Travelers

Before the late nineteenth century, very little about Tibet was known in the West. In fact, Western knowledge of Tibet developed during the waning of imperial Chinese power there and with Tibet's brief "independence period" (1904 - 1950). This meant that when Westerners went to …

This dissertation examines three fifteenth century travel accounts to show the effects of the commercial milieu on personal religious identity of individuals. Afanasii Nikitin (1468-1474), a Russian merchant from Tver', Nicolo de Conti (1419-1444), a merchant from Venice, and Lu…