The ultimate unknown land, brimming with wonders, riches, and splendor, India has captured the European imagination since ancient times. It has been a destination for travelers and merchants, but also for missionaries, intellectuals, and geographers who, especially between the 15th and 16th centuries, left behind descriptions of peoples, customs, cities, plants, and animals. The valuable accounts of these men of “admirable character”—many of whom were Italian—are preserved in the Rare Books Collection of the Angelica Library in Rome and are now compiled in this beautifully illustrated volume. Miniatures, geographical maps, copperplate engravings, articles, and a rich bibliography transport the reader to that Renaissance era when Indian geography ceased to be mythical and scientific and geographical discoveries gradually replaced legend.