Niccolò Da Conti: Encyclopedia II - Niccolò Da Conti - Travels

Niccolò Da Conti - Travels

Da 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 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. 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, Da Conti crossed to "Pedir" in northern Sumatra, where he spent a year, gaining local knowledge, particularly on the gold and spice trade. 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).

Da Conti described South-East Asia as "exceeding all other regions in wealth, culture and magnificence, and abreast of Italy in civilization".

Around 1440 Da Conti sailed back to India (Quilon, Cochin, Calicut, Cambay) and then to the Middle-East (Socotra, Aden, Berbera in Somalia, Jidda in Egypt), from where he travelled overland via Mt. Sinai to Cairo.

Da Conti 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 following an epidemic. He continued to Italy with his remaining children.

Niccolò Da Conti returned to Venice in 1444, where he remained as a respected merchant.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Travels", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki