Translating and Updating Iberian Knowledge in the Renaissance

Was Jan Huygen van Linschoten a genius traveller and writer?

Reading the Itinerario, the massive operation of knowledge transmission becomes patent. Maritime, commercial, botanical, political, economic, social, ethnographical and nautical knowledge are mixed to such an extent that one wonders about the sources used in such a detailed encyclopedia.

In order to write the Itinerario, Linschoten was assisted by his editor Cornelis Claesz, who ensured him access to several non-Dutch books. Such are the Spanish cases of Arte de navegar by Pedro de Medina, Compendio de la arte de navegar by Rodrigo Zamorano, Historia de las Indias by Bartolomé de Las Casas, Historia natural y moral de las Indias by José de Acosta, Historia del gran reyno de la China by Juan González de Mendoza and Historia general y natural de las Indias by Gonzalo Férnandez de Oviedo. On the Portuguese side, Linschoten also relied on Colóquio dos simples by Garcia de Orta, a book he owned. He also “discovered” other books at Goa such as Lusíadas by Luís de Camões, História do descobrimento e conquista da Índia by Fernão Lopes de Castanheda, Décadas by João de Barros and Desengano de perdidos by D. Gaspar de Leão Pereira. As for Italian sources, he consulted Relatione del reame di Congo by Filippo Pigafetta, Decades by Peter Martyr and Della navigatione et viaggi by Giovanni Baptista Ramussio. On the French side, he accessed Historia navigationis in Brasiliam by Jean de Léry.

Some of these works were translated into Dutch by Claesz, while Linschoten was working on the Itinerario. Such are the cases of the books by Mendoza, Las Casas, Pigafetta, Léry and the reedition of Medina. Linschoten also translated into Dutch Acosta’s book. In the Itinerario, information from these books was mixed with Linschoten’s narrative. This massive operation of translation helped trigger the Dutch overseas expansion, exactly as it had happened with the French and the English since the beginning of the sixteenth century.

The transformations that scientific knowledge went through in these processes meant that it lost its original “nationality” and became increasingly European, spreading like wildfire the Renaissance appetite for knowledge. Iberian books on the marvellous New Worlds and sailings gave a boost to these translations and shaped decisively European identity. [Nuno Vila-Santa]