During the early 16th century travel reports from all corners of the world began to meet with interest in Europe. Giovanni Battista Ramusio started publishing a three volume collection of such records by scholars and travellers in 1550.
Volume three of this work is especially interesting because it contains, among others, the journeys of Fernando Cortez. Another text from an unknown source describes Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Aztecs, which is already identified on the attached map as »Mexico«. The buildings depicted there with their pointed towers look very European.