Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

CONTI, NICOLO

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 29 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

CONTI, NICOLO DE' (fl. 1419–1444), Venetian explorer and writer, was a See also:merchant of See also:noble See also:family, who See also:left See also:Venice about 1419, on what proved an See also:absence of 25 years. We next find him in See also:Damascus, whence he made his way over the See also:north Arabian See also:desert, the See also:Euphrates, and See also:southern See also:Mesopotamia, to See also:Bagdad. Here he took See also:ship and sailed down the See also:Tigris to See also:Basra and the See also:head of the See also:Persian Gulf; he next descended the gulf to Ormuz, coasted along the See also:Indian Ocean See also:shore of See also:Persia (at one See also:port of which he remained some See also:time, and entered into a business See also:partnership with some Persian merchants), and so reached the gulf and See also:city of See also:Cambay, where he began his Indian See also:life and observations. He next dropped down the See also:west See also:coast of See also:India to See also:Ely, and struck inland to See also:Vijayanagar, the See also:capital of the See also:principal See also:Hindu See also:state of the See also:Deccan, destroyed in 1555. Of this city Conti gives an elaborate description, one of the most interesting portions of his narrative. From Vijayanagar and the Tungabudhra he travelled to Maliapur near See also:Madras, the traditional resting-See also:place of the See also:body of St See also:Thomas, and the holiest See also:shrine of the native Nestorian Christians, then " scattered over all India," the Venetian declares, " as the See also:Jews are among us." The narrative next refers to See also:Ceylon, and gives a very accurate See also:account of the Cingalese See also:cinnamon See also:tree; but, if Conti visited the See also:island at all, it was probably on the return See also:journey. His outward route now took him to See also:Sumatra, where he stayed a See also:year, and of whose cruel, brutal, cannibal natives he gained a See also:pretty full knowledge, as of the camphor, See also:pepper and See also:gold of this " Taprobana." From Sumatra a stormy voyage of sixteen days brought him to See also:Tenasserim, near the head of the See also:Malay See also:Peninsula. We then find him at the mouth of the See also:Ganges, and trace him ascending and descending that See also:river (a journey of several months), visiting See also:Burdwan and Aracan, penetrating into See also:Burma, and navigating the Irawadi to See also:Ava. He appears to have spent some time in See also:Pegu, from which he again plunged into the Malay See also:Archipelago, and visited See also:Java, his farthest point. Here he remained nine months, and then began his return by way of Ciampa (usually See also:Cochin-See also:China in later See also:medieval See also:European literature, but here perhaps some more See also:westerly portion of Indo-China) ; a See also:month's voyage from Ciampa brought him to Coloen, doubtless Kulam or See also:Quilon, in the extreme See also:south-west of India. Thence he continued his homeward route, touching at Cochin, See also:Calicut and Cambay, to See also:Sokotra, which he describes as still mainly inhabited by Nestorian Christians; to the " See also:rich city " of See also:Aden, " remarkable for its buildings "; to Gidda or See also:Jidda, the port of See also:Mecca; over the desert to Carras or See also:Cairo; and so to Venice, where he arrived in 1444.

As a See also:

penance for his (compulsory) renunciation of the See also:Christian faith during his wanderings, See also:Eugenius IV. ordered him to relate his See also:history to See also:Poggio See also:Bracciolini, the papal secretary. The narrative closes with Conti's elaborate replies to Poggio's question on Indian life, social classes, See also:religion, fashions, See also:manners, customs and peculiarities of various kinds. Following a prevalent See also:fashion, the Venetian divides his Indies into three parts, the first extending from Persia to the See also:Indus; the second from the Indus to the Ganges; .the third including all beyond the Ganges; this last he considered to excel the others in See also:wealth, culture and magnificence, and to be abreast of See also:Italy in See also:civilization. We may See also:note, moreover, Conti's account of the See also:bamboo in the Ganges valley; of the catching, taming and rearing of elephants in Burma and other regions; of Indian See also:tattooing and the use of leaves for See also:writing; of various Indian fruits, especially the See also:jack and See also:mango; of the See also:polyandry of See also:Malabar; of the See also:cock-fighting of Java; of what is apparently the See also:bird of See also:Paradise; of Indian funeral ceremonies, and especially See also:suttee; of the self-See also:mutilation and immolation of Indian fanatics; and of Indian magic, See also:navigation (" they are not acquainted with the See also:compass "), See also:justice, &c. Several See also:venerable legends are reproduced; and Conti's name-forms, partly through Poggio's vicious classicism, are often absolutely unrecognizable; but on the whole this is the best account of southern See also:Asia by any European of the 15th See also:century; while the traveller's visit to Sokotra is an almost though not quite unique performance for a Latin Christian of the See also:middle ages. The See also:original Latin is in Poggio's De varietate Fortunae, See also:book iv.; see the edition of the See also:Abbe See also:Oliva (See also:Paris, 1723). The See also:Italian version, printed in See also:Ramusio's Navigationi et viaggi, vol. i., is only from a Portuguese See also:translation made in See also:Lisbon. An See also:English translation with See also:short notes was made by J. See also:Winter See also:Jones for the See also:Hakluyt Society in the vol. entitled India in the Fifteenth Century (See also:London, 1857); an See also:introductory account of the traveller and his See also:work by R. H. See also:Major precedes. (C.

R.

End of Article: CONTI, NICOLO

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
CONTEMPT OF COURT 		[next]
CONTI, PRINCES OF

Site © 2006 - Net Industries