714 william eamon
The event that caused these momentous changes was the european
encounter with the new World. For the most part, Venetians did not par-
ticipate in the oceanic discoveries except as mapmakers, armchair travel-
ers, and disseminators of secondhand news about the americas. a notable
exception was the mysterious Venetian “Messer codro,” who is mentioned
by numerous Spanish chroniclers, from Gonzalo Fernández de oviedo to
Hernando de Soto.39 This eccentric and adventurous explorer, who went
to the new World about 1515 and died there, studied the plants and ani-
mals of central america and is said to have discovered the properties of
the balsam tree (goaconax). oviedo, who knew codro, reported that the
naturalist was “very wise and experienced in the natural sciences” and
that he died “in the performance of his work, like Pliny in his, investi-
gating and looking into the secrets of nature.”40 codro, who was buried
on the island of cebaco off the coast of Panama, left no account of his
adventures, and his legacy is remembered only by the Spanish chroniclers
who knew him.
nevertheless, like all europeans, Venetians were fascinated by the new
World. Venetian writers produced numerous accounts of the voyages of
others. Between 1555 and 1576, Venetian presses published 12 editions of
Francisco lópez de Gómara’s Historia general de las Indias, an important
Spanish work on the natural history of the new World. Four editions of
Bartolomé de las casas’s Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies
were printed by Marco Ginammi between 1626 and 1643 in both Spanish
and italian versions, thus fueling interest in the “american controversy.”41
Venetian printers played a leading role in disseminating news about the
novel things being brought back from america and asia.42
no example better illustrates Venetians’ fascination with the geograph-
ical discoveries than the passion, bordering on fanaticism, of Giovanni
Battista ramusio (1485–1557), a scholar who worked as a secretary to the
39 antonello Gerbi, Nature in the New World: From Christopher Columbus to Gonzalo
Fernández de Oviedo, trans. J. Moyle (Pittsburgh, 1985), pp. 198–200.
40 ibid., p. 200.
41 angela caracciolo aricò, “il nuovo Mondo e l’umanesimo: immagini e miti dell’
editoria veneziana,” in aricò, ed., L’Impatto della scoperta dell’America nella cultural
veneziana (rome, 1990).
42 Peter Burke, “early Modern Venice as a center of information and communication,”
in John Martin and dennis romano, eds., Venice Reconsidered: The History and Civilization
of an Italian City-State, 1297–1797 (Baltimore, 2000), pp. 388–419. on translations of
Spanish writings on the discoveries, see donatella Ferro, “Traduzioni di opere spagnole
sulla scoperta dell’america nell’editoria veneziana del cinquecento,” in angela caracciolo
aricò, ed., L’impatto della scoperta dell’America (rome, 1990), pp. 93–105.