"Gaspero Balbi, an Italian travelling to Southeast Asia in the sixteenth century, has left for us a valuable account of Burma during the reign of Bayinnaung. This account was originally published in English as --Gaspero Balbi his Voyage to Pegu, and observations there, gathered out of his owne Italian Relation,-- in Samuel Purchas (ed.), Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrimes Contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Lande Travells by Englishmen and Others, volume 10 (1626). Much of the narrative, however, covered his journal to the country, without reference to Burma, and this portion has been left out of the following version. According to the original editorâs introduction, Balbi, a Venetian jeweller, began his journey east with a caravan from Aleppo towards the Bagdet and the East Indies in 1579. He would not reach Burma for another three and a half years." Edited by Michael W. Charney for the SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research.

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