The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 33, 1519-1522

by Antonio Pigafetta

Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century

This volume of The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898, the great documentary series edited by Emma Blair and James Alexander Robertson, is given over to Antonio Pigafetta's account of the first voyage around the world. Pigafetta sailed with Magellan in 1519 and was one of the eighteen men who returned on the Victoria three years later. His narrative covers the mutiny in Patagonia, the discovery of the strait, the terrible crossing of the Pacific, the arrival in the Philippines, the first Mass and the alliances at Cebu, Magellan's death at Mactan in April 1521 and the long way home by the Moluccas and the Cape. Robertson's translation is printed with the Italian text and detailed notes. It is available to read online in your browser on Vinteuil, with the first chapter free.