The Many Lives of the First Non-Western History of the Americas: From the New Report to the History of the West Indies

Abstract

This article examines the manuscripts of the first non-western history of the Americas, which was completed in Istanbul in 1583 and is better known as Ta’rîh-i Hind-i garbî (the History of the West Indies), and its Persian translation. I support the claim that Hadîs-i nev (the New Report), which was presented to Murad III (r. 1574-95), had an argument related to contemporary politics by comparing this presentation copy with the later manuscripts of the same work, as well as the Persian translation of the largest part of it, Tarjomeh-e ta’rîkh-e yangî donyâ (the History of the New World). While this examination underlines the fact that the author of the New Report should be Su‘ûdî (d. 1591), it also includes significant implications that pertain to the question of how to study different manuscripts of a work.