Venetian Merchant Tales: What Can be Found Concerning European Thoughts of the East Before De Gama
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Thesis: In the 124 years between the journeys of Marco Polo and Niccoló di Conti, European concepts of the East changed very little. Venetian Merchant Tales: What Can be Found Concerning European Thoughts of the East Before De Gama from the Stories of Marco Polo and Niccoló di Conti By Michael J. Gilbert
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Thesis : In the 124 years between the journeys of Marco Polo and Niccoló di Conti, European concepts of the East changed very little. Venetian Merchant Tales: What Can be Found Concerning European Thoughts of the East Before De Gama from the Stories of Marco Polo and Niccoló di Conti By - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of Venetian Merchant Tales: What Can be Found Concerning European Thoughts of the East Before De Gama
Thesis: In the 124 years between the journeys of
Marco Polo and Niccoló di Conti, European concepts of the East changed very
little.
Venetian Merchant Tales:What Can be Found Concerning European Thoughts of the East Before
De Gamafrom the Stories of
Marco Polo and Niccoló di Conti By
Michael J. Gilbert
OUR TRAVELERS
MARCO POLO (1254-1324) Traveled in the East from 1269-93.
NICCOLÓ di CONTI (1385-1469) In East from 1419-39. Did not make it back home until 1444
THEIR AUTHORS
RUSTICHELLO de PISA (13th century) - Description of the World or The Million or The Travels of Marco Polo (c.1299) Original manuscript unknown. To date, 140 known Polo MSS.
Poggio of Florence (1380-1459) - On the Vicissitudes of Fortune (1448)
Pero Tafur (1410-1487) – The Travels of Pero Tafur (c.1454) unpublished until 1874
MAIN POINTS
•Formulaic descriptions1. Descriptions of trade goods empathized.2. Stories of awe.3. Religious differences.
•Reception of these tales1. Disbelief of Polo.2. Relative obscurity of di Conti’s story. 3. The presence of tall tales in di Conti’s story based on
legend and hearsay.4. The Far East remains mysterious to scholars long after
both travelers are gone.
CONCLUSION:
Outside of some cartographic advances, it appears that not much had changed in the 124 years between our travelers in regard to how Europeans viewed the Far East.
