From Genoa to Calicut: Hieronimo de Santo Stefano
A Genoese merchant, Hieronimo di Santo Stefano, visited India at the close of the fifteen century, around 1494-99. His observations provide us with a unique insight into the customs of the time.
Santo Stefano and his partner, Adorno, first proceeded to Cairo, where they bought merchandise and then set off for India. They traveled from Cairo by land to Cosseir, a port on the Red Sea, and then sailed via Massawa to Aden. After a lengthy voyage across the Indian Ocean, they arrived at the flourishing port of Calicut.
After leaving Calicut, Santo Stefano and his partner continued on to Ceylon and then to Pegu. In Pegu, Stefano was compelled to sell his merchandise to the king of Pegu, who agreed to pay him 2000 ducats, but was incredibly slow in doing so. Unfortunately, Adorno passed away there. Eventually, Stefano was able to recover his property and set sail for Sumatra, where he encountered even more hardships.
Stefano then set off for Cambay. After being detained for six months due to bad weather in the Maldives and subsequently experiencing a shipwreck, he lost all his goods and finally reached Cambay in a state of poverty. In Cambay, a merchant from Damascus took him into his service and sent him as a supercargo to Ormuz. From there, Stefano made his way through Persia to Tripoli in Lebanon.
At Tripoli, he wrote an account of his travels in a letter to his Genoese friend, Messer Giovan Jacobo Mainer, on September 1st, 1499.
While in Calicut, Santo Stefano observed pepper and ginger growing abundantly. He described the pepper trees as similar to ivy, as they attach themselves to other trees for support and have leaves resembling ivy. The bunches of pepper are about half a palm in length and as slender as a finger, with the grains growing closely together. He explained that the reason why pepper does not grow in his region is due to the lack of suitable trees to plant it. The belief that pepper is scorched to prevent it from growing is false. Pepper, when ripe and harvested, is green like ivy, but it turns black and wrinkled after drying in the sun for 5-6 days.
For the propagation of ginger, a small piece of fresh root about the size of a small nut is planted, which grows larger within a month with leaves resembling those of a wild lily.
In this area, there are many trees that produce the nut of India (coconut) and are similar to palm trees.
The lord of the city is an idolater, and so are the people. They worship oxen, the sun, and various idols that they make themselves. When they die, they are cremated. Some people kill all kinds of animals except oxen and cows. If anyone were to kill or harm these animals, they would be immediately killed because they are objects of worship. Others never eat meat, fish, or anything that was once alive.
Every woman may have seven or eight husbands according to her preference. Men never marry a woman who is a virgin. If a virgin is betrothed, she is given to another person for 15-20 days before the wedding in order to lose her virginity.
In this city, there are up to one thousand homes inhabited by Christians, and the district is known as Upper India.
Reference:
Account of the Journey of Hieronimo di Santo Stefano, a Genovese, addressed to Messer Giovan Jacob Mainer - India in the Fifteenth Century
Santo Stefano and his partner, Adorno, first proceeded to Cairo, where they bought merchandise and then set off for India. They traveled from Cairo by land to Cosseir, a port on the Red Sea, and then sailed via Massawa to Aden. After a lengthy voyage across the Indian Ocean, they arrived at the flourishing port of Calicut.
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| Probably the earliest depiction of Calicut, from 1572 |
After leaving Calicut, Santo Stefano and his partner continued on to Ceylon and then to Pegu. In Pegu, Stefano was compelled to sell his merchandise to the king of Pegu, who agreed to pay him 2000 ducats, but was incredibly slow in doing so. Unfortunately, Adorno passed away there. Eventually, Stefano was able to recover his property and set sail for Sumatra, where he encountered even more hardships.
Stefano then set off for Cambay. After being detained for six months due to bad weather in the Maldives and subsequently experiencing a shipwreck, he lost all his goods and finally reached Cambay in a state of poverty. In Cambay, a merchant from Damascus took him into his service and sent him as a supercargo to Ormuz. From there, Stefano made his way through Persia to Tripoli in Lebanon.
At Tripoli, he wrote an account of his travels in a letter to his Genoese friend, Messer Giovan Jacobo Mainer, on September 1st, 1499.
While in Calicut, Santo Stefano observed pepper and ginger growing abundantly. He described the pepper trees as similar to ivy, as they attach themselves to other trees for support and have leaves resembling ivy. The bunches of pepper are about half a palm in length and as slender as a finger, with the grains growing closely together. He explained that the reason why pepper does not grow in his region is due to the lack of suitable trees to plant it. The belief that pepper is scorched to prevent it from growing is false. Pepper, when ripe and harvested, is green like ivy, but it turns black and wrinkled after drying in the sun for 5-6 days.
For the propagation of ginger, a small piece of fresh root about the size of a small nut is planted, which grows larger within a month with leaves resembling those of a wild lily.
In this area, there are many trees that produce the nut of India (coconut) and are similar to palm trees.
The lord of the city is an idolater, and so are the people. They worship oxen, the sun, and various idols that they make themselves. When they die, they are cremated. Some people kill all kinds of animals except oxen and cows. If anyone were to kill or harm these animals, they would be immediately killed because they are objects of worship. Others never eat meat, fish, or anything that was once alive.
Every woman may have seven or eight husbands according to her preference. Men never marry a woman who is a virgin. If a virgin is betrothed, she is given to another person for 15-20 days before the wedding in order to lose her virginity.
In this city, there are up to one thousand homes inhabited by Christians, and the district is known as Upper India.
Reference:
Account of the Journey of Hieronimo di Santo Stefano, a Genovese, addressed to Messer Giovan Jacob Mainer - India in the Fifteenth Century
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