The Travels of Mendes Pinto
by Fernão Mendes Pinto
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This text, ostensibly the autobiography of Portugese explorer Fernão Mendes Pinto, came second only to Marco Polo's work in exciting Europe's imagination of the Orient. Chronicling adventures from Ethiopia to Japan, Travels covers twenty years of Mendes Pinto's odyssey as a soldier, a merchant, a diplomat, a slave, a pirate, and a missionary, and continues to overwhelm questions about its source with the sheer enjoyment of its narrative. "[T]here is plenty here for the modern reader. . . . show more The vivid descriptions of swashbuckling military campaigns and exotic locations make this a great adventure story. . . . Mendes Pinto may have been a sensitive eyewitness, or a great liar, or a brilliant satirist, but he was certainly more than a simple storyteller."--Stuart Schwartz, The New York Times show lessTags
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The biographical memories of a Portuguese adventurer in 16th century Asia from an original contemporaneous manuscript. Features one of the first accounts of firearms introduction in Japan. An impressive raw account of the clash of hugely different civilizations in the early age of European maritime expansion and of the controversial role of a peculiar strain of courageous and often unscrupulous adventurers.
Un récit extraordinaire des aventures d'un marin portugais au 16ème siècle, à une époque où l'occident découvrait l'extrême-orient. Tour à tour soldat au service de la couronne, mercenaire au service de puissances étrangères, commerçant, naufragé et même esclave, ce livre est une tranche d'histoire qui se lit avec bonheur.
Dec 10, 2007French
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As 50 obras essenciais da literatura portuguesa
50 works; 1 member
Author Information
40+ Works 263 Members
Very little is known about Pinto's life except what is related in his only work, Peregrinacao (translated as The Travels of Mendes Pinto). At his death the manuscript for the book passed to Pinto's daughters, but was not published until 1614. Pinto left his native Montemoro-Velho for Lisbon, embarking a few years later for the Orient, where he show more spent almost three decades. He claimed to have been a friend of St. Francis Xavier and, for more than 10 years, a pirate, merchant, and diplomat. While in Asia, he became a Jesuit lay brother for about two years, although he was possibly a Marrano. (Reader's Advisory copyright 1996) show less
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Belongs to Publisher Series
La clàssica (10)
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Travels of Mendes Pinto
- Original title
- Peregrinação
- Original publication date
- 1614
- People/Characters
- Fernão Mendes Pinto
- Important places
- Malacca, Malaysia
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 152
- Popularity
- 215,581
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.27)
- Languages
- 9 — Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Multiple languages, Portuguese, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 21
- ASINs
- 3
