Niccolò Da Conti
Encyclopedia
Niccolò de' Conti was an Italian merchant and explorer of the Republic of Venice
, born in Chioggia
, who traveled to India
and Southeast Asia
, and possibly to Southern China
, during the early 15th century. After the return of the Marco Polo
, there is no record of Italian traders returning from China until the return of Niccolò de' Conti by sea in 1439.
Niccolò departed from Venice about 1419 and established himself in Damascus
, Syria
, where he studied Arabic
. Over a period of 25 years, he traveled as a Muslim
merchant to numerous places in Asia
. His familiarity with the languages and cultures of the Islamic world allowed him to travel to many places, on board ships owned by Islamic merchants.
Niccolò's travels followed the period of Timurid relations with Europe
. They also occurred around the same time and in the same places as the Chinese expeditions of Admiral Zheng He
. His accounts are contemporary, and fairly consistent with those of the Chinese writers who were on Zheng He's ships, such as Ma Huan (writing in 1433) and Fei Xin
(writing in about 1436).
and from there sailed down the Tigris
to Basra
. He then sailed through the Persian Gulf
and went to Iran
where he learned Persian
.
He then crossed the Arabian sea to Cambay, in Gujarat. He travelled in India
to "Pacamuria", "Helly" and Vijayanagar
, capital of the Deccan before 1555. It was in India that he coined the phrase 'Italian of the East' to refer to the Telugu
language, which he found had words ending with vowels, similar to Italian. He went to "Maliapur" on the east coast of India (probably modern-day Mylapore
, in Chennai
), where he visited the tomb of St. Thomas, who in Christian tradition is recorded to have founded a Christian community there.
About 1421, Niccolò crossed to "Pedir" in northern Sumatra
, where he spent a year, gaining local knowledge, particularly on the gold and spice trade
. (Interestingly, this was the period of fairly intensive contact between Sumatra and China, thanks in particular to the voyages of Zheng He
.) He then continued after sailing 16 days to Tenasserim on the Malay peninsula
. He then sailed to the mouth of the Ganges, visited Burdwan (in West Bengal, India), then went overland to Arakan
(in Burma). After traveling through Burma, he left for Java where he spent nine months, before going to Champa
(in modern Vietnam
).
Niccolò de' Conti described South-East Asia as "exceeding all other regions in wealth, culture and magnificence, and abreast of Italy
in civilization".
In the 1430s he sailed back to India (Quilon
, Kochi
, Calicut, Cambay) and then to the Middle-East (Socotra
, Aden
, Berbera
in Somalia
, Jidda in Egypt
), from where he travelled overland via Mt. Sinai, where the Spanish taveller Pedro Tafur
encountered him in 1436 and reported some of Niccolò's marvels, including detailed accounts of Prester John
, and thence, in company with Pedro, to Cairo
.
He had been traveling all along with his family. However his wife, whom he had met in India, and two of his four children died in Egypt during an epidemic
. He continued to Italy with his remaining children. Niccolò de' Conti returned to Venice in 1444, where he remained as a respected merchant.
, as a penance
for his seeming apostasy
, to relate his travels to the papal secretary Poggio Bracciolini
. Poggio's recording of Niccolò's account, made in 1444, constitute one of the best accounts of the East by a 15th century traveler. They were included in the Book IV of his "De varietate fortunae" ("On the Vicissitudes of Fortune").
Niccolò de' Conti's travels, which first circulated in manuscript
form, are said to have profoundly influenced the European geographical understanding of the areas around the Indian Ocean
during the middle of the 15th century. They were the first accounts to detail the Sunda Islands
and Spice Islands
since the accounts of Marco Polo
, and there is reason to believe that some of the new information on Fra Mauro
's map was gleaned from conversation with Niccolò. His accounts probably encouraged the European travels of exploration of the end of the century.
