Italian Reports on America, 1493-1522: Accounts by Contemporary Observers (Repertorium Columbianum)

This volume brings together 21 contemporary descriptions of the Americas, written by a variety of Italian observers in the generation following Columbus' first voyage. The authors range from diarists recording noteworthy events to merchants relating items of news they had heard from their commercial contacts, to the reflections of prelates, government officials and scholars. Among these accounts an early version of the humanist Peter Martyr's account of America, pirated by a Venetian diplomat, Angelo Trevisan, figures prominently, along with Michaela de Cuneo's vivid memoir of Columbus' second voyage. These documents illustrate the European reaction to the undreamed of social, political and natural world revealed by the Columban voyages and the wonder, curiosity and frequent misapprehension that this exotic new reality provoked. This volume forms a companion to Italian Reports on America, 1493-1522: Letters, Dispatches and Papal Bulls.