Paper short abstract:

I will investigate, with a selection of original documents, the discourse concerning Venetian travellers in Maritime Asia during the Early Modern Age. They provided an important perspective for global history, in which the Republic of Venice played a vital, but often underestimated, role.

Paper long abstract:

The topic of Venetian travellers along the "Spice Route" between 16th and 17th century is a truly global moment of the history of the "Repubblica Serenissima". Some of these travellers such as De Conti, Balbi, Federici, were real pioneers in the description of many of the most remote regions of maritime Asia, such as Indonesia, the 'spice islands' and Burma. Some travellers and their accounts are well know, others much less so. Pioneers in many fields, Venetian travellers were moving through a network of traders and goods on the maritime route of Asia. Without any colonial intentions, they created fruitful cultural exchanges between two worlds: Asia and Europe.

I have investigated this complex cultural period having consulted a unique 18th century Venetian map, the traveller's first-hand accounts and some unpublished material.