The First Voyage Around

The World
By: Antonio Pigafetta
Who is Antonio Pigafetta ?
He was born from a rich family in Vicenza, Republic of Venice
in 1942

He was also an Italian sea fearer and geographer.

He traveled with the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan

and his crew by order of the King Charles I of Spain on their
voyage around the world between 1519-1522.

He also served as Magellan's assistant and kept an accurate

journal which later assisted him in translating the
Cebuano language.

Pigafetta was one of the 18 men who returned to Seville, Spain

in 1522, out of the approximately 270 crews who set out to
circumnavigate the world.

He was not part of the crew of Magellan, but rather he paid his
passage to join the travel of Magellan.
In the late 1400’s a great new age of European exploration
began, led by Portuguese, Italian and Spanish sailors
By 1518 the route to the so called Spice Island was dominated by Portugal, and Spain wanted a route
of its own. Then Ferdinand Magellan a navigator whom spent many years sailing the Indian ocean
offered a bold plan to his rival, King Charles I of Spain, because he believes that it’s possible to reach
the Spice Island through west, Then King Charles accepted Magellan’s proposal and helped him
assemble an expedition with 270 crews and 5 vessels known as Carracks.
Who is Ferdinand Magellan?
He was born in 1480 Sabrosa, Portugal, to a family of minor
Portuguese nobility.

He was a Portuguese explorer who organised the Spanish

expedition to the East Indies from 1519 to 1522, resulting in
the first circumnavigation of the Earth, completed by Juan
Sebastián Elcano.

He also studied mapmaking and navigation. By his mid-20s, he

was sailing in large fleets and was engaged in combat.

He was also considered as the first European to cross the

Pacific Ocean.

He died on April 27, 1521 during a battle on Mactan, Cebu

On August 10, 1519 Magellan bade farewell to his wife and young
son, neither of whom know if they would see each other 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.
In September 20, 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 crewmembers 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, until they’ve reach the future site of Rio de
Janeiro in modern Brazil.
On October 21, 1520 Magellan had finally entered
the strait that he had been seeking and that came to
bear his name. The voyage through the strait 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
Maro 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.
But the Pacific Ocean is far more bigger than what they’ve
expected, they ran out of supplies and was forced to eat
rats, worms and drink putrid water, 19 of the crews died
because of scurvy. After sailing for 99 days, in March 1521
the fleet reached the Pacific island of Guam in the Mariana
Island, where they finally replenished their food stores.

However during their stay in Guam one of the Islander

stole their boat the Trinidad, however Magellan was able to
return the boat, but instead of staying Magellan and his
remaining crews decided to leave the area.
Magellan’s fleet then sailed on to the Philippine archipelago landing on
the island of Homonhon in Cebu, Philippines where Magellan befriended
the locals and, struck with a sudden religious zeal, he sought to convert
them to Christianity. Rajah Humabon was one of the locals in Cebu who
befriended Magellan and embraced Christianity in exchange of killing
Lapu-Lapu

Magellan was now closer than ever towards reaching the Spice Islands,
but when the Cebu asked for his help in fighting their neighbors on the
island of Mactan and the Datu Lapu-Lapu, Magellan agreed. He assumed
he would command a swift victory with his superior European weapons,
and against the advice of his men, Magellan himself led the attack along
with his 60 crews. The people of Mactan fought fiercely, and many of the
crews died because they’re massively outnumbered, Magellan fell as he
was trying to get in the ship until he was shot with a poison arrow causing
his death. He died on April 27, 1521.
Who is Datu Lapu-Lapu ?
He was a ruler of Mactan in the Visayas.

The modern Philippine society regards him as the first

Filipino hero because he was the first native to resist
Imperial Spanish colonization.

He is best known for the Battle of Mactan that happened at

dawn on April 27, 1521, where he and his soldiers defeated
Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who was killed in
the battle.

He is the rival of Rajah Humabon of neighbouring

Indianized Cebu

The only existing documents about his life are those written
by Antonio Pigafetta.

He is also known as Cali Pulaco and Salip Pulaka.

Juan Sebestian de Elcano, the master of ship Concepcion
took over the command of the expedition after the death
of Magellan and since they are already lacking of crews
they have decided to burn the ship Concepcion and
captained the only remaining ship Victoria and Trinidad.

With very few survivors left, they fled away from Cebu
going to Muslim court of Brunei in Borneo, after two
years and with the help of the locals they’ve finally
reached the Spice Island or the Molucca Island which
today is part of Indonesia.
During their stay in the Spice Island They have decided to trade everything they have for cloves and fill their entire cargo with
it.

because during that time cloves was the most valuable spice in Europe, during Magellan's day. It was used to flavor food, but
Europeans also believed that its essence could improve vision, its powder could relieve fevers, and mixed with milk it could
enhance intercourse.
Clove - Eugenia aromatica:
Native to Moluccas or Spice Islands
But as they prepare for their voyage towards home, the
ship named Trinidad sprang a leak and must stay behind
for repair. The remaining crews tried to return to Spain
across the Pacific ocean but most of the crews became
sick and died, and the survivors have to return to the
Molucca Island, but on their way to the Spice Island they
were captured by the Portuguese.

