Andrea Corsali (1487—?) was an Italian explorer who worked in the service ofGiuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici ofFlorence andLorenzo II de' Medici, duke ofUrbino. Corsali traveled toAsia and the south seas aboard a Portuguese merchant vessel, sending home written accounts of the lands and peoples which he encountered along the way. Two of Corsali’s letters from the 'East Indies' were published in Florence in 1518, and again inGiovanni Battista Ramusio,Delle navigationi et viaggi (Venice, 1550), along with accounts by other travelers and merchants such as Giovanni daEmpoli (1483-1518).[1] He also noted thatSumatra andCeylon (Sri Lanka) are two distinct islands (ancient geography confused them with the name of Taprobane). Corsali’s death date is unknown.
Corsali is known in Italy for having identifiedNew Guinea, previously unknown to the Italians, and for having hypothesized the existence ofAustralia, although he never disembarked there himself.[2]
On a voyage in 1516 from Lisbon to India, Corsali was the first European to describe, locate and illustrate the asterism of five stars now known as the Southern Cross (Crux).[3]
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