giovanni battista ramusio was an italian geographer and travel writer. born in treviso, italy, at that time in the republic of venice, ramusio was the son of paolo ramusio, a magistrate of the venetian city-state. in 1505 young giovanni took a position as secretary to aloisio mocenigo, then serving as the republic's ambassador to france. he would spend the rest of his career in venetian service. ramusio was keenly interested in geography and began to compile documents he translated into italian, which became widely understood across europe. though he himself traveled little, ramusio published navigationi et viaggi (
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