With the last and smallest ship left named Victoria,

Magellan’s fleet sailed east for home which was
captained by Juan Sebastian Elcano, It took 9 weeks
before they can finally go around to the cape of good
hope.
In. the end, only the Ship named Victoria which is captained
by Juan Sebestian Elcano completed the voyage around the
world and arrived back in Seville, Spain in September 8, 1522
with a heavy cargo of spices but with only 18 men from the
original crew of 270 survived.

He and his men then earned the distinction of being the first
to circumnavigate the world in one full journey. After
Magellan's death in Cebu, it took 16 more months for Elcano
to return to Spain. The Magellan expedition started off
through the westward route and returning to Spain by going
east; Magellan and Elcano's entire voyage took almost three
.
After Elcano’s return spain had a celebration, King Charles I decided
that Spain should conquer the Philippines. Five subsequent expeditions
were then sent to the Islands. These were led by Garcia Jofre Loaisa
(1525), Sebastian Cabot (1526), Alvaro de Saavedra (1527), Rudy
Lopez de Villalobos (1542) and Miguel Lopez de Legazpi (1564). Only
the last two actually reached the Philippines; and only Legazpi
succeeded in colonizing the Islands.
Who is Juan Sebastian Elcano?
.
He was born in 1487 in Guetaria, a fishing village in
Gipuzkoa, Spain

He is best remembered for leading the second half of

the first round-the-world navigation, having taken
over after the death of Ferdinand Magellan.

He was the eldest of nine children of Domingo

Sebastian de Elcano and Dona Catalina del Puerto.

He was an adventurer, fighting with the Spanish Army

in Algiers and Italy before settling down as
captain/owner of a merchant ship.

He died in August 4, 1526 at sea (Pacific Ocean) due

malnutrition
Legazpi’s Expedition in the
.
Philippines
In 1564, Legazpi was commissioned by the Viceroy to lead a naval expedition
across the Pacific to establish a colony in the Philippines and discover the long-
sought return sea route from Asia to the America.  Legazpi’s expedition, which
included 500 soldiers and sailors, sailed from the port of Navidad, on the Pacific
coast of New Spain, on November 21, 1564.

Legazpi’s plans for the islands and the King’s decrees for their colonization were
never carried out in their lifetimes, as the Spanish colonists in the Philippines
focused their energies on exploiting the archipelago’s ample resources, co-opting
the Asian trading nexus at Manila and developing a trans-Pacific trade route.
In 1565, Legazpi directed Urdaneta to guide the expedition’s best-sailing galleon,
the San Pedro, in the search for a return route across the Pacific and obtain help
for the new colony from New Spain. Departing from Cebu on June 1, 1565, the
vessel reached Acapulco on 8 October 1565.
.The islands became an eagerly sought provisioning stop and more than 100
European ships visited the Marianas in this period.  Because most of the
Spanish ships also carried missionaries on their way to the Philippines, the
Chamorros became unwitting candidates for Christian conversion. 

Legazpi and Urdaneta’s expedition to the Philippines effectively created the

trans-Pacific Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade, in which silver mined from
Mexico and Potosi was transported across the Pacific and exchanged in
Manila for Chinese silk, porcelain, spices, and other Asian goods precious to
New Spain and Europe at the time.
The 20,000-mile roundtrip trade route was the first direct Asian-American
commerce, an important commercial link that is regarded by some historians
as the final continental connection in a global trading system. Urdaneta’s
mid-Pacific westward crossing and North Pacific return route were followed
for the next 250 years.
.
In 1571, Legazpi moved his base to Manila, where the colonists established their
capital in a walled-city (Intramuros) on Manila Bay.  However, Legazpi died of heart
failure a year later, on 20 August 1572. He was laid to rest in San Agustin Church,
Intramuros.  He had spent most of his personal fortune, including selling family land
in Mexico City, to fund Philip II’s Philippine enterprise and served as the first
governor of the Philippines until his death.

As Spain’s trans-Pacific galleon trade developed, Guam and Rota became a regular
stop for Acapulco ships carrying New World bullion and coin to finance the Manila
colony. British privateers and Dutch expeditions followed the Spanish wake to the
islands, hunting the silver argosies and seeking bases to gain a share of Asian trade.

As Spain’s trans-Pacific galleon trade developed, Guam and Rota became a regular
stop for Acapulco ships carrying New World bullion and coin to finance the Manila
colony. British privateers and Dutch expeditions followed the Spanish wake to the
islands, hunting the silver argosies and seeking bases to gain a share of Asian trade.
Who is Miguel Lopez De Lagazpi ?
He was born in 1510, Zumárraga, Spain

He was a Spanish explorer who established Spain’s dominion

over the Philippines that lasted until the
Spanish-American War of 1898.

He served as the first governor of the Philippines, from 1565

until his death.

He established the city of Manila, which became the capital

of the new Spanish colony and Spain’s major trading port in
East Asia.

He successfully colonized the Philippines.

He repulsed two attacks by the Portuguese, in 1568 and

1571, and easily overcame the poorly organized Filipinos’
resistance
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