Ambrogio Contarini

The Republic of Venice sought to forge a larger alliance against the Ottoman Empire and sent Contarini with a diplomatic mission to Uzun Hassan, the Iranian ruler of the Aq Qoyunlu clan.

He left Venice in February 1474, traveled through central Europe, Kiev, and Georgia and reached Tabriz in August 1474.

[1] On his journey home from Iran, Contarini stopped in Moscow, where he had an audience with the Russian tsar Ivan III.

His report was published in Venice in 1476 by H. Foxius as Questo e el Viazo de misier Ambrogio Contarini.

Contarini's itinerary is dominated by his own personal vicissitudes, but contains much valuable information about the regions he visited, especially Iran under Uzun Hassan's rule.