Portrait traditionally believed to represent Antonio Pigafetta (Marasca Collection, Biblioteca Bertoliana of Vicenza), based on a statue in the Civic Museum of Vicenza, originally coming from St. Vicenza, a city in northern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region at the northern base of the Monte Berico Michael church (where the Pigafettas had a family tomb). It really represents another Pigafetta, Gio. Alberto of Gerolamo (d. 1562, 29 years old). ^[1]

Antonio Pigafetta (c.  1491), was an Italian scholar born in Vicenza. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Scholarly method &mdash or as it is more commonly called scholarship &mdash is the body of principles and practices used by scholars to make their claims about the world as Vicenza, a city in northern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region at the northern base of the Monte Berico He was engaged to accompany and assist the Portuguese captain Ferdinand Magellan and his Spanish crew on their trip to the Maluku Islands. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão de Magalhães fɨɾˈnɐ̃ũ dɨ mɐgɐˈʎɐ̃ĩʃ Fernando de Magallanes (Spring 1480 &ndash April 27 1521 Mactan Island, Cebu The Maluku Islands (also known as the Moluccas, Moluccan Islands, the Spice Islands or simply Maluku) are an Archipelago During the voyage, he kept an accurate journal which later assisted him in translating one of the Philippine languages, Cebuano. In Philippines there are over 170 languages almost all of them belong to the Austronesian language family. "Cebuano" redirects here For the inhabitants of Cebu see Cebuano people Cebuano (Cebuano Sinugbuanon, "language It is the first recorded document concerning this language.

Out of approximately 240 men who set out with Magellan in 1519, Pigafetta was one of only 18 who returned to Spain in 1522, having completed the circumnavigation under the captainship of Juan Sebastián Elcano after Magellan's death. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Juan Sebastián del Cano, then Elcano ( Getaria, in the Basque province of Guipúzcoa, former Kingdom of Castile, Spain

His journal is the source for most of what we know about Magellan and Elcano's voyage.

Youth

Pigafetta belonged to a rich family of Vicenza. Vicenza, a city in northern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region at the northern base of the Monte Berico In his youth he studied astronomy, geography and cartography. Astronomy (from the Greek words astron (ἄστρον "star" and nomos (νόμος "law" is the scientific study Geography (from Greek γεωγραφία - geografia) is the study of the Earth and its lands features inhabitants and phenomena He served on board the galleys of the Knights of Rhodes at the beginning of the 16th century. The Knights Hospitaller (also known as the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St Until 1519, he accompanied the papal nuncio, Monsignor Chieregati, to Spain. Nuncio is an ecclesiastical Diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin word Nuntius, meaning "envoy Francesco Chieregati (1479 Vicenza &ndash 6 December, 1539, Bologna) was a Papal nuncio and bishop.

Voyage

In Seville, he heard of Magellan's planned expedition and elected to embark, accepting the title of sobrasaliente (supernumerary) and a modest salary of 1,000 maravedís. Seville ( Spanish: Sevilla, see also different names) is the artistic cultural and financial capital of southern Spain. Supernumerary is an additional member of an organization A supernumerary is also non-regular member of a staff a member of the staff or an employee who works in a public office who A salary is a form of periodic payment from an Employer to an Employee, which may be specified in an Employment contract. ^[2] During the trip, Pigafetta collected extensive data about the geography, climate, flora, fauna and the inhabitants of the places that the expedition visited. Geography (from Greek γεωγραφία - geografia) is the study of the Earth and its lands features inhabitants and phenomena Climate encompasses the temperatures humidity rainfall atmospheric particle count and numerous other meteorogical factors in a given region over long periods of In Botany, flora ( Plural: floras or florae has two meanings The first meaning flora of an area or of time period, refers to all Fauna is all of the Animal life of any particular region or time His meticulous notes were invaluable to future explorers and cartographers, mainly due to his inclusion of nautical and linguistic data, and to later-day historians because of its vivid, detailed style. See also History An historian is an individual who studies and writes about History, and is regarded as an Authority on it The only other sailor to maintain a journal during the voyage was Francisco Albo, last Victoria's pilot, who kept a formal logbook. Victoria (or Nao Victoria, as well as Vittoria) was the first ship to successfully circumnavigate the world A pilot is a Mariner who guides Ships through dangerous or congested waters such as Harbours or River mouths Legally the master remains A Logbook was originally a book for recording readings from the log, and is used to determine the distance a ship traveled within a certain amount of time

Return

Pigafetta was wounded on Mactan in the Philippines, where Magellan was killed. This page refers to the island in Cebu. For the battle that happened here see Battle of Mactan, For the airport of this island see Mactan-Cebu International Nevertheless, he recovered and was among the 18 who accompanied Juan Sebastián Elcano on board the Victoria, on the return voyage to Spain. Juan Sebastián del Cano, then Elcano ( Getaria, in the Basque province of Guipúzcoa, former Kingdom of Castile, Spain

Upon reaching port in Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Province of Cadiz) in September of 1522, three years after his departure, Pigafetta returned to Italy. Sanlúcar de Barrameda (or simply Sanlúcar) is a city in the northwest of Cádiz province, part of the autonomous community of Andalucía in Cádiz is a province of southern Spain, in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Andalusia, the southernmost part of continental He related his experiences in Relazione del Primo Viaggio Intorno Al Mondo (Report on the First Voyage Around the World), which was composed in Italian. Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Although parts were published in Paris in 1525, the manuscript was not published in its entirety until the late eighteenth century. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city The original document was not preserved.

It was not through Antonio Pigafetta's writings that Europeans learned of the first circumnavigation of the globe. Rather, it was through an account written by Maximilianus Transylvanus, which was published in 1523. Maximilianus Transylvanus (Transilvanus Transylvanianus, also Maximilianus of Transylvania and Maximilian (Maximiliaen von Sevenborgen Transylvanus had been instructed to interview the survivors of the voyage when Magellan’s surviving ship Victoria returned to Spain in September 1522.

After Magellan's voyage, Pigafetta utilized the connections he had made prior to the voyage with the Knights of Rhodes to himself achieve membership in the order.

Cinematic references

Filipino actor Bob Soler as Antonio Pigafetta is depicted in the movie Lapu Lapu (2002) as a member of Magellan's expedition in Cebu. Lapu-Lapu is also the name of the Grouper fish in the Philippines Cebu is one of the Provinces of the Philippines. It lies to the east of Negros Island; to the west of Leyte and to the southeast is Bohol

Notes

References

• (Italian) Pigafetta, Antonio. Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo, Zip Text/e-Book http://www.e-text.it/ and Liberliber.it, retrieved on: 13 June 2007
• Zaide, Gregorio F. Documentary Sources of Philippine History (Document 15, First Voyage Around the World (1519-1522), Manila: National Bookstore, 1990, pp. 81-210 and Some of the Cebuano Words Recorded By Pigafetta In 1521 (through a native interpreter Enrique of Malacca) and Jessie Grace U. This article discusses the slave and interpreter of Ferdinand Magellan. Rubrico, Language Links, 1998. , retrieved on: 13 June 2007

See also

• Enrique of Malacca