lesson 3

• Ferdinand Magellan


  February 3 1480 to April 25 1521
• Ferdinand Magellan

  Portuguese explorer who organized the Spanish expeditions to the East Indies from 1519-1522
• To search for western route to the Maluku Islands (the Spice Islands)
• Resulting in the first circumnavigation of the earth, completed by Juan Sebastian Elcano
• Antonio Pigafetta


  • Italian scholar and explorer from the Republic of Venice
  • Studied astronomy, geography and cartography
  • Traveled with Magellan and his crew by order of King Charles I of Spain on their voyage around the world
• His travelogue is one of the most important primary sources in the study of precolonial Philippines
• His account was also a major referent to the events leading to Magellan's arrival in the Philippines, his encounter with local leaders, his death in the hands of Lapulapu's forces in the Battle of Mactan, and the departure of what was left of Magellan's fleet from the islands
• The First Voyage Around the World

  The document reveals several insights not just in the character of the Philippines during pre-colonial period, but also on how the fresh eyes of the European regard a deeply unfamiliar terrain, environment, people and culture
• Published after Pigafetta returned to Italy
• Pigafetta wrote his firsthand observation and general impression of the Far East including their experiences in the Visayas
• The Journey


  1. King Charles of Spain granted the approval of Ferdinand Magellan's proposal of a great sea expedition

  2. The fleet of five (5) galleon ships were prepared for the voyage to look for the Spice Islands

  3. Magellan started sailing on September 20, 1519 with 270 crew members

  4. They sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, reached South America, and arrived at the port of St. Julian

  5. Due to disagreements, only the ships Trinidad and Victoria remained loyal to Magellan

  6. They passed through the Strait of Magellan and reached the Pacific Ocean in November 1520

  7. They reached Guam, which Magellan named the "Island of Thieves"

  8. They reached Samar, where they were welcomed by the natives

  9. They reached Mazzava/Mazaua, where they met the local king (Raia Siagu)

  10. They reached Cebu, where they met the king of Cebu (Rajah Humabon)
• Magellan boasted his men in armor who could not be struck with swords and daggers, and the king was fascinated and remarked that men in such armor could be worth one hundred of his men
• Magellan showed the king his charts and maps and how they found the islands
• Magellan was introduced to the king's brother who was also king of another island, and they saw mines of gold on this island
• Raia Calumba


  King of Zuluan and Calagan (Butuan and Caragua), described as the most handsome of all men that Pigafetta saw in this place
• March 31, 1521 (Easter Sunday)


  1. Magellan ordered the chaplain to preside a mass by the shore

  2. The king sent two dead pigs and attended the mass with the other king

  3. After the mass, Magellan ordered that the cross be brought with nails and crowned in place

  4. Magellan explained the significance of the cross, the nail, and the crown
• April 7, 1521 - Magellan and his men reached the port of Cebu, the largest and the richest of the islands with the help of Raia Calambu
• The king of Cebu (Rajah Humabon) demanded that they pay tribute, but Magellan refused
• Magellan's interpreter explained to the king of Cebu that Magellan's king was the emperor of the great empire and that it would do them better to make friends with them than to forge enmity
• The king consulted his council and then agreed to become friends with Magellan
• Magellan: '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 and the cross would be beneficial for their people because once the Spaniards saw this cross, then they would know that they had been in this land and would not cause them troubles, and any person who might be held captives by them would be released'
• Magellan and his men reached the port of Cebu, the largest and the richest of the islands with the helped of Raia Calambu


  April 7, 1521
• The king of Cebu (Rajah Humabon) demanded that they pay tribute


  Magellan refused
• Magellan: 'He was the captain himself and thus would not pay tribute to the other king'
• Magellan's interpreter explained to the king of Cebu


  Magellan's king was the emperor of the great empire and that it would do them better to make friends with them than to forge enmity
• The king consulted his council and the next day, together with the other principal men of Cebu, they met in an open space and the king offered a bit of his blood demanded that Magellan do the same
• Magellan 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
• Parents were no longer taken into account and has to follow the orders of their children as the new leaders of the land
• People wished to become Christians through their free will and not because they were forced or intimidated
• Magellan spoke and encouraged the king to be a good Christian by burning all the idols and worship the cross instead

  April 14, 1521
• The king of Cebu was baptized as Christians
• Magellan named the king Don Charles (Carlos), as the emperor his sovereign was named, and the prince Don Fernand (Fernando), after the brother of the emperor
• After eight days, all of the islands inhabitant were already baptized
• Pigafetta admitted that they burned a village down for obeying neither the king nor Magellan
• Mass was conducted by the shore everyday
• Magellan gave the queen (Hara Amihan) an image of the infant Jesus made by Pigafetta himself
• Zula, a principal man from the island of Matan (Mactan) went to see Magellan and ask him a boat full of men so that he could fight the chief named Silalapulapu (Lapulapu)

  April 26, 1521
• According to Zula, Lapulapu refused to obey the king and was also preventing him from doing so
• Pigafetta: 'When we reached land we found the islanders fifteen hundred in number, drawn up in three squadrons; they came down upon us with terrible shouts, two squadrons attacking us on the flanks, and the third in front. the captain then divided his men in two bands. our musketeers and crossbow-men fired for half an hour from a distance, but did nothing, since the bullets and arrows, though they passed through their shields made of thin wood, and perhaps wounded their arms, yet did not stop them.'
• They arrived in Mactan in daylight with 49 in numbers while the islanders of Mactan were estimated to number 1500