Gasparo Balbi was an Italian jeweller, merchant, and author from
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
, who is best known for his account of his travels to
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and the East from 1579–1588. He mainly travelled with
Portuguese merchant and
naval vessels and to forts and trading posts owned by or friendly to that country's commerce. His story, published in 1590 in Venice, was titled ''Voyage to the Oriental Indies''.
Itinerary
His travels began in Cyprus, whence he moved to
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
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, then to Babylon and
Basra
Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
, and finally to the Portuguese fort of
Hormuz.
From there, he embarked over water past the Portuguese fort of
Dibba (
Debe), to the post at
Diu, from there to Daman and then to the walled city of Chiauul (
Chaul), then
Goa
Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
, then Cocchi, through Cananor (
Cannanore
Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and a municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the major port city and commercial hu ...
) and Onor. He then went to Negapatan (
Nagapattinam
Nagapattinam (''nākappaṭṭinam'', previously spelt Nagapatnam or Negapatam) is a town in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Nagapattinam District. The town came to prominence during the period of Medieval ...
), then to San Thome and then to
Pegu. He then visited
Dala
Dala may refer to:
Places
*Dala Airport, Dalarna province, Sweden
*Dala, Angola
*Dala, Bhutan
*Dala, Kano, Nigeria
**Dalla Hill, a hill in Kano, Nigeria
*Đala, Serbia
*Dalas, Khuzestan Province, Iran
*Dala Township, Yangon, Myanmar
People
* Bi ...
,
Dogon and the ruins of Sirian (
Syriam
Thanlyin (; or ; mnw, သေၚ်, ; formerly Syriam) is a major port city of Myanmar, located across Bago River from the city of Yangon. Thanlyin Township comprises 17 quarters and 28 village tracts. It is home to the largest port in the cou ...
), Meccao, and Silon. He went then to Maraban, Malacca. and from there to Cocchi (
Kingdom of Cochin
The Kingdom of Cochin, named after its capital in the city of Kochi (Cochin), was a kingdom in the central part of present-day Kerala state. It commenced at the early part of the 12th century and continued to rule until 1949, when monarchy w ...
). He visited the Portuguese fortress of
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
in Seilan (
Ceylon
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
, now Sri Lanka). He returned via Hormuz, Basra, and Babylon.
Selected observations
He visited the temple of ''Alefanta'' (
Elephanta Caves
The Elephanta Caves are a collection of cave temples predominantly dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. They are on Elephanta Island, or ''Gharapuri'' (literally "the city of caves"), in Mumbai Harbour, east of Mumbai in the Indian state of Mahār ...
) near what is today
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
, and attributed its construction to Alexander the Great, in the same way later European visitors to the Taj Mahal in past centuries attributed the structure to European visitors. The ships on which he traveled had to fight off corsairs from the
Malabar Coast
The Malabar Coast is the southwestern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing m ...
.
There is little analysis or confession in the account; the account is often a dry businessman's succinct observations of places and their contents. As a merchant at heart discussing the mechanics of trade, he details the various exchange rates for coins in
Basra
Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
,
Goa
Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
and Negapatan including silver
Serafini (Xerafims), Venetian Liri, and Gold
Zecchini. He describes how merchants used the
abacus for calculations, and their units of measurement. In Cocchi, he was able to see the arrival of a merchant ship from China, and was able to discuss the coins used by merchants in Malacca, and the emperor-sponsored preaching of Christianity by the
Jesuit
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s in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
Near San Thome and other sites in India, he observed on the rites of
suttee. In Negapatan he watched the funeral rites for the king, including when women of his harem and some of his subjects willingly threw themselves and died under the wheels of a funeral carriage procession. He also had numerous observations on Hindu rites. He describes people drowning themselves in the Ganges to gain paradise. He claims
Brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...
priests in Cochin can exert licentiousness with woman in the province, rich or poor, married or single.
Yet his account, often cursory, seems to stress the barbarity of the place, and his abhorrence of non-Christian religions, often deriding them as devil-worship. He finds as much to fear from man as from animals. He noted frequently the danger from man-eating
tiger
The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...
s. In the
Andaman islands
The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a maritime boundary between th ...
, they stop off on an island named Carnalcubar, which they say is populated by savage cannibals.
He describes the four white
elephant
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...
s kept by the king of
Pegù. He also describes how they catch and domesticate wild elephants. He described their marriage ceremonies,. and festivities. He described the harsh physical punishments, including castration, for different immoral offences. He also described that he witnessed the king of Pegu, after a war, put four thousand inhabitants, men, women, and children, of a town to death by fire. He states he ''watched it with great compassion and my pain, seeing young blameless angels suffer martyrdom.'' In another anecdote, in 1583, Nadabayin, then king of Pegu, inquired from Balbi, as to who was the king of Venice. Balbi replied, there was no king, and ''that it is governed as a republic and not dominated by any king, taken by such a great marvel this king, began to laugh in such fashion that he was overcome with coughing and he said it gave him great displeasure (for me) to have such said to great persons like him''.
[Quoted in Robert Finlay i]
immortal republic: the myth of Venice during the Italian wars (1494-1530).
/ref>
While Marco Polo's travels were, by then, centuries old; Balbi's commentary is generally contemporary with travels by the fellow-Venetian Niccolò de' Conti Niccolò is an Italian male given name, derived from the Greek Nikolaos meaning "Victor of people" or "People's champion".
There are several male variations of the name: Nicolò, Niccolò, Nicolas, and Nicola. The female equivalent is Nicole. The fe ...
and Cesare Federici Cesare, the Italian version of the given name Caesar, may refer to:
Given name
* Cesare, Marquis of Beccaria (1738–1794), an Italian philosopher and politician
* Cesare Airaghi (1840–1896), Italian colonel
* Cesare Arzelà (1847–1912), It ...
. The Genoese Hieronymo di San Stefano and Varthema of Bologna, occurred at the beginning of the 16th century. The more eloquent tale of Gemelli Careri Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri (1651–1725) was a seventeenth-century Italian adventurer and traveler. He was among the first Europeans to tour the world by securing passage on ships involved in the carrying trade; his travels, undertaken for pl ...
in ''Giro del Mondo'' would be over a century later.
Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balbi, Gasparo
Explorers of Asia
Explorers from the Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice merchants
Italian travel writers
Italian male non-fiction writers
16th-century Venetian writers
16th-century Italian businesspeople
16th-century male writers
16th-century travel writers