An Arab's Journey to Colonial Spanish America: The Travels of Elias Al-Mûsili in the Seventeenth CenturyIn 1905, the Jesuit scholar Ant n Rabb t discovered the writings of Elias al M sili in a Jacobite diocese in Aleppo, Syria. Al M sili, a seventeenth century Arab and a priest of the Chaldean Church, traveled widely across colonial Spanish America, becoming the first person to visit the Americas from Baghdad. Rabb t transcribed into Arabic and published those portions relating to al M sili's travels. Acclaimed Middle Eastern historian Farah is the