READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

Name of Reporter: Ma. Rhena S. Magdasoc

Course and Block: BSCE-1A
Professor: Mr. Ramon Belgica
Date: August 27, 2019

ANALYSIS OF PIGAFETTA’S CHRONICLE

The chronicle of Pigafetta

- one of the most cited documents by historians who wished to study the precolonial
Philippines.
- one of the earliest written accounts, Pigafetta was seen as a credible source for a
period, which was prior unchronicled and undocumented.
- being the earliest detailed documentation, it was believed that Pigafetta’s writings
account for the “purest” precolonial society.

Contexts That Should Be Used and Understood in Order To Have a More Qualified
Reading of Pigafetta’s Account
✓ should recognize certain biases accompanying the author and his identity,
loyalties, and the circumstances that he was in; and how it affected the text that he
produced
o he was a chronicler commissioned by the King of Spain to accompany and
document a voyage intended to expand the Spanish empire.
o he was also noble descent who came from a rich family in Italy.
o being a scholar of cartography and geography, he was able to give details
on geography and climate of the places that their voyage had reached.
✓ has to keep in mind that he was coming from a sixteenth century European
perspective
o he, whether implicitly or explicitly, regarded the indigenous belief systems
and way of life as inferior to that of Christianity and of Europeans.
o he would always remark on the nakedness of the natives or how he was
fascinated by their exotic culture.
o he also noticeably emphasized the natives’ amazement and illiteracy to the
European artillery, merchandise, and other goods, in the same way that he
repeatedly mentioned the abundance of spices like ginger and of precious
metals like gold.
o his observations and assessments of the indigenous attires of the natives,
he saw them as being naked because from the European standpoint, they
were wearing fewer clothes indeed.
✓ should be understood that such observations were rooted from the context of
Pigafetta and of his era
➢ Europe, for example, was dominated by the Holy Roman Empire, whose loyalty
and purpose was the domination of the Catholic Church all over the world,
therefore, other belief systems different from that of Christianity were perceived
to be blasphemous and barbaric, even demonic.
➢ the sixteenth century European economy was mercantilist – a system in which
a country attempts to amass wealth through trade with other countries
o he would always mention the abundance of gold in islands as shown in the
description of leaders wearing gold rings and golden daggers, and of the
rich gold mine.
o the obsession with spices might be odd for Filipinos because of its
ordinariness in the Philippines, but understanding the context would reveal
that spices were scarce in Europe and hence were seen as prestige goods.
o in that era, Spain and Portugal coveted the control of Spice Islands because
it would have led to a certain increase in wealth, influence, and power.