Antiche relazioni dell’Indie e della China di due maomettani

Why this matters

Two Abbasid-era merchants, Sulaymān al-Tājir and Abu Zayd al-Sirafi, left vivid descriptions of India and China. Their Arabic Akhbār al-Ṣīn wa-l-Hind circulated in Europe through Eusèbe Renaudot’s French translation (1718). This Bologna printing converts Renaudot’s work into Italian, extending access to pre-European depictions of Indian Ocean commerce and urban life.

What’s inside

The volume presents the two Arabic narratives alongside Renaudot’s extensive notes. Sulaymān describes ports from the Malabar Coast to Canton, detailing spices, textiles, and Buddhist and Hindu rituals. Abu Zayd updates the account with ninth-century political changes, piracy reports, and Tang court ceremonies. The Italian translator adds glosses on weights, measures, and coinage so readers can compare Eastern systems with Mediterranean standards.

Historical setting

The original merchants wrote during the Abbasid golden age, when Muslim traders dominated maritime routes between Basra and Guangzhou. Eighteenth-century Orientalists valued these sources as counterpoints to classical and Jesuit descriptions. Printing the text in Bologna demonstrates the diffusion of Orientalist scholarship beyond Paris at a moment when European empires were re-evaluating Asian history.

Research notes

The Italian version faithfully reproduces Renaudot’s apparatus, including parallel references to Ptolemy and Chinese annals. Researchers can trace how names such as Sarandib (Sri Lanka) or Kollam (Quilon) evolve across translations. Comparing this edition with later English translations (e.g., Ferrand, Mackintosh-Smith) highlights shifts in interpretation.

Access

The Internet Archive scan offers sharp images of the typographic ornaments and the Jesuit approval. OCR handles most of the text, though long-s forms may require manual clean-up. Downloadable formats facilitate side-by-side comparison with the French original for multilingual research.