Wonders of India as seen by the Venetian travellers of the 15th and 16th centuries
https://doi.org/10.28995/2658-4158-2020-3-92-115
Abstract
The paper deals with the evolution of the imagery and perception of the miraculous in the South Asian countries during the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period as they were described by two famed Venetian merchants and travellers in their reports: Niccolo de’ Conti (1439) and Cesare Federici (1587). Those examples can shed some light on how the traditional European view of the “wonders of India” was transformed during the 15th and the 16th centuries. Niccolo de’ Conti’s report was recorded by the prominent humanist Poggio Bracciolini. Conti saw the miraculous mainly in the religious practices of the region, he thought the Brahmins were philosophers, astrologers and sorcerers. Conti’s record contains ethnographically correct description of the trance state. Cesare Federici visited South Asia yet at the time of the Portuguese colonial Empire hegemony in the Indian Ocean. He considered various material objects as the curious and remarkable things. In general, the comparison of those two reports leads to the conclusion that the European stereotypes of the “wonders of India” gradually receded from the South Asian imagery in Europe.
About the Author
D. V. Vozchikov
Ural Federal University (UrFU)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Dmitry V. Vozchikov, Cand. of Sci. (History), associate professor, bld. 4, Turgeneva Str., Yekaterinburg, 620000, Russia
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Review
For citations:
Vozchikov D.V. Wonders of India as seen by the Venetian travellers of the 15th and 16th centuries. Studia Religiosa Rossica: Russian Journal of Religion. 2020;(3):92-115. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.28995/2658-4158-2020-3-92-115
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