Conti also influenced 15th century cartography, as can be seen on the Genoese map
(1447-1457), and in the work of the mapmaker Fra Mauro
, whose influential Fra Mauro map
(1457) offered one of the clearest depiction of the Old World
. In these two maps, many new location names, and several verbatim descriptions, were taken directly from Niccolò's account. The "trustworthy source" whom Fra Mauro quoted in writing is thought to have been Niccolò de' Conti himself. Mauro's map discusses the travels of a Zoncho de India, a "junk from India
", beyond the Cape of Good Hope
into the Atlantic Ocean
around 1420, confirming that it was possible to sail around Africa
through the south. In his descriptions of East Asia
, Niccolò describes huge junks of about 2,000 tons, more than four times the size of 16th century Western galleons:
It has also been suggested that the man "from Cathay
" described to have visited Pope Eugenius IV (1431-1447) by Paolo Toscanelli in a 1474 letter to Christopher Columbus
, may have been Niccolò de' Conti, who was returning from the east and is known to have met with Pope Eugenius in 1444:
Niccolò de' Conti's book was used by several explorers and travels writers, such as Ludovico di Varthema
(1510), and Antonio Pigafetta
, who traveled around the world with Magellan
's expedition.
by Cristoforo da Bollate and dedicated to Pietro Cara, who was going on a journey to India. Various translations followed, into Portuguese
(1502) and Spanish
(1503). The first Italian
-language edition appears to have been translated from the Portuguese edition, and was made a part of the collection of travellers’ accounts published in 1550 by Giovanni Battista Ramusio
. The first English edition was translated from the Spanish, and printed in 1579 by John Frampton
, using a combination of Marco Polo's and Da Conti's narrations.
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
, born in Chioggia
Chioggia
Chioggia is a coastal town and comune of the province of Venice in the Veneto region of northern Italy.-Geography:...
, who traveled to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, and possibly to Southern China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, during the early 15th century. After the return of the Marco Polo
Marco Polo
Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant traveler from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and apparently...
, there is no record of Italian traders returning from China until the return of Niccolò de' Conti by sea in 1439.
Niccolò departed from Venice about 1419 and established himself in Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, where he studied Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
. Over a period of 25 years, he traveled as a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
merchant to numerous places in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. His familiarity with the languages and cultures of the Islamic world allowed him to travel to many places, on board ships owned by Islamic merchants.
Niccolò's travels followed the period of Timurid relations with Europe
Timurid relations with Europe
Timurid relations with Europe developed in the early 15th century, as the Mongol ruler Timur and European monarchs attempted to operate a rapprochement against the expansionist Ottoman Empire....
. They also occurred around the same time and in the same places as the Chinese expeditions of Admiral Zheng He
Zheng He
Zheng He , also known as Ma Sanbao and Hajji Mahmud Shamsuddin was a Hui-Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who commanded voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa, collectively referred to as the Voyages of Zheng He or Voyages of Cheng Ho from...
. His accounts are contemporary, and fairly consistent with those of the Chinese writers who were on Zheng He's ships, such as Ma Huan (writing in 1433) and Fei Xin
Fei Xin
Fei Xin was a member of the military personnel of the fleet of the Ming dynasty admiral Zheng He, known as the author of a book about the countries visited by Chinese ships.-Biography:...
(writing in about 1436).
Travels
Niccolò de' Conti first crossed the desert to reach BaghdadBaghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
and from there sailed down the Tigris
Tigris
The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
to Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
. He then sailed through the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
and went to Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
where he learned Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
.
He then crossed the Arabian sea to Cambay, in Gujarat. He travelled in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
to "Pacamuria", "Helly" and Vijayanagar
Vijayanagara
Vijayanagara is in Bellary District, northern Karnataka. It is the name of the now-ruined capital city "which was regarded as the second Rome" that surrounds modern-day Hampi, of the historic Vijayanagara empire which extended over the southern part of India....
, capital of the Deccan before 1555. It was in India that he coined the phrase 'Italian of the East' to refer to the Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
language, which he found had words ending with vowels, similar to Italian. He went to "Maliapur" on the east coast of India (probably modern-day Mylapore
Mylapore
Mylapore is a cultural hub and neighborhood in the southern part of the city of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, India. Earlier, Mylapore used to be called Vedapuri....
, in Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
), where he visited the tomb of St. Thomas, who in Christian tradition is recorded to have founded a Christian community there.
About 1421, Niccolò crossed to "Pedir" in northern Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
, where he spent a year, gaining local knowledge, particularly on the gold and spice trade
Spice trade
Civilizations of Asia were involved in spice trade from the ancient times, and the Greco-Roman world soon followed by trading along the Incense route and the Roman-India routes...
. (Interestingly, this was the period of fairly intensive contact between Sumatra and China, thanks in particular to the voyages of Zheng He
Zheng He
Zheng He , also known as Ma Sanbao and Hajji Mahmud Shamsuddin was a Hui-Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who commanded voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa, collectively referred to as the Voyages of Zheng He or Voyages of Cheng Ho from...
.) He then continued after sailing 16 days to Tenasserim on the Malay peninsula
Malay Peninsula
The Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a peninsula in Southeast Asia. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its terminus, is the southern-most point of the Asian mainland...
. He then sailed to the mouth of the Ganges, visited Burdwan (in West Bengal, India), then went overland to Arakan
Rakhine State
Rakhine State is a Burmese state. Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State in the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region in the east, the Bay of Bengal to the west, and the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh to the northwest. It is located approximately between...
(in Burma). After traveling through Burma, he left for Java where he spent nine months, before going to Champa
Champa
The kingdom of Champa was an Indianized kingdom that controlled what is now southern and central Vietnam from approximately the 7th century through to 1832.The Cham people are remnants...
(in modern Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
).
Niccolò de' Conti described South-East Asia as "exceeding all other regions in wealth, culture and magnificence, and abreast of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in civilization".
In the 1430s he sailed back to India (Quilon
Quilon
Quilon may refer to,* Venad, a former state on Malabar Coast, India* Kollam , Kerala state, India* Kollam district, Kerala state...
, Kochi
Kochi (India)
Kochi , formerly Cochin, is a major port city on the west coast of India by the Arabian Sea. Kochi is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala. Kochi is often called by the name Ernakulam, which refers to the western part of the mainland Kochi...
, Calicut, Cambay) and then to the Middle-East (Socotra
Socotra
Socotra , also spelt Soqotra, is a small archipelago of four islands in the Indian Ocean. The largest island, also called Socotra, is about 95% of the landmass of the archipelago. It lies some east of the Horn of Africa and south of the Arabian Peninsula. The island is very isolated and through...
, Aden
Aden
Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...
, Berbera
Berbera
Berbera is a city and seat of Berbera District in Somaliland, a self-proclaimed Independent Republic with de facto control over its own territory, which is recognized by the international community and the Somali Government as a part of Somalia...
in Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
, Jidda in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
), from where he travelled overland via Mt. Sinai, where the Spanish taveller Pedro Tafur
Pedro Tafur
Pedro Tafur was a Spanish traveler and writer. Born in Córdoba, to a branch of the noble house of Guzmán, Tafur traveled across three continents during the years 1436 to 1439. During the voyage, he participated in various battles, visited shrines, and rendered diplomatic services for Juan II of...
encountered him in 1436 and reported some of Niccolò's marvels, including detailed accounts of Prester John
Prester John
The legends of Prester John were popular in Europe from the 12th through the 17th centuries, and told of a Christian patriarch and king said to rule over a Christian nation lost amidst the Muslims and pagans in the Orient. Written accounts of this kingdom are variegated collections of medieval...
, and thence, in company with Pedro, to Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
.
He had been traveling all along with his family. However his wife, whom he had met in India, and two of his four children died in Egypt during an epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
. He continued to Italy with his remaining children. Niccolò de' Conti returned to Venice in 1444, where he remained as a respected merchant.
Account of voyages
Throughout his travels, he had presented himself as a Muslim, for security; in Florence he was requested by Pope Eugene IVPope Eugene IV
Pope Eugene IV , born Gabriele Condulmer, was pope from March 3, 1431, to his death.-Biography:He was born in Venice to a rich merchant family, a Correr on his mother's side. Condulmer entered the Order of Saint Augustine at the monastery of St. George in his native city...
, as a penance
Penance
Penance is repentance of sins as well as the proper name of the Roman Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and Anglican Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation/Confession. It also plays a part in non-sacramental confession among Lutherans and other Protestants...
for his seeming apostasy
Apostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
, to relate his travels to the papal secretary Poggio Bracciolini
Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini
Poggio Bracciolini was an Italian scholar, writer and humanist. He recovered a great number of classical Latin texts, mostly lying forgotten in German and French monastic libraries, and disseminated manuscript copies among the educated world.- Biography :Poggio di Duccio was...
. Poggio's recording of Niccolò's account, made in 1444, constitute one of the best accounts of the East by a 15th century traveler. They were included in the Book IV of his "De varietate fortunae" ("On the Vicissitudes of Fortune").
