The Travels of Cristoforo Buondelmonti and Ciriaco dAncona in the Aegean Sea

This book explores the travels of Cristoforo Buondelmonti and Ciriaco dAncona to the Greek lands in the early fifteenth-century eastern Mediterranean. Drawing on post-colonial studies' frameworks, such as travel writing and imaginative geographies, this volume offers an innovative examination of colonial discursive and cultural practices within the Latin dominions in the Greek lands. It sheds light on their contributions to the conceptualization of both the "Italian metropolitan" space and the "Greek" identity of the colonized. This volume investigates how Cristoforos and Ciriacos travel narratives utilized conceptual tools and representation systems of early humanism to support Latin political and economic interests in the eastern Mediterranean. It delves into the imaginative geographies of Venetian Crete, the islands of the archipelago, Constantinople, the Byzantine Despotate of the Morea, and portrayals of the Ottomans as constructed by the two travelers, offering insights into the interaction of Latin humanistic and colonial discourses and the agency of travelers in shaping the colonial space. The book will be of value to scholars, undergraduate and postgraduate students across various research fields, including Renaissance and postcolonial studies, travel literature, Latin dominions in the Aegean, Byzantine and Ottoman history.