Ludovico di Varthema, also known as Barthema and Vertomannus (c. 1470 – 1517), was an Italian traveller, diarist and aristocrat known for being one of the first non-Muslim Europeans to enter Mecca as a pilgrim. Nearly everything that is known about his life comes from his own account of his travels, Itinerario de Ludouico de Varthema Bolognese, published in Rome in 1510.
Biography
Middle East Varthema was born in Bologna. He was perhaps a soldier before beginning his distant journeys, which he undertook apparently from a passion for adventure, novelty and the fame which (then especially) attended successful exploration.
Varthema left Europe near the end of 1502. Early in 1503, he reached Alexandria and ascended the Nile to Cairo. From Egypt, he sailed to Beirut and thence travelled to Tripoli, Aleppo and Damascus, where he managed to get himself enrolled, under the name of Yunus (Jonah), in the Mamluk garrison.
Mecca
From Damascus, Varthema made the journey to Mecca and Medina as one of the Mamluk escorts of a Hajj pilgrim caravan (April–June 1503). He describes the sacred cities of Islam and the chief pilgrim sites and ceremonies with remarkable accuracy, almost all his details being confirmed by later writers. Varthema was one of the first non-Muslim Europeans to visit these cities.Badger (1863: p.xxxvi)
While in Mecca, Varthema was confronted by a Muslim overseas merchant, who accused him of being a Christian. The merchant explained to Varthema that nerves were on edge on account of the activities of the Portuguese, who had recently begun encroaching on the Indian Ocean and attacking Muslim shipping. (The massacre of the passengers of a Mecca pilgrim ship by Vasco da Gama in 1502 had been particularly shocking, although this event is not explicitly referred to by Varthema).
Hearing these stories, Varthema conceived of a ruse to get to India. Varthema presented himself as a master cannon founder, seeking to offer his services to the Muslim Sultan of Bijapur ("King of the Deccan"), to cast artillery to fight the Portuguese. Impressed by Varthema's resolution, the overseas Meccan merchant hid Varthema in his home, and the Mamluk escort returned to Syria without him.
Yemen
With the Meccan merchant's assistance, Ludovico de Varthema embarked an Arab merchant vessel at Jeddah, a city-port around 80 km west to Mecca, destined for India. It sailed down the Red Sea and through the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb to Aden. However, upon reaching Aden, he was arrested and imprisoned as a Christian spy. He was accused of being a crew member of some Portuguese ships that had been preying on Arab shipping nearby (probably a reference to the squadron of Vicente Sodré, which was prowling the Gulf of Aden around this time.)
By his own account, Varthema gained his liberty after imprisonment both at Aden and Radaa because of a love affair with one of the sultanas of Yemen. The sultana kept him in her palace at Radaa for a while. Eventually, feigning a malady, Varthema secured the sultana's permission to leave Radaa to seek out a cure with a specialist in Aden. He subsequently took a tour through south-west Arabia (claiming to have visited Sanaa), before finally returning to Aden again. The actuality of his visit to Sanaa and the accuracy of his observations have been questioned on the basis of, among other things, his uncorroborated description of the Sultan's son being two dozen feet tall and inclined to bite people, kill them, and eat their flesh.Moscrop, Andrew. The Camel's Neighbour : Travel and Travellers in Yemen. Oxford, 2020.
Persia
Probably using the sultana's cash gift, Varthema purchased passage on an Arab ship for India. By now it was March 1504. The ship was supposed to make a stop in the Persian Gulf first, but contrary winds forced it in the opposite direction, and it ended up having to sail south instead, calling in at Zeila and Berbera (on the coast of Somalia). He gives brief descriptions of both places.
From Somalia, the ship proceeded to sail across the Arabian Sea to the Indian port of Diu in Gujarat. From Diu, it sailed up the Gulf of Cambay to Gogo. Business done there, the ship sailed back across the Arabian Sea to the Persian Gulf. The ship made landfall at Julfar, on the other side of Cape Mussandam at the entrance to the gulf, then doubled back over the cape to make a brief stop in Muscat, before proceeding across the strait to Hormuz.
Arriving in Hormuz in the aftermath of a palace coup, Varthema did not linger for long, but proceeded to cross to mainland Persia. He seems to have traveled northeast across Persia to Herat (twelve days’ journey from Hormuz), and then returned southwest to Shiraz (twenty-three days). Along the way, he passed a river which he (erroneously) identifies as the Euphrates (it is probably the Pulvar RiverGeorge Percy Badger, (1863) "Introduction" in J.W. Jones (1863) The Travels of Ludovico di Varthema London: Hakluyt. pp.xvii-cxii). Varthema describes the Persians as, "the most cunning men in intellect and at falsifying things of any nation in the world," but also as "the best companions and the most liberal of any men who inhabit the earth."