Niccolò de' Conti's travels, which first circulated in manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
form, are said to have profoundly influenced the European geographical understanding of the areas around the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
during the middle of the 15th century. They were the first accounts to detail the Sunda Islands
Sunda Islands
The Sunda Islands are a group of islands that form part of the Malay archipelago.They are further divided into the Greater Sunda Islands and the Lesser Sunda Islands.-Administration:...
and Spice Islands
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...
since the accounts of Marco Polo
Marco Polo
Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant traveler from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and apparently...
, and there is reason to believe that some of the new information on Fra Mauro
Fra Mauro
Fra Mauro, O.S.B. Cam., was a 15th-century Camaldolese monk who lived in the Republic of Venice. He was a monk of the Monastery of St. Michael, located on the island of Murano in the Venetian Lagoon. It was there that he maintained a cartography workshop.In his youth, Mauro had traveled...
's map was gleaned from conversation with Niccolò. His accounts probably encouraged the European travels of exploration of the end of the century.
Genoese map
The Genoese map is a 1457 world map. The map relied extensively on the account of the traveler to Asia Niccolo da Conti, rather than the usual source of Marco Polo. The author is not known, but is a more modern development than the Fra Mauro world map, with fairly good proportions given to each...
(1447-1457), and in the work of the mapmaker Fra Mauro
Fra Mauro
Fra Mauro, O.S.B. Cam., was a 15th-century Camaldolese monk who lived in the Republic of Venice. He was a monk of the Monastery of St. Michael, located on the island of Murano in the Venetian Lagoon. It was there that he maintained a cartography workshop.In his youth, Mauro had traveled...
, whose influential Fra Mauro map
Fra Mauro map
The Fra Mauro map, "considered the greatest memorial of medieval cartography" according to Roberto Almagià, is a map made around 1450 by the Venetian monk Fra Mauro...
(1457) offered one of the clearest depiction of the Old World
Old World
The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....
. In these two maps, many new location names, and several verbatim descriptions, were taken directly from Niccolò's account. The "trustworthy source" whom Fra Mauro quoted in writing is thought to have been Niccolò de' Conti himself. Mauro's map discusses the travels of a Zoncho de India, a "junk from India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
", beyond the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
into the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
around 1420, confirming that it was possible to sail around Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
through the south. In his descriptions of East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
, Niccolò describes huge junks of about 2,000 tons, more than four times the size of 16th century Western galleons:
It has also been suggested that the man "from Cathay
Cathay
Cathay is the Anglicized version of "Catai" and an alternative name for China in English. It originates from the word Khitan, the name of a nomadic people who founded the Liao Dynasty which ruled much of Northern China from 907 to 1125, and who had a state of their own centered around today's...
" described to have visited Pope Eugenius IV (1431-1447) by Paolo Toscanelli in a 1474 letter to Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
, may have been Niccolò de' Conti, who was returning from the east and is known to have met with Pope Eugenius in 1444:
Niccolò de' Conti's book was used by several explorers and travels writers, such as Ludovico di Varthema
Ludovico di Varthema
Ludovico di Varthema, also known as Barthema and Vertomannus was an Italian traveller and diarist, known for being the first non-Muslim European to enter Mecca as a pilgrim...
(1510), and Antonio Pigafetta
Antonio Pigafetta
Antonio Pigafetta was an Italian scholar and explorer from the Republic of Venice. He travelled with the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his crew on their voyage to the Indies. During the expedition, he served as Magellan's assistant and kept an accurate journal which later assisted him...
, who traveled around the world with Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer. He was born in Sabrosa, in northern Portugal, and served King Charles I of Spain in search of a westward route to the "Spice Islands" ....
's expedition.
Editions
The first printed edition of Niccolò’s account was made in 1492 in the original LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
by Cristoforo da Bollate and dedicated to Pietro Cara, who was going on a journey to India. Various translations followed, into Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
(1502) and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
(1503). The first Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
-language edition appears to have been translated from the Portuguese edition, and was made a part of the collection of travellers’ accounts published in 1550 by Giovanni Battista Ramusio
Giovanni Battista Ramusio
Giovanni Battista Ramusio was an Italian geographer and travel writer.Born in Treviso, Italy, Ramusio was the son of Paolo Ramusio, a magistrate in the city-state of Venice...
. The first English edition was translated from the Spanish, and printed in 1579 by John Frampton
John Frampton
John Frampton was a 16th century English merchant from the West Country, who settled in Spain, was imprisoned and tortured by the Inquisition, and escaped from Cádiz in 1567...
, using a combination of Marco Polo's and Da Conti's narrations.