Index viatorum extra Europam saec. XIII-XVIII

Project Description

Since the 13th century, the contacts between Europe and the other continents became more and more intensive. Many travellers and adventurers left their home towns to discover new worlds and to find new opportunities. Even though this has been in the focus of research for many years, it is still very difficult to survey who went abroad and to what direction. Even more, the reports about the travellers are scattered over many libraries and archives.
This project aims at collecting basic information for single travellers from the early modern period (XIIIth-XVIIIth century) as a tool for anyone working on the history of travelling and exploration. Since this is only an individual approach,it will for a long time remain work in progress. Nevertheless, the single entries will include (if available):

  • the names;
  • the dates of travelling;
  • the areas visited, both general or concrete;
  • the dates of birth and death, if known;
  • the home town or place, family relationship or profession;
  • the manuscripts;
  • the printed editions, also in other languages;
  • (modern) translations;
  • references, especially citations in secondary literature and articles from encyclopedias.