Voyage of Magellan Essay

Ferdinand Magellan is known for being the first person to circumnavigate the world. He
is known because of Pigafetta’s "Report on the First Voyage Around the World" travelogue.
Antonio Pigafetta was an Italian scholar and explorer. The travelogue started when Magellan and
Pigafetta traveled together with a mission to reach Spice Island.

On their journey, Pigafetta started to write in his diary about what happened and what he
discovered during those days. After months of travel, they arrive on one of the Philippines'
islands, Zamal (Samar). They decide to land on another island to rest. After days of being there,
they were welcomed by the people, and Pigafetta described them as familiar and friendly people.
After days of resting, they decided to continue traveling and did so when they reached the island
of Cebu. As soon as they landed on that island, they met the king, Rajah Humabon. Magellan
introduced Christianity to Cebu, and the king was baptized to be a Christian, and so were the
people. When Christianity started, though, there was one person who refused to be baptized. His
name was Sila Lapu-Lapu. Magellan decided to fight with Lapu-Lapu, and Magellan and
company were confident that he told the king to stay out of it and they would win the battle, but
when they arrived, there were thousands of people waiting for them. But still, they continued the
war, and in the end, Magellan was killed along with some of their company. That was all
witnessed by Pigafetta. After the fight, they decided to continue the journey even though there
were only 14 of them. After days of traveling, they finally reached Spice Island and safely
returned to Spanish, and Pigafetta returned to his hometown in Italy. His travelogue greatly
contributed to the written history of the first colonization in the Philippines and how Christianity
began there.

Before I studied Pigafetta's travelogue, I had a lot of misconceptions about Magellan's

circumnavigation. I thought then that Magellan’s intention in landing in the Philippines was
because of Lapu-lapu, but now that I've read the story, I know that Magellan’s real intention was
to reach a spice island. And I think that is why Pigafetta’s travelogue is really important to read,
especially for Filipinos, because Pigafetta has the merit of having recorded in his chronicles a
major event in the history of the Philippines, the first encounter between Filipinos and
Europeans. His work "Report on the First Voyage Around the World" includes the earliest
documents available on the language and culture of the islands of Samar and Cebu. Pigafetta's
book also describes how the Cebuanos fight for their right to their land. And how the religion of
Christianity was known in the Philippines before any other country colonized it.