PALETIN, Vicko (Vinko; Paletino, Vincenzo; Corsulensis, Vincentius; Fra Vincenzo Paletino de Curzola), (1508, Korcula - 1571 (around 1575/80), Korcula), maritime theorist, Dominican, theologian, historian, mathematician, cartographer, travel writer, lawyer, diplomat. In 1529/30 he went to Spain and from 1537 to 1541 took part in the expedition of Yucatan conquest. Afterwards he left for Mexico where he entered the order of Dominicans in 1541/42 and finished the study of philosophy in 1544 (1545). In October 1546 he returned to Europe and enrolled to the study of theology at the University of Bologna from which he graduated at the beginning of the summer of 1547. In September 1548 he was awarded with the academic degree of bachelor in theology and granted the right to enrol to a university of his choice. In 1550 the administration of the Dominican order gave him a permission to move from the Mexican province to Dalmatia or an Italian province. At the end of the 50's and the beginning of the 60's he held courses in mathematics and astronomy at Accademia Olimpica in Vicenza. In 1563 he was promoted into magistar (doctor) of theology, which enabled him to act as penitentiary (a priest who has the authority to give absolution from the most venial sins) of the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome, a duty he might have performed until 1564, the year he was admitted to the register of the Congregation of St. Jerome in Rome. From 1564 he entered the monastery of St. Nicholas in Korèula as a permanent member and was soon appointed prior of the monastery where he spent the rest of his life. After his return to Europe Paletin travelled all over the Pyrenean Peninsula collecting data for a new map of Spain. He obtained the necessary data surveying, calculating, exploring, drawing and asking information from all those whom he considered to be able to provide him with a useful piece of information concerning positions or distances among places. His efforts brought about a geographical map of Spain which he made while studying in Bologna in the summer of 1550 and for which he asked expert opinion from four bishops and a confirmation of copyright. The map was published in Venice in 1551, without the real title, and it contained 6 sheets and a dedication to bishop Francis de Navarre. The authorship of three, now lost, globes is also ascribed to Paletin. One of them was made during his stay at Accademia Olimpica in Vicenza, where it was kept for many years. The other two were stored in the Franciscan monastery on the island of Badija near Korèula. Paletin translated from Spanish into Italian the work Tratado del arte de marear (A Treatise on the Art of Navigation) by the famous Spanish cosmographer Pedro de Medina and it was published in Venice in 1554 under the title L'arte del navegar. Paletin wrote De institutione bonae guberrcationis (De la institucion del buen govierno) (On the Institution of Good Government), a work concerned with the issues of government of new Spanish transatlantic estates, which, unfortunately, got lost. His major work that is concerned with the events related to the discovery and conquest of America is the treatise De jure et justitia belli contra Indos ad Philippum II. Hispaniarum regem(De iure et iustitia belli contra infideles Indiae occidentalis ad Philippum II. Hispaniae regem) (About the Right and Rightfulness of the War led by Spanish Rulers against the People of Western India), which he composed in 1557/58 and translated into Spanish in 1559.

Wall map of Spain by Vicko Paletin from 1551 Detail of wall map of Spain by Vicko Paletin from 1551