author
Pietro Martire d' Anghiera
1457–1526
An Italian humanist at the Spanish court, he became one of the earliest chroniclers of Europe's encounters with the Americas. His vivid letters and histories helped shape how the New World was first described to European readers.
1 Audiobook
De Orbe Novo, Volume 1 (of 2) The Eight Decades of Peter Martyr D'Anghera
by Pietro Martire d' Anghiera
About the author
Born in Arona in 1457, Pietro Martire d'Anghiera—often known in English as Peter Martyr d'Anghiera—was an Italian scholar who built his career in Spain during the Renaissance. He served at the Spanish court as a teacher, diplomat, chaplain, and royal official, moving in the circles of Ferdinand and Isabella at a moment when Spain was expanding its power overseas.
He is best remembered as one of the first major historians of the Age of Exploration. Drawing on reports from Columbus and other explorers, he wrote letters and historical works that described the early Spanish voyages and the peoples and lands of the Americas. His best-known work, commonly referred to as De Orbe Novo, became a key early source for European readers trying to understand the newly encountered world.
For listeners interested in firsthand voices from the sixteenth century, his writing offers something rare: a learned court insider trying to make sense of events that were still unfolding. Even centuries later, his work remains important both for what it records and for how it reveals Europe's earliest interpretations of the Atlantic world.