Life

In 1541, at the age of twenty-two, Girolamo Benzoni set out from his birthplace, Milan (Italy), to seek adventure and fortune in the New World. He was to spend fifteen years in the territories conquered and being exploited by the Spaniards, travelling widely through the West Indies, Central America and South America, and visiting: the Caribbean (Greater and Lesser Antilles

Antilles

The Antilles islands form the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. The Antilles are divided into two major groups: the "Greater Antilles" to the north and west, including the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico; and the smaller "Lesser Antilles" on the...

), Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

, Nicaragua, Mexico, Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

, Peru, and Venezuela. After losing much of the 'few thousand ducats' he had accumulated in a shipwreck on his way home, he finally arrived back in the port town of San Lucar de Barrameda (Spain) on 13 September 1556, with nothing more than his wealth of experiences. Subsequently he returned to Italy, but nothing is known of his life after his return to Europe.

Exactly what he was doing in the New World is not clear: he attached himself to various military expeditions though he was not by nature a fighting man; he reveals a good knowledge of political intrigue but does not apparently become involved in politics; he is informed about economics but does not discuss the commodities he traded in. In any case, one thing that we can gather from his book is that any involvement in commerce was done with much difficulty, since he was an Italian in a Spanish arena, and trading by foreigners in the Spanish colonies was not looked upon with favor by the Spaniards.

Works

Benzoni, while not unsuccessful in what he undertook, conceived an inveterate hatred of the Spanish people and Government and in return for the protection given him and for favors which he was compelled reluctantly to acknowledge, wrote and published a book of diatribes and accusations against Spain in America. It contains interesting details about the countries he visited, but abounds in errors and often in intentional misstatements. What Benzoni states about the Antilles is a clumsy rehash of Las Casas. His reports on the conquest of Mexico and conquest of Peru bristle with errors.

The book of Benzoni Historia del Mondo Nuovo was published at Venice in 1565. He dedicated it to Pope Pius IV

Pope Pius IV

Pope Pius IV , born Giovanni Angelo Medici, was Pope from 1559 to 1565. He is notable for presiding over the culmination of the Council of Trent.-Biography:...

. It was at the time when the controversy concerning the treatment of the Native Americans

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 was hottest, and a work, written by one who had just returned from the New World after a stay of fifteen years could not fail to attract attention. In writing it, no standard of criticism was applied; this was not in the spirit of the times.

The ultra-philanthropists found Benzoni a welcome auxiliary, and foreign nations, all more or less leagued against Spain for the sake of supplanting its mastery of the Indies, adopted his extreme statements and sweeping accusations. Several editions were published in rapid succession; translations were made into English as well as into several other languages.

Intrinsically, the book has small merit, except in as far as it presents and describes facts witnessed by the author. Even these are not always faithfully reported. It might be called a controversial document because of its violent partiality and hostility. It does not notice mitigating circumstances, and ignores what is good when it does not suit the author.

Benzoni writes sometimes like a disappointed trader, and always as a man of limited education and very narrow views. The Historia was reprinted in 1572, and translated into French by Eustace Vignon, 1579. Aside from the annotations which are often trivial and as partial as the book itself, the English translation, History of the New World by Girolamo Benzoni (London, 1857), by the Hakluyt Society, is certainly the best.

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia article