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{{Short description|Italian merchant, explorer, and writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox person
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| name = Niccolò de' Conti
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| known_for = Travels in India, Southeast Asia
| occupation = Merchant, explorer, writer
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'''Niccolò de' Conti''' (c. 1395–1469)<ref>Surdich (1983)</ref> was an Italian merchant, explorer, and writer. Born in [[Chioggia]], he traveled to India and Southeast Asia, and possibly to Southern China, during the early 15th century. He was one of the sources used to create the 1450 [[Fra Mauro map]], which indicated that there was a sea route from Europe around Africa to India.<ref name="eb1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Conti, Nicolo de' |volume= 7 |last= Beazley |first= Charles Raymond |author-link= Charles Raymond Beazley | pages = 28-29 |short= 1 }}</ref>

De' Conti departed from Venice about 1419 and established himself in [[Damascus]], Syria, where he studied Arabic. Over a period of 25 years, his familiarity with the languages and cultures of the Islamic world enabled him to travel to many places on ships owned by Islamic merchants.

De' Conti's travels followed the period of [[Timurid relations with Europe]].<ref name="Cambridge">[https://books.google.com/books?id=fY01Tc2SZVEC&pg=PA375 ''The Cambridge history of Iran'' William Bayne Fisher, Peter Jackson, Laurence Lockhart p.375''ff'']</ref> They also occurred around the same time and in the same places as the [[Ming treasure voyages|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).

== Travels ==

After the return of [[Marco Polo]] in 1295, there is no record of Italian traders returning from China until the return of de' Conti by sea in 1439.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Leonardo |last=Olschki |title=Asiatic Exoticism in Italian Art of the Early Renaissance |journal=[[The Art Bulletin]] |volume=26 |issue=2 |year=1944 |pages=95–106 |doi=10.1080/00043079.1944.11409394 }} Page 103 and note 53, noting M. Longhena, ''Viaggi in Persia, India e Giava di Niccolò de' Conti'' (Milan, 1929)</ref> However, there is the account of the travels of a Franciscan friar by the name of [[Odoric of Pordenone|Odoricus Mattiuzzi]] (1286-1331) from Friuli who in 1310 visited Armenia, Mesopotamia, Persia, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Sumatra, Java, Cambodia, Champa and China.<ref>Hakluyt’s Collection of the early voyages, travels, and discoveries of the English nation. A new edition, with additions. Dl II, (London: R.H. Evans e.a., 1810) 142-174.</ref>

[[File:LeVoyageAuxIndes.jpg|thumb|190px|''Le voyage aux [[East Indies|Indes]] de Nicolò de' Conti (1414–1439)'']]
De' Conti first crossed the desert to reach [[Baghdad]] and from there sailed down the [[Tigris]] to [[Basra]]. He then sailed through the [[Persian Gulf]] and went to [[Iran]] where he learnt [[Persian language|Persian]].

He then crossed the Arabian sea to [[Cambay]], in [[Gujarat]]. He travelled in [[India]] to "Pacamuria", "Helly" and [[Vijayanagara|Vijayanagar]], capital of the [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]] before 1420. 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.<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/when-foreigners-fell-in-love-with-telugu-language/article4227784.ece Niccolo De Conti refers Telugu as the Italian of the East]</ref> He went to "Maliapur" on the east coast of India (probably modern-day [[Mylapore]], in [[Chennai]]), where he visited the tomb of [[Thomas (Apostle)|St. Thomas]], who in Christian tradition is recorded to have founded a Christian community there.

About 1421, de' Conti crossed to "Pedir" in northern [[Sumatra]], where he spent a year, gaining local knowledge, particularly on the gold and [[spice trade]]. (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 [[Tanintharyi Region|Tenasserim]] on the [[Malay peninsula]]. He then sailed to the mouth of the [[Ganges]], visited [[Sonargaon]] and [[Chittagong]] (in modern [[Bangladesh]]) and then went overland to [[Arakan]] (now [[Rakhine State]], [[Burma]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Conti,_Nicolo_de|title = Conti, Nicolo de - Banglapedia}}</ref> After traveling through [[Burma]], he left for [[Java]] where he spent nine months, before going to [[Champa]] (in modern [[Vietnam]]).

