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venient annis
saecula seris, quibus Oceanus
vincula rerum laxet et ingens
aptest tellus Tethysque novos
detegat orbes nee sit terris
ultima Thule.
Séneca, Medea, 11,374-79
Antonio Pigafetta's account of the first voyage around the world (1519-22) is of manifold significance. On the one hand, it is an allusive compendium of cartographic, historical, political, religious and economic components. On the other, it transcends its time and establishes itself as a primordial text that directly or indirectly has affected the interpretation of the New World by such varied authors as Peter Martyr, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Vico, De Pauw and others. Moreover, Pigafetta's relation of Magellan's voyage is equally germane to the understanding of apposite cultural and aesthetic concerns and practices evident among some distinguished contemporary Latin American writers, not the least of whom is Gabriel García Márquez. Thus envisaged, Pigafetta's text is not merely a document where one can examine the historical contact of early sixteenth-century Europe and a «wider world», but also one where the seeds of modern literary practices and conventions of Spanish America can be discerned.1
I
Understandably, much ink and erudition have been expended on the problem of the textual history of Pigafetta's Relation. The four extant manuscripts, three in French and one in the Venetian dialect of Italian, have been subjected to lengthy debates as to accuracy, dates and the question of the language in which Pigafetta first rendered his account.2 Nationalism appears to have inevitably entered in reference to this last issue.3 A similar reason seems to be the cause of the contention between those who bestow preeminence for the overall accomplishment of the expedition to either Magellan or El Cano. Symptomatic of the polemics and even provincialism that have surrounded Pigafetta's work was the publication by the editorial house Calpe oí Primer viaje en torno del globo (Madrid, 1922), in commemoration of the fourth centennial of the completion of the first circumnavigation. It is illustrative that the aforesaid text bears two prominent portraits of El Cano, while Magellan's is conspicuously absent. Furthermore, the reader is first party to a longer and more detailed biographical sketch of El Cano, then a succinct and perfunctory one of Magellan, and finally a few lines on the author of the book, Pigafetta.
Although the...