GaleW

I came up with the theory that it was Niccolo de Conti and his wife and children. I wrote and opinion paper to establish my reasoning and gave some internet links to back up my research. I also included pictures to show a few of the VM drawings of the women are native dancers of India in costume. Also the language is probably because of his wife. Her exact nationality was never really known in most of the historical documents I had access to. But she was from somewhere around the region or north India perhaps even in a border area that might account for the confusing language mix. She probably was the one who taught her children to read, write, etc. Perhaps the children were the authors. Ha-ha wouldn't that be strange. But the whole family were pretty much geniuses. Niccolo de Conte spoke about 8-10 languages himself. So anything is possible. They also had contact with the Chinese explorers who may have gone to the America's before Columbus and could account for the drawing of the sunflower.

Do you have an opinion on the theory that the VM might be a family's travelogue or teaching book of all the places they visited and things they learned along the way; such as the explorer Niccolo de Conti and his wife of India descent and their four children who traveled extensively throughout the east and Indonesia?

BTW, I forgot to mention the VM drawings of the zodiac seem to be an ancient Vedic astrology or astronomy symbols. They are similar to European astrology symbols but have slightly different pictures. They are all there except for the "Pitcher" symbol. That might help in translating it by using the names of the Vedic months/symbols for astrology.

Well, one aspect to consider about the VM is if the De Conti family was very much about learning many different languages and dialects of the regions they traveled, then perhaps the VM is written to reflect this. Each time they went to a different region could mean they tried to apply the colloquial dialect to the writing of the VM. So if Dr. Bax has translated one version of "Taurus" it may appear in another section of the VM as another dialect but using similar letters. I think it won't be easy for anybody to translate. But it sure is exciting that Dr. Bax has so far proven it is some language and translatable. :)