The First Voyage Around the World
by Ferdinand Magellan and Antonio Pigafetta
The period of discovery and expansionism began in the 15 th century. An Italian nobleman
Antonio Pigafetta, who accompanied Ferdinand Magellan in his fateful circumnavigation around
the wolrd. In the 15th century, spices were at the epicenter of the world economy. Highly
valued for flavoring and preserving food as well as masking the taste of meat gone bad,
spices like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and especially black pepper were extremely
valuable. Since spices could not be cultivated in cold and arid Europe, no effort was
spared to discover the quickest sea route to the Spice Islands. Portugal and Spain led the
competition for early control over this critical commodity. Europeans had reached the
Spice Islands by sailing east, but none had yet to sail west from Europe to reach the other
side of the globe. Magellan was determined to be the first to do so. Magellan approached
King Manuel of Portugal to seek his support for a westward voyage to the Spice Islands.
The king refused his petition repeatedly. In 1517, a frustrated Magellan renounced his
Portuguese nationality and relocated to Spain to seek royal support for his venture.
When Magellan arrived in Seville in October 1517, he had no connections and
spoke little Spanish. He soon met another transplanted Portuguese named Diogo Barbosa,
and within a year he had married Barbosa’s daughter Beatriz, who gave birth to their son
Rodrigo a year later. The well-connected Barbosa family introduced Magellan to officers
responsible for Spain’s maritime exploration, and soon Magellan secured an appointment
to meet the king of Spain. The grandson of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who had
funded Christopher Columbus’s expedition to the New World in 1492, received
Magellan’s petition with the same favor shown by his grandparents. Just 18 years old at
the time, King Charles I granted his support to Magellan, who in turn promised the young
king that his westward sea voyage would bring immeasurable riches to Spain.
On August 10, 1519 Magellan bade farewell to his wife and young son, neither of
whom he would ever see again, and the Armada De Moluccas set sail. Magellan
commanded the lead ship Trinidad and was accompanied by four other ships: the San
Antonio, the Conception, the Victoria and the Santiago. The expedition would prove long
and arduous, and only one ship, the Victoria, would return home three years later,
carrying a mere 18 of the fleet’s original crew of 270. In September 1519 Magellan’s
fleet sailed from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain, and crossed the Atlantic Ocean, which
was then known simply as the Ocean Sea. The fleet reached South America a little more
than one month later. There the ships sailed southward, hugging the coast in search of the
fabled strait that would allow passage through South America. The fleet stopped at Port
San Julian where the crew mutinied on Easter Day in 1520. Magellan quickly quelled the
uprising, executing one of the captains and leaving another mutinous captain behind.
Meanwhile Magellan had sent the Santiago to explore the route ahead, where it was
shipwrecked during a terrible storm. The ship’s crew members were rescued and assigned
out among the remaining ships. With those disastrous events behind them, the fleet left
Port San Julian five months later when fierce seasonal storms abated.
On October 21, 1520 Magellan finally entered the strait that he had been seeking
and that came to bear his name. The voyage through the Strait of Magellan was
treacherous and cold, and many sailors continued to mistrust their leader and grumble
about the dangers of the journey ahead. In the early days of the navigation of the strait,
the crew of the San Antonio forced its captain to desert, and the ship turned and fled
across the Atlantic Ocean back to Spain. At this point, only three of the original five
ships remained in Magellan’s fleet.
After more than a month spent traversing the strait, Magellan’s remaining armada
emerged in November 1520 to behold a vast ocean before them. They were the first
known Europeans to see the great ocean, which Magellan named Mar Pacifico, the
Pacific Ocean, for its apparent peacefulness, a stark contrast to the dangerous waters of
the strait from which he had just emerged. In fact, extremely rough waters are not
uncommon in the Pacific Ocean, where tsunamis, typhoons and hurricanes have done
serious damage to the Pacific Islands and Pacific Rim nations throughout history.
Little was known about the geography beyond South America at that time, and
Magellan optimistically estimated that the trip across the Pacific would be rapid. In fact,
it took three months for the fleet to make its way slowly across the vast Mar
Pacifico. The days dragged on as Magellan’s crew anxiously waited to utter the magic
words “Land, ho!” At last, the fleet reached the Pacific island of Guam in March 1521,
where they finally replenished their food stores.
The Philippine islands has been rediscovered in 1521. Magellan’s fleet then sailed on
to the Philippine archipelago landing on the island of Cebu, where Magellan befriended
the locals and, struck with a sudden religious zeal, sought to convert them to Christianity.
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 in 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 25 th , Pigafetta recounted that they saw two
balanghai (balangay), a long boat full of people in Mazzava/Mazaua. The leadear, who
referred to as the king of the balanghai (balangay), sent his men to the ship of Magellan.
