The 16th and 17th centuries is the age of the great discoveries. In their quest for goods and riches European travellers sailed to hitherto unknown parts of the Earth. Territories were conquered, and colonies and missions established.
Among the Danish colonies were Tranquebar in southern India and three of the West Indian Islands in the Caribbean. Also Greenland – one of the North Atlantic possessions of the Danish King – was now exploited and explored on a larger scale.

The discoveries were reflected in the European book market. In large, illustrated books the strange and unfamiliar regions – their peoples, societies, and nature – were described with equal fascination and disgust. It made popular reading matter and had a great impact on Europeans’ understanding of other parts of the world. Also travellers’ accounts were published in large numbers.

The other side is seldom allowed to be heard. But in the Indian Felipe Poma’s handwritten Inca chronicle from the beginning of the 17th century, we get a unique glimpse of an indigenous reaction to Spanish colonial rule. Poma’s work is shown here together with other testimonies to European travels to America.