Circumnavigation and East Timor. Literary Reading of The Timorese Sacred House, Luis Cardoso and Pigafetta

Abstract

In the present article, it is intended to revisit the literary work of Luis Cardoso, reading it in articulation with Pigafetta’s journey. The Italian, to whom the earliest accounts of the gentiles of Timor belong, is recovered by the account of Luís Cardoso. This allows to problematize the recent historiography of the young country. Curiously, the maritime element is denser because both the narrative and the symbology present in the typical East Timorese house are put into dialogue at various moments of the narrative. The intellectual exercise exposes hidden interpretations that highlight the relationship between these three elements: Pigafetta, the Timorese sacred house and the sea voyage