Francesco Carletti

Francesco Carletti (1573–1636) was a Florentine merchant, explorer and writer.

He was the first private traveler to circumnavigate the globe (1594-1602). He left with his father, Antonio Carletti, a merchant, to the islands of Cape Verde to buy African slaves to be sold in the West Indies. From there went to the Spanish colonies in Panama, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and again to Mexico. They sailed from Acapulco to the Philippines in the Manila galleon and arrived on the island of Luzon, where they remained one year.

Then they moved to Japan and China, where his father Antonio died in 1598. Left alone, Francesco went to India and came to Goa, home to the Portuguese viceroy, where he remained for some time.

Taken by homesickness, he loaded on a Portuguese ship all his merchandise and sailed to Portugal. On the island of St. Helena he was attacked and his wealth plundered by Dutch ships. He eventually returned to Florence without his accumulated wealth. The Grand Duke Ferdinand I, who had protected him during the journey, took him to court. Francesco Carletti collected his travel experiences in twelve Arguments, dedicated to Ferdinand I.

While in Japan, Carletti purchased an enslaved Korean person, who became known as António Corea. Corea is renowned in Korea, as he is possibly the first Korean person to set foot in Europe.

Works and translations

 * In Italian: Francesco Carletti: Ragionamenti di Francesco Carletti Fiorentino sopra le cose da lui vedute ne’ suoi viaggi si dell’ Indie Occidentali, e Orientali Come d’altri Paesi.
 * Into German: Francesco Carletti: Reise um die Welt 1594: Erlebnisse eines Florentiner Kaufmanns. Aus d. Italien. übertr. von Ernst Bluth. Herrenalb/Schwarzwald: Erdmann, 1966
 * Into English: Francesco Carletti "My Voyage Around the World" Random House, New York, 1964.
 * Into Dutch: Francesco Carletti "Reis om de Wereld", translated by Jo Verhaart-Bodderij, Kruseman, Den Haag, 1958; 1985