Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri
Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri (* 1651 in Radicena, today Taurianova , † 1725 in Naples ) was an Italian lawyer, adventurer and world traveler.
Life
Born in the Principality of Terranova, the young bourgeoisie attended a Jesuit college and obtained a doctorate in jurisprudence in Naples. He tried to gain a foothold in the Neapolitan judiciary but saw his career hindered and went traveling. He engaged in the fight against the Turks who were then besieging Ofen (Buda) and was wounded. On his return to Naples he published, together with Matteo Egizio , a Neapolitan scholar, a report in letters on the campaign in Hungary ( Relazione delle Campagne d'Ungheria , 1689) and the travelogue Viaggi in Europa (1693).
Gemelli Careri tried again to make a career in the Neapolitan judiciary, but found himself disabled because of his middle-class background. So in 1693 he decided to travel around the world via Malta, Egypt, the Holy Land, Constantinople, Armenia, Persia and India to China, the Philippines and Mexico. From there he returned to Naples on a Spanish ship.
Publication Giro del mondo
Between 1699 and 1700 the publisher Roselli published his six-volume travelogue Reise um die Welt ( Giro del mondo ). Gemelli Careri is often referred to as the first tourist. His trip around the world was considered fictional for a long time, but today it is considered authentic, not least because of its precise detailed descriptions.
Literature on Careri
- Angela Maccarrone Amuso: Gianfrancesco Gemelli-Careri. L'Ulisse del XVII secolo. Biografia scientifica di un grande di Calabria . Rome, Gangemi 2000.
- Stefania Buccini: Coerenza metodologica nel "Giro del mondo" di Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri . In: Annali d'Italianistica , Volume 14, 1996, pp. 246-256 ( online ).
- Michele Fatica: L'itinerario sinico di Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri. Saggio di decrittazione degli antroponimi europei e dei toponimi cinesi nel Giro del mondo . In: Sitti Faizah, Soenoto Rivai and Luigi Santa Maria (eds.): Persembahan. Studi in onore di Luigi Santa Maria , Napoli, Istituto Universitario Orientale 1998.
- Eugenio Menegon : Desire, Truth, and Propaganda. Lay and Ecclesiastical Travelers from Europe to China in the Long Eighteenth Century . In: Roberta Micallef (Ed.): Ilex Foundation, Harvard University Press, Boston, Cambridge 2018, pp. 11–41 ( online ).
- Philippe de Vargas: The "Giro del mondo" de Gemelli Careri, en particulier de récit du séjour en Chine. Roman ou vérité ?. In: Swiss Journal for History , Volume 5, 1955, pp. 417–451 ( online ).
Web links
- Giro del mondo (digitized from vol. 6 of the 1699 edition, Italian)
- Entry in Pierer's Universal Lexicon , Volume 7 (1857) at Zeno.org
Individual evidence
- ↑ see e.g. B. General Geographic Ephemeris, Volume 42
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gemelli Careri, Giovanni Francesco |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Careri, Giovanni |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian lawyer, adventurer and world traveler |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1651 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Radicena |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1725 |
| Place of death | Naples |