安东尼奥·皮加费塔

安东尼奥·皮加费塔（意大利语：Antonio Pigafetta；1491年—1534年），文艺复兴时期欧洲探险家。为意大利罗德会的骑士，是麦哲伦探险船队中，不以追求金银财宝，而志在记录航程的探险家，也是环球航行幸存下来的18人之一。他将这次航行的航程纪录与海图手稿，献给所属的意大利罗德会，原稿已遗失，只留下4份手抄本，其中法语版本是幸存中最完整与精美的，1526年在巴黎出版《首次环球航海日志》，为麦哲伦的环球航行留下唯一的航海图资料。

Antonio Pigafetta (Italian: [anˈtɔːnjo piɡaˈfetta]; c. 1492 – c. 1534) was a Venetian scholar and explorer. In 1519, he joined the Spanish expedition to the Spice Islands led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, the world's first documented circumnavigation, and is best known for being the chronicler of the voyage. During the expedition, he served as Magellan's assistant until Magellan's death in the Philippine Islands, and kept an accurate journal, which later assisted him in translating the Cebuano language. It is the first recorded document concerning the language.

Pigafetta was one of the 18 men who made the complete trip, returning to Spain in 1522, under the command of Juan Sebastián Elcano, out of the approximately 240 who set out three years earlier. These men completed the first circumnavigation of the world while others mutinied and returned in the first year. Pigafetta's surviving journal is the source for much of what is known about Magellan and Elcano's voyage.

Early life

Pigafetta was born to a prominent noble family in the city of Vicenza in northeast Italy. Recent archival research indicates that his father was Giovanni Pigafetta and his mother was a noblewoman named Lucia, daughter of Marco Muzan. The couple was married in March 1492, implying that Antonio was born sometime after that date. Details of his education are unknown but he later boasted of having "read many books".

There is a tradition that as a youth Pigafetta sailed the Mediterranean with the Knights of Rhodes but there is no record of such activity, only the observation that he later became a member of the order. At some point he entered into the service of papal ambassador Francesco Chiericati, an apostolic protonotary and a close associate of Pope Leo X. Like Pigafetta, Chiericati was also from Vicenza. In 1518, Leo X sent Chiericati to the royal court in Spain to serve as ambassador. Pigafetta accompanied the ambassador's retinue, first to Zaragoza for two months and then to Barcelona.

Voyage around the world

While in Spain, Pigafetta heard of Magellan's planned expedition to find a western route to the Spice Islands. The adventure appealed to him and he convinced Chiericati that his participation on this historic voyage would be advantageous for the Vatican. With the approval of the papal ambassador and King Charles, Pigafetta was provided with letters of introduction before he set out for Seville in May 1519. Magellan accepted his application to join the expedition and hired him for a modest monthly salary of 1,000 maravedís. He was enrolled under the name Antonio Lombardo and his position was described as one of the "servants of the captain and supernumeraries".

When the expedition set sail in August 1519, Pigafetta was assigned to the flagship Trinidad where he served Magellan and became his great admirer. Pigafetta did not appear to have any specific role except to keep a daily record of his observations, a task that he undertook with great diligence. He recorded extensive information concerning the geography, climate, and natural history of the places visited by the expedition. He was especially interested in the native inhabitants encountered along the way and took meticulous notes on their appearance, social customs and languages. In contrast to the accuracy of his personal observations, he had a tendency to accept even the most outrageous tales told to him about the lands they visited.

Pigafetta was wounded on Mactan in the Philippines, where Magellan was killed in the Battle of Mactan in April 1521. Nevertheless, he recovered and was among the 18 who accompanied Juan Sebastián Elcano on board the Victoria on the return voyage to Spain.