Niccolò de' Conti

Niccolò di Conti ( also Nicolo de ' Conti, Niccolo da Conti, dei Conti, * ca 1395, † 1469 ) was a Venetian merchant and explorer.

Life and Travel

In 1419 he left Venice and settled in Damascus. He traveled to Egypt and converted to Islam for the sake of form. In order to make his travel plans to India possible he married a Muslim - because at that time was Christian a trip to the East locked so as not to threaten the monopoly of trade with India and China. He learned Arabic and traveled to Asia to 1444.

Niccolo di Conti first traveled through the desert to Baghdad, then by boat on the Tigris to Basra. About the Persian Gulf led his way to Persia and India. From Cambay, he traveled from the West Coast to Pacamuria. He crossed the Indian subcontinent and visited Vijayanagar ( capital of the Deccan to 1556 ). On the east coast he visited the grave of St. Thomas in Mylapore from his visit. Around 1421 he remained for a year in Pedir ( North Sumatra ). About Burma and Bengal it went to Java, from there to Champa (Vietnam). The return journey was made via Calicut, Cambay, Aden, Berbera, Jiddah, the Sinai and Cairo.

Niccolo di Conti 1444 returned back to Venice. Poggio Bracciolini, secretary of Pope Eugenius IV, wrote down his travel reports.

It is speculated whether Conti also had contact with Chinese traders, who told him about Japan. His reports of the foreign countries in Asia used, including Martin Behaim as a basis for its globe.