Travels of Marco Polo
Also called: The Travels of Marco Polo, Il Milione
The Venetian merchant Marco Polo came to Yuan China with his father and uncle and stayed seventeen years in Kublai’s service. The book he left, The Travels, introduced the East to Europe.
Abraham Cresques, Atlas catalan · Public domain · Source
Leaving Venice in 1271, Marco Polo followed the Silk Road and reached Shangdu around 1275, and is said to have travelled widely in Kublai’s confidence. Around 1291 he left by sea, escorting a princess sent as a bride to the Ilkhanate, and returned to Venice in 1295. Captured in a war with Genoa, he dictated his story in prison to Rustichello — The Travels of Marco Polo (Description of the World). Its accounts of the splendour of Hangzhou (Quinsai), paper money and coal were later read by Columbus. Because Chinese records do not name him, some have doubted that he reached China, but most scholars accept the account.