The rediscovery of a classic of travel writing: Don García de Silva y Figueroa’s Comentarios
Keywords:
Travel writing, Iberian Union, Diplomacy, Persia, D. García de Silva y Figueroa, CommentariesCopyright (c) 2020 Rui Manuel Loureiro
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Abstract
During the Iberian Union (1580-1640), the relations between the Portuguese Estado da Índia and Persia were intensified. The Spanish Crown tried to enrol the Safavids in an alliance against the Ottoman Empire, sending sundry embassies to Persia. The embassy of D. Garcia de Silva y Figueroa to Persia between 1614 and 1624 is part of this larger context. The results of the embassy weren´t brilliant, and the ambassador, without achieving any of his aims, died in 1624 on his way back to Europe. Silva y Figueroa, however, was a compulsive writer, and during his long mission, besides writing several diplomatic letters, he prepared some long Comentarios of his travels. Very recently, this veritable classic of travel writing, long forgotten, was finally rediscovered, and the object of two importante editions.
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