De' Conti described South-East Asia as "exceeding all other regions in wealth, culture and magnificence, and abreast of [[Italy]] in civilization".<ref name="eb1911" />

In the 1430s he sailed back to India ([[Quilon]], [[Kochi (India)|Kochi]], [[Kozhikode|Calicut]], [[Cambay]]) and then to the Middle-East ([[Socotra]], [[Aden]], [[Berbera]] in Somalia, [[Jidda]] in the [[Hejaz]]), from where he travelled overland via [[Mount Sinai]], where the Spanish traveller [[Pedro Tafur]] encountered him in 1436 and reported some of Niccolò's marvels, including detailed accounts of [[Prester John]],<ref>Pedro Tafur, ''[http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/tafur.html#ch9 Andanças e viajes]''.</ref> and thence, in company with Pedro, to [[Cairo]].

Throughout his travels, he was accompanied by 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. de' Conti returned to Venice in 1444, where he remained as a respected merchant.

== Account of voyages ==
{{further|Europeans in Medieval China}}
[[Poggio Bracciolini]]'s record of de' Conti's account, made in 1444, constitutes one of the best accounts of the East by a 15th-century traveler. It was included in the Book IV of his "De varietate fortunae" ("On the Vicissitudes of Fortune").<ref>It was first translated into English in {{cite book |first=J. W. |last=Jones |title=The Travels of Nicolò {{sic|Conte}} in the East in the Early Part of the Fifteenth Century |series=[[Hakluyt Society]] XXII |location=London |year=1857 }}</ref>

Accounts of 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 [[Maluku Islands|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.<ref>{{cite book |first=G. |last=Crone |title=Maps and Their Makers: An Introduction to the History of Cartography |location=Folkestone |publisher=W. Dawson |edition=Fifth |year=1978 |pages=28–31 |isbn=9780208017246 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XXEYAQAAMAAJ&q=Conti }}</ref> His accounts probably encouraged the [[Age of Exploration|European travels of exploration]] of the end of the century.

[[File:Genoese map.jpg|thumb|The accounts of Niccolò de' Conti influenced the maker of the 1457 [[Genoese map]], in the form of geographic conceptions and several quotes and names taken directly from Conti.<ref>{{cite book |first=Peter |last=Whitfield |title=New Found Lands: Maps in the History of Exploration |location=London |publisher=Routledge |year=1998 |isbn=0-415-92026-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/newfoundlandsmap0000whit/page/36 36] |url=https://archive.org/details/newfoundlandsmap0000whit |url-access=registration }}</ref>]]
[[File:FraMauroDetailedMapInverted.jpg|thumb|The [[Fra Mauro map]] of 1460 also relied extensively on Conti.]]
de' 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]] (1450) 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 de Conti's account. The "trustworthy source" whom Fra Mauro quoted in writing is thought to have been de' Conti himself. Mauro's map discusses the travels of a ''[[Djong (ship)|Zoncho]] de India'', a "[[Junk (ship)|junk]] from India" (likely referring to [[China]] or kingdoms in the [[Nusantara (archipelago)|Nusantara]] archipelago, as both was often referred to as India during this period),<ref>{{Cite book|title=The vanishing jong: Insular Southeast Asian fleets in war and trade (15th-17th centuries)|last=Manguin|first=P.Y.|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=1993|location=Ithaca}}</ref> 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, de' Conti describes huge junks of about 1,000 tons (some translations have 2,000 tons*), larger than the typical 16th century Western galleons and equal to the large Manila [[galleons]]:

{{blockquote|They build some ships much larger than ours, capable of containing 2,000 butts in size, with five sails and as many masts. The lower part is constructed with of three planks, in order to withstand the force of the tempest to which they are much exposed. But some ships are built in compartments, that should one part is shattered, the other portion remaining intact to accomplish the voyage.<ref>
{{citation|title=India in the Fifteenth Century|chapter=The travels of Niccolo Conti|page=27|editor=R. H. Major|year=1857|publisher=Hakluyt Society|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/indiainfifteenth00majorich#page/n181/mode/2up}}
versus Needham, ''Science and Civilisation in China'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=l6TVhvYLaEwC&dq=Conti+ships+larger&pg=RA2-PA452 p. 452]</ref>|sign=|source=}}

*Some translations have 2000 butts (Hakluyt Society), which is around 1,000 tons, while other translations of de' Conti have 2,000 tons (Needham). The translation above is from the Hakluyt Society's translation. A butt was unit of volume that was half a ton.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.diffordsguide.com/encyclopedia/481/bws/casks-barrel-butt-punchon-pipe-barriquehogshead|title = Casks - barrel, butt, punchon, pipe, barrique,hogshead}}</ref>

