3 Review(s)

Varthema was a native of Genoa in Italy. He toured the east for 6 years 1502 to 1508 His travels took him far and wide from the near and Middle East across India and the Indian Ocean right up to the South East Asian Islands. He traveled in Arabia and was probably the first European to visit the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. In India he toured Western Indian which is washed by the Arabian Sea. In the South East Asian Islands he went to Malacca, Banda, Pegu, Java, Sumatra etc. He then returned to India from where he set sail home. The book is rich in description. Anecdotes and events find a lively mention. The people and their customs are vividly noticed by him. Tales of local history intersperse the book. Translated from the original Italian edition of 1510 by John Winter Jones in 1863 for the Hakluyt Society; with a discourse on Varthema and his travels in southern Asia by Sir Richard Carnac Temple. This book is a reprint of the 1928 edition.