The Europeans entertained these men and gave them gifts. When the king of the balangay
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 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 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 others 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 out of gold. This king was named Raia Calambu, king of Zuluan
and Calagan (Butuan and Caragua), and the first king was Raia Siagu. The king heard of
his plan and sent two dead pigs and attended the mass with the other king. Pigafetta
reported that both kings participated in the mass.
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 some 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 preserved 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 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 that 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 men of
Cebu, met in an open space. There, the king offered a bit of his blood and demanded that
Magellan do the same.
The following day, Magellan spoke before the people of Cebu about peace and
God. Pigafetta reported that the people took pleasure in Magellan’s speech. Magellan
then asked the people who would succeed the king after his reign and the people
responded that the eldest child of the king, who happened to be a daughter, would be the
next in line. Pigafetta also related how the people talked about, how at old age, parents
were no longer taken into account and had to follow the orders of their children as the
new leaders of the land. Magellan responded to this by saying that his faith entailed
children to render honor and obedience to their parents/ Magellan preached about their
faith further and people were reportedly convinced. Pigafetta wrote that their men were
overjoyed seeing that the people wished to become Christian through their free will and
not because they were forced or intimidated.
On the 14 th of April, the people gathered with the king and other principal men of
the island. Magellan spoke to the king and encourage him to be a good Christian by
burning all of the idols and worship the cross instead. The king of Cebu was baptized as a
Christian.
After eight days, Pigafetta counted that all of the islands inhabitant were already
baptized. He admitted that they burned all village down for obeying the 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 and image of the infant Jesus made by Pigafetta
himself. The king of Cebu swore that he would always be faithful to Magellan. When
Magellan reiterated that all of the newly baptized Christians need to burn their idols, but
the natives gave excuses telling Magellan that they needed the idols to heal a sick man
who was a relative of a king. Magellan insisted that they should instead put their faith in
Jesus Christ. They went to the sick man and baptized him. After the baptismal, Pigafetta
recorded that the man was able to speak again. He called this a miracle.
On the 26 th 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 chief, according to Zula, refuse to obey the
king and was also preventing him from doing so. Magellan offered 3 boats instead and
expressed his desire to go to Mactan himself to fight the said chief. Magellan’s forces
arrive in Mactan in day light. They numbered 49 in total and the islanders of Mactan were
estimated to number 1,500. The battle began.
Magellan died in the 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 native and tried to
intimidate them by burning an entire village but his 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 face. Magellan retaliated and pierced the
same native with his 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.. One native with a great sword delivered a blow in
Magellan’s left leg, brought him face down and the natives ceaselessly attacked Magellan
with lances, swords, and even with their bare hands.
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 memento of their victory.
Magellan’s men elected Duarte Barbosa as the new captain. Pigafetta also told
how Magellan’s slave and interpreter named Henry betrayed them and told the king of
Cebu that they intended to leave as quickly as possible. Pigafetta alleged that the slave
told the king that if he followed the slave’s advice, then the king could acuire the ships
and the goods of Magellan’s fleet. The two conspired and betrayed what was left of
Magellan’s men. The king invited these men to a gathering where he said he would
present the jewels that he would send for the king of Spain. Pigafetta was not able to join
the twenty-four men who attended because he was nursing his battle wounds. It was only
a short time when they heard cries and lamentations. The natives had slain all of the men
except the interpreter and Juan Serrano who was already wounded. Serrano was presented
and shouted at the men in the ship asking them to pay ransom so he would be speared.
However, they refused and would not allow anyone to go to the shore. The fleet departed
and abandoned Serrano. They left Cebu and continued their journey around the world.
Seeking riches and personal glory, Magellan’s daring and ambitious voyage
around the world provided the Europeans with far more than just spices. Although the trip
westward from Europe to the east via the Strait of Magellan had been discovered and
mapped, the journey was too long and dangerous to become a practical route to the Spice
Islands. Nevertheless, European geographic knowledge was expanded immeasurably by
Magellan’s expedition. He found not only a massive ocean, hitherto unknown to
Europeans, but he also discovered that the earth was much larger than previously thought.
Finally, although it was no longer believed that the earth was flat at this stage in history,
Magellan’s circumnavigation of the globe empirically discredited the medieval theory
conclusively.
Though Magellan is often credited with the first circumnavigation on the globe, he
did so on a technicality: He first made a trip from Europe to the Spice Islands, eastward
via the Indian Ocean, and then later made his famous westward voyage that brought him
to the Philippines. So he did cover the entire terrain, but it was not a strict point A to
point A, round-the-world trip, and it was made in two different directions. His slave,
Enrique, however, was born in either Cebu or Mallaca and came to Europe with Magellan
by ship. Ten years later, he then returned to both Cebu (with Magellan) and Mallaca
(after Magellan died) by ship on the armada’s westward route. So Enrique was the first
person to circumnavigate the world in one direction, from point A to point A.
Readings in Philippine history
John Candelaria - Rex Book Store, Inc. – 2018
Readings in Philippine History
Jake J. Ramirez-Wilfredo A. Villanueva-Enrique Dela Cruz,
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