“Siam is the best place in the Indies”. Father Nicola Cima O.E.S.A. and his memorandum of 1707 for renewed East Indies trade

Abstract

The Augustinian missionary Nicola Cima wrote a detailed and overlooked survey of the East Indies in 1707, singling out Ayutthaya as a kingdom Venice might like to develop trading links with in conjunction with the Danish East Indies Company. Here we try to map the details of Cima’s life on to his textual narrative and enquire to what extent this relazione, presented to the Venetian Senate, is grounded in eighteenth-century realities or the delusions of a missionary mind.