Niccolò de' Conti facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Niccolò de' Conti
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| Occupation | Merchant, explorer, writer |
| Known for | Travels in India, Southeast Asia |
Niccolò de' Conti (born around 1395, died 1469) was an Italian merchant, explorer, and writer. He was born in Chioggia, a town in Italy. Niccolò traveled widely in India and Southeast Asia. He might have even reached Southern China in the early 1400s.
His journeys were very important. Niccolò was one of the people who helped create the famous 1450 Fra Mauro map. This map showed that ships could sail from Europe around Africa to reach India.
Niccolò left Venice, Italy, around 1419. He first settled in Damascus, Syria, where he learned Arabic. For 25 years, he traveled as a merchant across many parts of Asia. He knew the languages and cultures of the Islamic world well. This helped him travel on ships owned by Islamic merchants.
Niccolò de' Conti's travels happened around the same time as the huge Chinese expeditions. These were led by Admiral Zheng He. Niccolò's stories match what Chinese writers like Ma Huan and Fei Xin wrote. They were on Zheng He's ships and wrote about their journeys in the 1430s.
Contents
Exploring Asia: Niccolò's Journeys
After Marco Polo returned in 1295, there are no records of Italian traders coming back from China by sea until Niccolò in 1439. However, another traveler, Odoricus Mattiuzzi, visited many places in Asia between 1310 and 1331.
Niccolò de' Conti first crossed the desert to reach Baghdad. From there, he sailed down the Tigris River to Basra. He then sailed through the Persian Gulf to Iran. In Iran, he learned to speak Persian.
He then crossed the Arabian Sea to Cambay in Gujarat, India. He traveled through India to places like "Pacamuria," "Helly," and Vijayanagar. Vijayanagar was the capital of the Deccan region before 1420. In India, he called the Telugu language the "Italian of the East." He noticed that Telugu words often ended with vowels, just like Italian words.
Niccolò also visited "Maliapur" on India's east coast. This is likely modern-day Mylapore in Chennai. There, he visited the tomb of St. Thomas. Christians believe St. Thomas started a Christian community there.
Across Southeast Asia
Around 1421, Niccolò de' Conti sailed to "Pedir" in northern Sumatra. He stayed there for a year, learning about the local area. He was especially interested in the gold and spice trade. This was a time when Sumatra had a lot of contact with China, thanks to Zheng He's voyages.
After 16 days of sailing, he continued to Tenasserim on the Malay Peninsula. Then he sailed to the mouth of the Ganges River. He visited Sonargaon and Chittagong in modern Bangladesh. From there, he traveled overland to Arakan (now Rakhine State, Burma). After traveling through Burma, he went to Java where he stayed for nine months. Finally, he traveled to Champa in modern Vietnam.
Niccolò described Southeast Asia as being very rich and magnificent. He said it was as advanced as Italy in its culture and civilization.
Return Journey
In the 1430s, Niccolò sailed back to India. He visited cities like Quilon, Kochi, Calicut, and Cambay. Then he traveled to the Middle East, visiting Socotra, Aden, Berbera in Somalia, and Jidda in Egypt.
From Egypt, he traveled overland. He passed Mount Sinai, where he met a Spanish traveler named Pedro Tafur in 1436. Niccolò told Pedro many amazing stories. These included detailed accounts of Prester John, a legendary Christian king. Niccolò then traveled with Pedro to Cairo.
Niccolò de' Conti traveled 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 his journey to Italy with his remaining children. Niccolò returned to Venice in 1444 and remained a respected merchant.
Niccolò's Important Travel Stories
Poggio Bracciolini wrote down Niccolò de' Conti's stories in 1444. This record is one of the best accounts of the East from a 15th-century traveler. It was part of his book called "De varietate fortunae," which means "On the Vicissitudes of Fortune."
Niccolò de' Conti's travel stories were first shared as handwritten copies. They greatly changed how Europeans understood the areas around the Indian Ocean in the mid-1400s. His accounts were the first to describe the Sunda Islands and Spice Islands since Marco Polo's time. It is believed that some new information on Fra Mauro's map came from conversations with Niccolò. His stories likely encouraged the European travels of exploration that began later in the century.
Niccolò de' Conti also influenced mapmaking in the 1400s. You can see his impact on the Genoese map (1447–1457). Also, the mapmaker Fra Mauro used his information for the important Fra Mauro map (1450). This map showed one of the clearest pictures of the Old World (Europe, Asia, Africa).
These two maps used many new place names and descriptions directly from Niccolò's stories. Fra Mauro likely talked to Niccolò himself to get this "trustworthy source" information. Mauro's map mentions a "Zoncho de India," which was a large ship (likely from China or the Nusantara islands). This ship sailed beyond the Cape of Good Hope into the Atlantic Ocean around 1420. This showed that it was possible to sail around Africa from the south.
Niccolò de' Conti described huge ships in East Asia. He said they were about 1,000 tons in size. These ships were much larger than typical Western ships of the 1500s. They were as big as the large Manila galleons. He wrote:
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.
The man "from Cathay" (an old name for China) who visited Pope Eugenius IV (1431–1447) might have been Niccolò de' Conti. Paolo Toscanelli mentioned this visitor in a 1474 letter to Christopher Columbus. Niccolò did meet Pope Eugenius in 1444 after returning from his travels.
Toscanelli wrote about this visitor:
Also in the time of 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.
—Extract of the First Letter of Paolo Toscanelli to Columbus.
Niccolò de' Conti's book was used by many other explorers and writers. These included Ludovico di Varthema (1510) and Antonio Pigafetta. Pigafetta traveled around the world with Ferdinand Magellan's expedition. Alfred Russel Wallace also used Niccolò's descriptions of the people of Java and Sumatra in his 1869 book The Malay Archipelago.
Published Versions of Niccolò's Story
The first printed version of Niccolò de' Conti's story came out in 1492. It was in the original Latin language. Cristoforo da Bollate created it and dedicated it to Pietro Cara, who was going on a trip to India.
After that, the story was translated into other languages. There was a Portuguese version in 1502 and a Spanish one in 1503. The first Italian version seems to have been translated from the Portuguese edition. It was part of a collection of travelers' stories published in 1550 by Giovanni Battista Ramusio. The first English version was translated from the Spanish. It was printed in 1579 by John Frampton, combining stories from Marco Polo and Niccolò de' Conti.
See also
In Spanish: Niccolò Da Conti para niños
