Polo, Marco (1254-1324)

The title page of the first printed edition of The Travels of Marco Polo (1477). Known in the original as Il milione (The Million), the book provided a wealth of new geographical information that was widely used during the great age of European exploration in the late 15th and 16th centuries. An original manuscript of the book does not exist, however, and the many alterations, adaptations, and translations that were made to copies by scribes compromised its usefulness as an authentic record of Marco Polo's voyages.

Illustration in a Catalan map of Venetian merchant Marco Polo's journey to the Far East shows the Polo brothers travelling in a caravan of camels. Marco Polo wrote about the journey on his return and gave first-hand information of Chinese customs such as the use of coal, paper money, and the compass, which were then unknown in Europe.

Venetian traveller and writer. He joined his father (Niccolo) and uncle (Maffeo), who had travelled to China as merchants (1260-69), when they began a journey overland back to China (1271). Once there, he learned Mongolian and served the emperor Kubla Khan until he returned to Europe by sea 1292-95.

He was captured while fighting for Venice against Genoa, and, while in prison 1296-98, dictated an account of his travels. These accounts remained the primary source of information about the Far East until the 19th century.