Insights from a travel journal: travel knowledge in the late sixteenth-century Mediterranean

Abstract

This article focuses on the travel journal of Joan Seguí, a Menorcan merchant and slave redeemer apprehended by the Inquisition of Mallorca in 1582. Drawing from this overlooked journal, composed by its owner during his travels to Constantinople and preserved within Inquisition records, the article simultaneously explores what kind of knowledge was necessary for Seguí to travel and trade across the Mediterranean and the evolution of his expertise in travel across the years. Exploring the question of language acquisition and mercantile information, it analyses how Seguí built his expertise exploiting the practical knowledge circulating within merchant circles in Marseille and the Menorcan diaspora residing in the Ottoman capital. Finally, this article addresses the question of how Seguí’s writings and familiarity with Ottoman territories were reflected on by various actors: his family; the people of Menorca; the Inquisitors; and Seguí himself.