Francesco Ingoli's Relazione delle Quattro Parti del Mon-do: Charting New Pathways in the History of Political Thought

Inthispaper,IexplorenewresearchpathstoreevaluatethesignificanceofFrancescoIngoliasapoliti-calthinker.ThisreassessmentisconductedthroughaphilosophicalandconceptualanalysisofhisworkastheGeneralSecretaryoftheCongregationdePropagandaFide.IfocusparticularlyonhisRelazionedelleQuattroPartidelMondo(circa1631),atextwhereIngolimergesdatafrommissionaryreportsandscholarlytreatiseswithhisowninsightsonglobalgeography,politics,andan-thropologyproposinganinnovativeperspectiveonnewlydiscoveredregions.DespitetheimportanceofIngoli’swork,attestingtothedeepresemantisationofpoliticalspacethatresultedfrom16thand17th-centurygeograph-icaldiscoveries,anin-depthassessmentofhispoliticalthoughtfromtheperspectiveofpoliticalphilosophyisstilllargelymissing.Inparticular,bymeansofanenquiryintotheChurch’seffortsinadaptingevangelizationstrat-egiesacrossdifferentregionsoftheworld,includingthedevelopmentofacosmopolitanandmultilingualclergy,andthegatheringofdetailedinformationonthegeo-graphical,cultural,andethniccharacteristicsofeacharea,sometimeseventhroughindigenouscorrespondents,Iin-tendtopointoutpossiblewaystoexploretheglobalin-terconnectionsthatemergedatthedawnofearlymoder-nity.Finally,thispaperaimstoshednewlightontheim-pactofextra-EuropeancontributionsonWesternculture,aswellasonEarlyModernityasaglobalandmultipolarphenomenon,characterizedbyculturalhybridizationandreciprocaltransfer.