Antonio Pigafetta Biography and Background

This wonderful article takes you through Antonio Pigafetta Biography and Background, to learn about your favorite Italian Explorer, read this post till the end and smash the share button.

Before we dive deep into Antonio’s Biography, below is a table that holds quick facts about the Italian Scholar and Explorer.

Now that we’ve learned quick facts about Antonio and what he is famous for, let’s proceed to discuss his biography.

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Antonio Pigafetta Biography

Antonio Pigafetta was born in the year 1942 in Vicenza, Italy. His exact birth year is not known but it is speculated mostly that Pigafetta was born in 1942.

Background

He was born into a rich family in Vicenza, Northeast Italy. He studied Cartography, Geography, and Astronomy while he was younger.

Later on, he went on to serve aboard the ships of the “Knights of Rhodes” at the start of the 16th century.

Also, until 1519, he always went to Spain with Monsignor Francesco Chieregati, the papal nuncio at the time.

Antonio also traveled with Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer, and his crew on their voyage to the Indies. He traveled with Ferdinand by order of King Charles I of Spain.

Antonio Pigafetta Biography would be incomplete without discussing his Voyage around the world. We will discuss his voyage around the world in the section.

His Voyage around the World

Antonio Pigafetta was in Seville when he was first learned about Magellan’s proposed expedition and decided to be part of the expedition.

He accepted the title of Supernumerary which literarily translates to “that exceeds the number”.

Also, he was paid a salary of 1000 maravedis, and Iberian coins of gold between the 11th and 14th centuries.

Because he studied Geography, Pigafetta easily gathered extensive data regarding the flora, fauna, and climate of the places that the expedition visited.

However, his inclusion of linguistic and nautical data rendered the notes he kept useless to cartographers and explorers.

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To wrap up Antonio Pigafetta Biography and Background, we will discuss his return in the next section.

Antonio Pigafetta’s Return

In April 1521, Magellan was killed in the Battle of Mactan. Pigafetta himself sustained Injuries but he recovered over time.

Later, Pigafetta alongside 17 others accompanied Juan Sebastián Elcano on the return voyage to Spain. Juan was a Castilian navigator of Basque origin.

Three years after he left, Pigafetta returned to the Republic of Venice.

He shared his experience via his “Report on the First Voyage Around the World” (Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo).

The report was put together in Italian and parts of it were published in Paris in the year 1525.

However, Antonio’s original document was not preserved and it wasn’t fully published until the 18th century.

Antonio’s writings didn’t help Europeans to learn about Circumnavigation around the globe. Europeans learned it in Maximilianus Transylvanus’ account that was published in 1523.

Maximilianus was instructed to interview some of the survivors of the voyage when Magellan’s surviving ship Victoria returned to Spain in September 1522.

After the voyage, Antonio put his made connections into good use and achieved membership in the order.

Summary of Antonio Pigafetta Biography and Background

Antonio Pigafetta was born in Italy, his exact birth year is not known but speculated mostly to be 1491. He died in 1531 at the age of 39. Pigafetta was famous for Documenting the Magellan Expedition.

His Original Documentation wasn’t preserved and didn’t help cartographers and explorers because of the inclusion of nautical and linguistic data.

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