Week 4

• The historian’s primary tool of understanding and interpreting the past is the historical sources
• Historical sources

  ascertain historical facts. Such facts are then analyzed and interpreted by the historian to weave the historical narrative
• Writers and historians

  study certain historical subjects and events need to use various primary sources to weave the narrative.
• Primary sources

  documents, memoirs, accounts, and other materials produced at the period of the event or subject being studied.
• Antonio Pigafetta

  Italian nobleman who accompanied Ferdinand Magellan in his fateful circumnavigation of the world.
• Antonio Pigafetta


  tasks to document the travel/expedition
• Pigafetta’s travelogue

  one of the most important primary sources in the study of the pre-colonial philippines.
• Pigafetta’s travelogue

  His account was also a significant contribution to the events leading to the arrival of Magellan in the Philippines, his encounter with local leaders, and his death in the hands of Lapulapu’s forces in the battle of Mactan
• Pigafetta's account was also written from the perspective of Pigafetta himself, it was a product of the context of its production.
• After Pigafetta returned to Italy, The First Voyage Around the World by Magellan was published.
• Magellan’s expedition had a multinational crew.
• Treaty of Tordesillas

  a decree from Pope Alexander VI that had essentially divided the world in half between the Spanish and the Portuguese.
• 1494’s Treaty of Tordesillas

  This agreement placed the more practical eastern route to the Spice Islands under Portuguese control, forcing the Spanish to find a new passage by sailing west around South America.
• Magellan originally launched his expedition as a means of finding a western route to the Moluccas, a small archipelago in Indonesia known for its stores of precious spices like cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. 
• Magellan was considered a traitor to his home country of Portugal.
• Many of Magellan’s crew mutinied or deserted the expedition.
• in April 1520 three of his five ships turned against Magellan. 
• Magellan gave the Pacific Ocean its name “Mar Pacifico,” which means “peaceful sea” in Portuguese.

   
• Enrique slave of Magellan, reportedly spoke a Malay dialect and acted as the expedition’s interpreter during their time in the Philippines.
• Magellan only deserves partial credit for the circumnavigation.
• Credit for the successful circumnavigation of the globe should also go to the Basque mariner Juan Sebastian Elcano, who commanded the return voyage of Victoria—the only surviving vessel—from late 1521 until its arrival in Spain in September 1522.
• When the lone vessel Victoria returned to Spain in September 1522, only 18 men remained out of the expedition’s original crew of about 260.
•  in April 1521 in the Philippines, where Magellan baptized King Humabon of Cebu along with thousands of his subjects.
• Magellan’s religious fervor was so strong that he threatened to kill those chieftains that resisted converting to Christianity, and this harsh decree ultimately proved to be his downfall. 
• When a king named Lapu-Lapu refused to convert, Magellan’s men burned his village on the island of Mactan.
• Magellan later returned to Mactan with 49 men and demanded that Lapu-Lapu yield to his authority. The king refused, and in the ensuing battle Magellan was killed after he was struck by a spear and then repeatedly stabbed by the islanders’ cutlasses and scimitars. 
• Ladrones Islands or the Islands of the thieves.
• Ladrones island presently known as the Marianas Islands


  Located south-southeast of Japan, west-southwest of Hawaii, north of New Guinea, and east of the Philippines.
• isle of Zamal, now Samar


  reported that they reached this isle but Magellan decided to land on another uninhabited island for greater security
• March 18

  after resting for a few days, 9 men came to them showed joy and eagerness in seeing them. Magellan realized that the men were hospitable and welcomed them food, drinks, and gift. In return, the natives gave them fish, palm wine, figs, and two couches.
• March 18

  • With so much amazement and fascination, Pigafetta detailed the palm tree, that bore fruits named cocho and wine. He also described the tree as coconut
• Humunu Island (Homonhon) and referred to this island as the “Watering Place of Good Signs”.
• Humunu Island

  dicovered the first signs of gold on the island. Before leaving, Pigafetta named the island “Archipelago of St. Lazarus”
• March 25th


  Pigafetta recounted that they say two balanghai (balangay), a longboat full of people in Mazzawa/Mazaua. Magellan declined when he was offered a bar of gold and a chest of ginger by the king of the balangay.
• Thru the interpreter, Magellan asked the king for money for his ships’ needs and explained that he came to the island as a friend and not as an enemy. (March 25)
• March 31st

  • happened to be Easter Sunday, Magellan ordered the chaplain to preside a Mass by the shore. When the mass was over, Magellan ordered that the cross be brought with nails and crown in place.
• Magellan ordered the cross be brought with nails and crown in place. The king agreed and allowed Magellan’s men to plant the cross. This mass is considered in the history as the First Mass in the Phhilippines, and the cross was naemd the Magellan’s Cross still preserved at the present day.
• After seven days, Magellan and his man decided to move and look for islands where they could acquire more supplies and provisions. They learned of Ceylon’s islands (Leyte), Bohol, and Zubu (Cebu) and intended to go there.
• April 7th same year, Magellan and his men reached the port of Cebu. The king of Cebu, thru Magellan’s interpreter, demanded that they pay tribute as it was customary, but Magellan refused.
• Pigafetta characterized the people as "very hospitable and amiable. The people willingly and proudly showed them the place which was composed of so many islands.