Ambrogio Contarini (1429 – 1499) was a Venetian nobleman, merchant and diplomat known for an account of his travel to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

.Bertotti, Filippo (1992), "Contarini, Ambrogio", in: ''

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encycl ...

'', Vol. VI, Fasc. 2, p. 220
Online (Accessed February 21, 2012)
Viaggio al signor Usun Hassan re di Persia

Ambrogio Contarini was a member of the patrician family of Contarini and spent his youth in the Ottoman capital of

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

as a merchant. He left the city after the Ottoman–Venetian war began in 1463. In 1470, he was aboard the ''Aegeus'', fighting the Ottomans at sea. The

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia ...

sought to forge a larger alliance against the Ottoman Empire and sent Contarini with a diplomatic mission to

Uzun Hassan Uzun Hasan or Uzun Hassan ( اوزون حسن; fa, اوزون حسن; 1423 – January 6, 1478; where ''uzun'' means "tall" in Oghuz Turkic) was a ruler of the Turkoman Aq Qoyunlu state and is generally considered to be its strongest ruler. Ha ...

, the Iranian ruler of the

Aq Qoyunlu The Aq Qoyunlu ( az, Ağqoyunlular , ) was a culturally Persianate,Kaushik Roy, ''Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400–1750'', (Bloomsbury, 2014), 38; "Post-Mongol Persia and Iraq were ruled by two tribal confederations: Akkoyunlu (W ...

clan. He left Venice in February 1474, traveled through

central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the ...

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Ky ...

, and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

and reached

Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quru River valley in Iran's historic Azerbaijan region between long ridges of vo ...

in August 1474. In October, he met Uzun Hassan at his capital of Isfahan. He was kindly received, but the Venetian proposal of alliance was declined. Contarini returned to Venice only in April 1477, after many delays and a difficult return voyage. On his journey home from Iran, Contarini stopped in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, where he had an audience with the Russian

tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the te ...

Ivan III Ivan III Vasilyevich (russian: Иван III Васильевич; 22 January 1440 – 27 October 1505), also known as Ivan the Great, was a Grand Prince of Moscow and Grand Prince of all Rus'. Ivan served as the co-ruler and regent for his bl ...

. On the day of his arrival in Venice, Contarini orally reported to the Council of the Republic. His report was published in Venice in 1476 by H. Foxius as ''Questo e el Viazo de misier Ambrogio Contarini''.reprinted 1524, 1543, 1545, 1559, translation by the Hakluyt Society, 1876 according to Clifford M Poe, Muscovite and Mandarin,2000, page 48,242 A written account of his mission appeared in print in 1486 in

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the '' Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a t ...

. Contarini's itinerary is dominated by his own personal vicissitudes, but contains much valuable information about the regions he visited, especially Iran under Uzun Hassan's rule.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Contarini, Ambrogio 1429 births 1499 deaths 15th-century Venetian writers Ambassadors of the Republic of Venice Explorers from the Republic of Venice Republic of Venice merchants Republic of Venice military personnel Italian travel writers Italian male writers

Ambrogio Ambrogio is a given name, and may refer to: *Saint Ambrogio (Ambrose), patron saint of Milan *Ambrogio Lorenzetti ( – 1348), painter * Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, the birth name of Pope Pius XI *Ambrogio Bergognone, Renaissance painter *Amb ...

Medieval Italian diplomats Medieval travel writers 15th-century diplomats 15th-century Italian businesspeople 15th-century travel writers Explorers of Iran Republic of Venice people of the Ottoman–Venetian Wars

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