Antonio Pigafetta

Timeline

1. 1518–1519Seville · AndalusiaOf Vicentine nobility, he accompanied the papal ambassador Francesco Chiericati to Zaragoza and Barcelona. Hearing of Magellan's preparations for a westward voyage to the Spice Islands, he obtained permission from the ambassador and Charles I, traveling to Seville in May 1519 with letters of recommendation, listed under the name 'Antonio Lombardo' among the captains' retinue and supernumeraries at a monthly wage of a thousand maravedís, boarding the flagship Trinidad.
2. 1519–1521Mactan Island · CebuHe crossed the Atlantic with the fleet, passed through the Strait of Magellan into the sea he later labeled 'Pacific' on his map, and recorded in detail the geography, products, and indigenous languages along the way. When Magellan landed to fight on Mactan on 27 April 1521, Pigafetta was also wounded, yet left the fullest eyewitness account of the battle, including the Mactan chief Silapulapu (commonly called Lapu-Lapu) refusing to submit.
3. 1521–1525Sanlúcar de Barrameda · AndalusiaAfter recovering he continued westward, one of about eighteen survivors who returned to Spain aboard the Victoria under Elcano in September 1522. He then presented an abridged version to Charles V and, at the request of the Marquis of Mantua and others, wrote the Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo in Italian (completed c. 1525). The original manuscript is lost; several French and Italian manuscripts survive, and the Ambrosian copy became widely known after editing by Amoretti and Damoso. He later joined the Knights of Rhodes, and little is known of his final years.