The man "from [[Cathay]]" whom [[Paolo Toscanelli]], in a 1474 letter to [[Christopher Columbus]], described as visiting [[Pope Eugenius IV]] (1431–1447) might have been de' Conti, who, after returning from the east, did meet Pope Eugenius in 1444:<ref>[https://archive.org/details/columbusthennowl00davi/page/56 Davidson, p. 58]</ref>

{{blockquote|Also in the time of [[Pope Eugenius IV|Eugenius]] one of them [of [[Cathay]]] came to Eugenius, who affirmed their great kindness towards Christians, and I had a long conversation with him on many subjects, about the magnitude of their rivers in length and breath, and on the multitude of cities on the banks of rivers. He said that on one river there were near 200 cities with marble bridges great in length and breadth, and everywhere adorned with columns. This country is worth seeking by the Latins, not only because great wealth may be obtained from it, gold and silver, all sorts of gems, and spices, which never reach us; but also on account of its learned men, philosophers, and expert astrologers, and by what skill and art so powerful and magnificent a province is governed, as well as how their wars are conducted.|sign=Extract of the First Letter of Paolo Toscanelli to Columbus.<ref>Markam, p.7 [https://books.google.com/books?id=II14gJzeg60C&pg=PA4 Full text of the letter]</ref><ref>Davidson, p.52 [https://archive.org/details/columbusthennowl00davi/page/56 Another translation]</ref>}}

De' Conti's book was used by several explorers and travel writers, such as [[Ludovico di Varthema]] (1510), and [[Antonio Pigafetta]], who travelled around the world with [[Ferdinand Magellan|Magellan]]'s expedition. [[Alfred Russel Wallace]] cited de' Conti's account of the peoples of [[Java]] and [[Sumatra]] in his 1869 book ''[[The Malay Archipelago]]''.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Malay Archipelago: The land of the orang-utan, and the bird of paradise. A narrative of travel, with sketches of man and nature|publisher=Macmillan|author=Wallace, Alfred Russel|year=1869|author-link=Alfred Russel Wallace|edition=1|page=444}}</ref>

== Editions ==
The first printed edition of de' Conti's account was made in 1492 in the original [[Latin]] by [[Cristoforo da Bollate]] and dedicated to [[Pietro Cara]], who was going on a journey to India. Various translations followed, into [[Portuguese language|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 de Conti's narrations.

== See also ==
*[[Chronology of European exploration of Asia]]
* [[Afanasy Nikitin]]

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
*{{Cite book|last=Campbell|first=Gordon|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198601753.001.0001/acref-9780198601753-e-933|title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|chapter=Conti, Niccolò de'|isbn=978-0-19-860175-3}}
* [[Poggio Bracciolini|Bracciolini, Poggio]]: ''De varietate fortunae'', book iv [{{circa}} 1445] (ed. by Abbé Oliva, Paris 1723).
* Niccolò de' Conti, Chandeigne (ed.), ''Le voyage aux Indes'' (in French), 2004, {{ISBN|2-906462-86-1}}
* Major, R. H. (ed.). [https://archive.org/details/indiainfifteenth00majorich/ ''India in the fifteenth century: Being a collection of narratives of voyages to India in the century preceding the Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope], (Works issued by the Hakluyt Society)'' (English trans. by J. Winter Jones, Hakluyt Society, London 1857). Republished by Asian Educational Services (30 June 1992). {{ISBN|81-206-0768-6}}.
* [[J. H. Parry|Parry, J. H.]] ''The European Reconnaissance: Selected Documents''. London, Macmillan, 1968
* Francesco Surdich, "[http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/niccolo-de-conti_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ Conti, Niccolò de']" in ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'' vol. 28 (1983)
* [[Le Goff, Jacques]]. 'The Medieval West and the Indian Ocean: An Oneiric Horizon' in ''Time, Work, and Culture in the Middle Ages'', University of Chicago Press, 1980.
{{refend}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Da Conti, Niccolo}}
[[Category:1395 births]]
[[Category:1469 deaths]]
[[Category:15th-century Italian businesspeople]]
[[Category:15th-century Italian writers]]
[[Category:Explorers from the Republic of Venice]]
[[Category:Explorers of Asia]]
[[Category:Italian explorers]]
[[Category:People from Chioggia]]
[[Category:Republic of Venice merchants]]

Niccolò de' Conti - Revision history

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