The Indian journeys of a Spanish ambassador: Don García de Silva y Figueroa and his Comentarios (1614-1624)

Abstract

In 1614, Don García de Silva y Figueroa sailed from Lisbon, bound for India, in charge of a diplomatica mission to Persia. This was the beggining of a long journey, that would last for a decade, till the return voyage to Europe. The Iberian crown had been trying to maintain a diplomatic dialogue with Shah ‘Abbas, through the regular exchange of envoys and ambassadors. Its aim was to maintain at all costs a solid Portuguese position in the Persian Gulf area. The Spanish ambassador was a scholarly man, who had studied at Salamanca, and certainly with many later readings. He was fluent in Latin and was well acquainted with classical literature. As a modern traveler, he carefully prepared his journey to Persia, reading numerous historical and geographical works then available in Europe. Like many educated men of his time, he was interested in a wide range of themes and issues, crossing several disciplines, ranging from geography to the art of navigation, from ethnography and zoology to botany, from classic literature to archeology and history. He was also a compulsive diarist, who throughout his lengthy eastern pilgrimages wrote a voluminous travelogue. This paper aims to present briefly Don Garcia and his Comentarios, the title of his voluminous manuscript of about a thousand pages, which describes the journey from Lisbon to Persia.