king was the emperor of a great empire and that it would do them better to
make friends with them than to forge enmity. The king of Cebu consulted his council.
By the next day, Magellan’s men and the King of Cebu, together with other principal

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men of Cebu, met in an open space. There, the king offered a bit of his blood and
demanded that Magellan do the same. Pigafetta recounts:

―Then the king said that he was content, and as a greater sign of
affection he sent him a little of his blood from his right arm, and wished
he should do the like. Our people answered that he would do it. Besides
that, he said that all the captains who came to his country had been
accustomed to make a present to him, and he to them, and therefore
they should ask their captain if he would observe the custom. Our people
answered that he would; but as the king wished to keep up the custom, let
him begin and make a present, and then the captain would do his duty.‖

On the 14th of April, the people gathered with the king and other principal men of the
islands. Magellan spoke to the king and encouraged him to be a good Christian by
burning all of the idols and worship the cross instead. The king of Cebu was then
baptized as a Christian. Pigafetta wrote:

―To that the king and all his people answered that thy would obey
The commands of the captain and do all that he told them. The
Captain took the king by the hand, and they would about on the
Scaffolding, and when he was baptized he said that he would
name him Don Charles (Carlos), as the emperor his sovereign
was named; and he named the prince Don Fernand (Fernando),
after the brother of the emperor, and the king of Mazavva, Jehan: to the Moor
he gave the name of Christopher, and to the others each a name of his fancy.‖

After eight days, Pigafetta counted that all of the island’s inhabitant were already
baptized. He admitted that they burned a village down for obeying neither the king nor
Magellan. The mass was conducted by the shore every day. When the queen came to
the Mass one day, Magellan gave her an image of the Infant Jesus made by Pigafetta
himself. After the baptismal, Pigafetta recorded that the man was able to speak again.
He called this a miracle.

On the 26th of April, Zula, a principal man from the island of Matan (Mactan) went to
see Magellan and asked him for a boat full of men so that he would be able to fight the
chief named Silapulapu (Lapulapu). Such thief, according to Zula, refused to obey the
king and was also preventing him from doing so. They numbered 49 in total and the
islanders of Mactan were estimated to number 1,500. The battle began. Pigafetta
recounted:

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―When we reached land we found the islanders fifteen hundred in number,

drawn up in three squadrons; they came down upon us with terrible shouts,
two squadrons attacking us on the 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 bullet and arrows,
though they passed through their shields made of thin wood, and perhaps
wounded their arms, yet did not stop them. The Captain shouted not to fire,
but he was not listened to. The islanders seeing that the shots of our guns
did them little or no harm would not retire, but shouted more loudly, and springing
from one side to the other to avoid our shots, they at same time drew
nearer to us, throwing arrows, javelins, spears hardened in fire, stones,
and even mud, so that we could hardly defend ourselves. Some of
them cast lances pointed with iron at the captain-general.‖

Magellan died in that battle. The natives, perceiving that the bodies of the enemies
were protected with armors, aimed for their legs instead. Magellan was pierced with a
poisoned arrow in his right leg. A few of their men charged at the natives and tried to
intimidate them by burning an entire village but this only enraged the natives further.
Magellan was specifically targeted because the natives knew that he was the captain
general. Magellan was hit with a lance in the breast and tried to draw his sword but
could not lift it because of his wounded arm. Seeing that the captain has already
deteriorated, more natives came to attack him. Pigafetta recounted the last moments of
Magellan:

―Whilst the Indians were thus overpowering him, several times he turned
round towards us to see if we were all in safety, as though his obstinate
fight had no other object than to give an opportunity for the retreat of his men.‖

Pigafetta also said that the king of Cebu who was baptized could have sent help but
Magellan instructed him not to join the battle and stay in the balangay so that he would
see how they fought. The king offered the people of Mactan gifts of any value and
amount in exchange of Magellan’s body but the chief refused. They wanted to keep
Magellan’s body as a momento of their victory.

Analysis of Pigafetta’s Chronicle

The chronicle of Pigafetta was one of the most cited documents by historians who
wished to study the precolonial Philippines. As one of the earliest written accounts,
Pigafetta was seen as a credible source for a period, which was prior unchronicled and
undocumented. Moreover, being the earliest detailed documentation, it was believed
that Pigafetta’s writings account for a ―purest‖ precolonial society. Indeed, Pigafetta’s
work is of great importance in the study and writing of Philippine history. Nevertheless,
there needs to have a more nuanced reading of the source within a contextual
backdrop. A student of history should recognize certain biases accompanying the author

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and his identity, loyaltiesa, and the circumstances that he was in; and how it affected
the text that he produced. In the case of Pigafetta, the reader needs to understand that
he was a chronicler commissioned by the King of Spain to accompany and document a
voyage intended to expand the Spanish empire. He was also of noble descent who
came from a rich family in Italy. These attributes influenced his narrative, his selection
of details to be included in the text, his characterization of the people and of the
species that he encountered, and his interpretation and retelling of the events. Being a
scholar of cartography, Pigafetta was able to give details on geography and climate of
the places that their voyage had reached.

In reading Pigafetta’s description of the people, one has to keep in mind that he
was coming from a sixteenth century European perspective. Hence, the reader might
notice how Pigafetta, whether implicitly or explicitly, regarded the indigenous belief
systems and way of life as inferior to that of Christianity and of the Europeans. He
would always remark on the nakedness of the natives or he was fascinated by their
exotic culture. Pigafetta also noticeably emphasized the natives’ amazement and
illiteracy to the European artillery, merchandise, and other goods, in the same way that
Pegafetta repeatedly mentioned the abundance of spices like ginger, and a precious
metals like gold. His observation and assessment of the indigenous culture employed
the European standpoint, they were wearing fewer clothes indeed. Pigafetta’s
perspective was too narrow to realize that such attire was only appropriate to the
tropical climate of the islands. The same was true for materials that the natives used for
their houses like palm and bamboo. These materials would let more air come through
the house and compensate for the hot climate in the islands.

It should be understood that such observations were rooted from the context of
Pigafetta and of his era. Europe, for example, was dominated by the Holy Roman
Empire, whose loyalty and purpose was the domination of the Catholic Church all over
the world. Hence, other belief systems different from that of Christianity were perceived
to be blasphemous and barbabric, even demonic. Aside from this, the sixteenth century
European economy was mercantilist. Such system measures the wealth of kingdoms
based on their accumulation of bullions or precious metals like gold and silver. It was
not surprising therefore that Pigafetta would always mention the abundance of gold in
the islands as shown in his description of leaders wearing gold rings and gold daggers,
and of the rich gold mines. An empire like that of the Spain would indeed search for
new lands where they could acquire more gold and wealth to be on top of all the
European nations. The obsession with spices might be odd for Filipinos because of its
ordinariness in the Philippines, but understanding the context would reveal that spices
were scarce in Europe and hence were seen as prestige goods. In that era, Spain and
Portugal coveted the control of Spice Islands because it would have led to a certain
increase in wealth, influence, and power. These contexts should be used and
understood in order to have a more qualified reading of Pigafetta’s account.

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