Ludovico di Varthema

Ludovico di Varthema, also known as Barthema and Vertomannus (c. 1470 – 1517), was an Italian traveller, diarist and aristocrat known for being the first non-Muslim European to enter Mecca as a pilgrim. Nearly everything that is known about his life comes from his own account of his travels, Itinerario de Ludouico de Varthema Bolognese, published in Rome in 1510.

Varthema was born in Bologna. He was perhaps a soldier before beginning his distant journeys, which he undertook apparently from a passion for adventure, novelty and the fame which (then especially) attended successful exploration.

Varthema left Europe near the end of 1502. Early in 1503, he reached Alexandria and ascended the Nile to Cairo. From Egypt, he sailed to Beirut and thence travelled to Tripoli, Aleppo and Damascus, where he managed to get himself enrolled, under the name of Yunas (Jonah), in the Mamluk garrison.

From Damascus, Varthema made the journey to Mecca and Medina as one of the Mamluk escorts of a Hajj pilgrim caravan (April–June 1503). He describes the sacred cities of Islam and the chief pilgrim sites and ceremonies with remarkable accuracy, almost all his details being confirmed by later writers. Varthema may very well have been the first non-Muslim European to visit these cities.

While in Mecca, Varthema was confronted by a Muslim overseas merchant, who accused him of being a Christian spy. When Varthema protested that he was a Mamluk, the suspicions were allayed. The merchant explained to Varthema that nerves were on edge on account of the activities of the Portuguese, who had recently begun encroaching on the Indian Ocean and attacking Muslim shipping. (The massacre of the passengers of a Mecca pilgrim ship by Vasco da Gama in 1502 had been particularly shocking, although this event is not explicitly referred to by Varthema).

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