Antonio Pigafetta
From Freepedia
Image:Pigafetta.jpg Antonio Pigafetta (ca. 1491 - ca. 1534), was an Italian navigator born in Vicenza. He paid a large sum of money to accompany and assist the Portuguese captain Ferdinand Magellan and his Spanish crew on their trip around the world. He kept an accurate journal of the trip, which later assisted him in translating the foreign Philippine language. It is the first-ever document concerning this language.
Of some 260 men who set out with Magellan in 1519, Pigafetta was one of only 18 who returned to Spain in 1522, having completed the circumnavigation.
His journal is the source for most of what we know about Magellan's voyage.
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Youth
Pigafetta belonged to a rich family of Vicenza. In his youth he studied astronomy, geography and cartography. He served on board the galleys of the Knights of Rhodes at the beginning of 16th century. Until 1519, he accompanied the papal nuncio, Monsignor Chieregati, to Spain.
Voyage
In Seville, he heard of the trip of Magellan, and negotiated to be admitted as a paying passenger. In spite of initial difficulties with Magellan, he managed to gain his confidence and served as his lenguaraz (translator) and cartographer.
During the trip, Pigafetta collected numerous data about geography, the climate, the flora, the fauna, and the inhabitants of the places that the expedition visited; his meticulous notes were to serve as invaluable documents to future explorers and cartographers, mainly due to his inclusion of nautical and linguistic data.
Return
In the battle in which Magellan was killed in Mactan, Philippines, Pigafetta was wounded. Nevertheless, he managed to recover and was among the 17 on board the Victoria, who accompanied Juan Sebastián Elcano on the return voyage to Spain.
After reaching port in Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Province of Cadiz) in September of 1522, three years after his departure, Pigafetta returned to Italy after the trip. He related his experiences in Relazione del Primo Viaggio Intorno Al Mondo (Relations of the First Voyage Around the World), composed in Italian. It was published in Venice in 1536. The original document, regrettably, is not preserved.
He died in his native city in 1534.
External reference
Categories: Italian people stubs | 1490s births | 1530s deaths | Italian explorers | Explorers of the Pacific | Natives of Vicenza
