Antonio Pigafetta

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Antonio Pigafetta (Italian: [anˈtɔːnjo piɡa

ˈfetta]; c. 1491 – c. 1531) was an Italian
scholar and explorer from the Republic of
Venice. 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.
During the expedition, he served as
Magellan's assistant and kept an
accurate journal which later assisted him
in translating the Cebuano language. It is
the first recorded document concerning
the language.
 Antonio Pigafetta

This portrait (from the Marasca Collection,

Biblioteca Bertoliana of Vicenza) is traditionally
believed to represent Antonio Pigafetta. The
ancient drawing was based on a statue in the
Civic Museum of Vicenza, originally coming
from St. Michael church (where the Pigafettas
had a family tomb). In reality, it represents
another member of the Pigafetta family, Gio.
Alberto of Gerolamo (died 1562, 29 years old).[1]

Born Around 1491

Vicenza, Republic of
Venice (now Italy)
Died Around 1531
(aged 39–40)

Residence  Republic of Venice

Nationality Italian

Other names Antonio Lombardo

Pigafetta was one of the 18 men who

returned to Spain in 1522, out of the
approximately 240 who set out three
years earlier. The voyage completed the
first circumnavigation of the world; Juan
Sebastián Elcano had served as captain
after Magellan's death during the voyage
in 1521 in the Philippines. Pigafetta's
surviving journal is the source for much
of what is known about Magellan and
Elcano's voyage.
At least one warship of the Italian Navy, a
destroyer of the Navigatori class, was
named after him in 1931.

Youth
Pigafetta belonged to a rich family city of
Vicenza in northeast Italy. In his youth he
studied astronomy, geography and
cartography. He then served on board the
ships of the Knighters of Rhodes at the
beginning of the 16th century. Until 1519,
he accompanied the papal nuncio,
Monsignor Francesco Chieregati, to
Spain.

Voyage around the world

 

Map of Borneo by Pigafetta.

Nao Victoria, Magellan's boat Replica in Punta

Arenas

In Seville, Pigafetta heard of Magellan's

planned expedition and decided to join,
accepting the title of supernumerary
(sobresaliente), and a modest salary of
1,000 maravedís.[2] During the voyage,
which started in August 1519, Pigafetta
collected extensive data concerning the
geography, climate, flora, fauna and the
native inhabitants of the places that the
expedition visited. His meticulous notes
proved invaluable to future explorers and
cartographers, mainly due to his
inclusion of nautical and linguistic data,
and also to latter-day historians because
of its vivid, detailed style. The only other
sailor to maintain a journal during the
voyage was Francisco Albo, Victoria's
last pilot, who kept a formal logbook.
Return

Casa Pigafetta, his palace in Vicenza.

Pigafetta was wounded on Mactan in the

Philippines, where Magellan was killed in
the Battle of Mactan in April 1521 by the
local ruler Lapu-Lapu. Nevertheless, he
recovered and was among the 18 who
accompanied Juan Sebastián Elcano on
board the Victoria on the return voyage to
Spain.
Upon reaching port in Sanlúcar de
Barrameda in the modern Province of
Cadiz in September 1522, three years
after his departure, Pigafetta returned to
the Republic of Venice. He related his
experiences in the "Report on the First
Voyage Around the World" (Italian:
Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al
mondo), which was composed in Italian
and was distributed to European
monarchs in handwritten form before it
was eventually published by Italian
historian Giovanni Battista Ramusio in
1550–59. The account centers on the
events in the Mariana Islands and the
Philippines, although it included several
maps of other areas as well, including
the first known use of the word "Pacific
Ocean" (Oceano Pacifico) on a map.[2]
The original document was not
preserved.

However, it was not through Pigafetta's

writings that Europeans first learned of
the circumnavigation of the globe.
Rather, it was through an account written
by a Flanders-based writer Maximilianus
Transylvanus, which was published in
1523. Transylvanus had been instructed
to interview some of the survivors of the
voyage when Magellan's surviving ship
Victoria returned to Spain in September
1522 under the command of Juan
Sebastian Elcano. After Magellan and
Elcano's voyage, Pigafetta utilized the
connections he had made prior to the
voyage with the Knights of Rhodes to
achieve membership in the order

References
1. Curiosità - Biblioteca Civica Bertoliana
(in Italian) Archived April 7, 2007, at the
Wayback Machine.
2. Quanchi, Max (2005). Historical
Dictionary of the Discovery and
Exploration of the Pacific Islands. The
Scarecrow Press. p. 207.
ISBN 0810853957.

Sources
Lord Stanley of Alderley, The first
voyage round the world, by Magellan,
London: The Hakluyt Society (1874) -
includes Pigefetta's journal and his
treatise of navigation. (also available
on the Internet Archive)
Magellan's Voyage around the World by
Antonio Pigafetta – The original text of
the Ambrosian ms. translated by
James Alexander Robertson,
Cleveland : The Arthur H. Clark
Company (1906); Vol 1 , Vol. 2 , Vol. 3
Murphy, Patrick J.; Coye, Ray W.
(2013). Mutiny and Its Bounty:
Leadership Lessons from the Age of
Discovery . Yale University Press.
 ISBN 9780300170283. Archived from
the original on 2015-06-27.

External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related
to Antonio Pigafetta.

Wikisource has original text related to

this article:
it:Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al
mondo

Works by Antonio Pigafetta at Project

Gutenberg
Works by or about Antonio Pigafetta
at Internet Archive
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title=Antonio_Pigafetta&oldid=861833036"

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