Jacques Cartier's exploration of the West Indies did not go unnoticed in Venice, in particular by Giovanni Battista Ramusio, statesman and secretary of the Council of Ten. A career diplomat, his role as ambassador brought him to numerous European countries. Ramusio, who was seven when the Genovese Christopher Columbus reached the Americas in 1492, considered the discovery of new lands as being the most important undertaking of the time. In effect, the republic was facing a grave problem accessing the Indian Subcontinent, since the Ottoman Turks had taken Constantinople in 1453. Ramusio obtained a copy of "Bref récit", a memoir that Jacques Cartier had given to King Francis I of France in 1545, and subsequently proceeded to describe Cartier's explorations in the third volume of his work, "Delle navigationi et viaggi". The 1556 edition contains assorted illustrations by Giacomo Gastaldi, including "La Terra de Hochelaga Nella Nova Francia", describing Cartier's visit on Mount Royal ("Monte Real" on the map) in the European style of the time.