In Shiraz, Varthema came by chance across a Persian merchant whom he had met earlier in Mecca. The Persian merchant, named "Cazazioner" in the chronicle (probably an Italianization of "Khwaja Junair" in original PersianRichard Carnac Temple (1928) "A Discourse on Varthema and his Travels" in 1928 reprint of J.W. Jones (1863) The Itinerary of Ludovico di Varthema of Bologna, from 1502 to 1508. p.xvii), entered into a partnership with Varthema, whom he still called Yunus and believed was a fellow Muslim. The two would remain together for the remainder of Varthema's travels in Asia. It seems clear that Varthema was the junior partner in the arrangement, and that Cazazioner was also cultivating him as a future son-in-law. The subsequent itinerary was primarily set by Cazazioner's commercial interests, with Varthema accompanying him through his routine trade stops.
Ludovico de Varthema and his new Persian partner joined an overland caravan to Samarkand, but the expedition was called off partway upon news of disturbances in the area. Varthema refers to the Shi'ite Safavid rising, which had spread into northern Iran around this time. The caravan returned to Shiraz.
India
With the overland route closed by war, Ludovico de Varthema and his Persian partner proceeded from Shiraz down to Ormuz, where they took ship for India. They made call at the mouth of the Indus River. From there, Varthema and his Persian partner sailed down the west coast of India. This cruise began around October 1504.
Their first stop was the bustling port of Cambay, in modern Gujarat. Varthema gives a vivid description of the Sultan of Cambay and a garbled description of Jains and Yogi ascetics. They then proceeded south, making stops at Chaul and Dabul, before reaching Goa. From Goa, Varthema and his partner made a seven-day excursion inland to Bijapur, capital of the Deccan sultanate of Adil Khan. Returning to the coast and boarding ship again, they continued south, making stops at Ankala, Honavar, Bhatkal and Mangalore, most of them tributary ports of the inland Hindu kingdom of Vijaynagara (confusingly, in the sequence of his account, Varthema places Bhatkal before Ankola; it is probable he confused Karwar with Bhatkal).
They then reach Cannanore, the first of the major Malabari city-states in Kerala, notionally subject to the Zamorin. At Cannanore, Varthema may have seen the first Portuguese, who had a factory in the city, but apparently refrained from interacting with them, perhaps out of fear of being revealed. From Cannanore, Varthema and his partner took an overland journey of fifteen days to the interior city of Vijayanagara, capital of the eponymous Hindu empire. He briefly interrupts his travelogue at this point to describe war elephants and coinage of south India. It is probably around December 1504 now.
Returning to the coast, Varthema and his partner boarded ship again and proceeded down the Malabar Coast, making stops at the small ports of Dharmapattanam, Pandarane (Pantalayani, now Koyilandy) and Kappad (Capogatto) before finally reaching the great city of Calicut, seat of the Zamorin and the major spice emporium on the Malabar Coast. However, a naval trade blockade imposed on Calicut by the Portuguese had thinned the local markets, disappointing the business Varthema and his Persian partner had expected to conduct there. If the dating is correct (early January, 1505), Kerala was still smoldering in the aftermath of the hard-fought Battle of Cochin, and the most recent Portuguese armada was still in the vicinity.
At this point, Varthema breaks the narrative to describe Calicut in much detail. He gives an account of the Zamorin's court, government, the administration of justice and military. He describes the topography, economy, trade and navigation of the city, and gives an overview of the manners and customs of Malabari society. This chapter contains one of the earliest European descriptions of Hindu religion and the caste system. Nowhere do Varthema's observing power show themselves more strikingly, if still somewhat quaint and mistaken in some details.
Varthema and his Persian partner resumed their trip southwards via the inner lagoons and rivers of the Kerala backwaters rather than by the sea coast, possibly to elude Portuguese naval patrols. They skipped past Cochin, where the Portuguese had their strongest presence at the time, and sailed via the backwaters far as "Cacolon" (probably Kayamkulam). It is here where Varthema first encountered Saint Thomas Christians. Continuing on, they soon reached the major commercial city of Quilon, but as the ruler was a Portuguese ally, they did not linger there, but continued on quickly, now sailing by the coast again.
The ship carrying Varthema and his Persian partner rounded Cape Comorin (southern tip of India) and followed the coast northeast. They made a stop at the small port of "Chayl" (exact location uncertain but assumed to be one of the pearl fishery ports in the environs of Tuticorin).Badger (1863); Chayl is referred to as "Cael" in the 1516 Book of Duarte Barbosa (c.97) They proceeded on to a large port city that Varthema calls "Cioromandel", which seems to correspond to Negapatam, a vassal city of Vijayanagara on the Coromandel Coast of India.
Ceylon, Bengal, Burma
Varthema and his Persian partner stopped advancing further up the coast, as there were reports of war breaking out in the area. Instead, they took a ship with some other merchants across the Palk Strait to the island of Ceylon. His exact landing is unclear. His description is consistent with Colombo (in the westerly Kingdom of Kotte), but the speed of his journey makes it likelier to be northerly Jaffna. He gives a brief description of the island, the rivalry of its four kingdoms, and its cinnamon plantations. Their stay here was cut short after Cazazioner got entangled in the intrigues of a local Arab merchant. They set sail back to India, arriving three days later at Pulicat, another Vijayanagara subject city on the Coromandel coast.