
Male and female chickens of such a breed are referred to as game fowl. The combatants, referred to as gamecocks (not to be confused with game birds), are specially bred and conditioned for increased stamina and strength. But it was during Magellan's voyage of discovery of the Philippines in 1521 when modern cockfighting was first witnessed and documented for Westerners by the Italian Antonio Pigafetta, Magellan's chronicler, in the Kingdom of Taytay. The first documented use of the word gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a " game", a sport, pastime or entertainment, was recorded in 1634, after the term "cock of the game" used by George Wilson-Pidgeon, in the earliest known book on the sport of cockfighting in The Commendation of Cocks and Cock Fighting in 1607. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The wantilan, a Balinese cockfighting pavilion, and important temple ritualĪ cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit.
