THE book most familiar to English readers as The Travels of Marco Polo was called in the prologue that introduced it to the reading public at the end of the thirteenth century a 'Description of the World' (Divisament dou Monde). It was in fact a description of a surprisingly large part of the world - from the Polar Sea to Java, from Zanzibar to Japan - and a surprisingly large part of it from first-hand observation. The claim put forward in the prologue, that its author had travelled more extensively than any man since the Creation, is a plain statement of fact, so far at least as it relates to anyone who has left a record of his travels. Even among the Arab globe-trotters he had no serious competitor till Ibn Batuta, two generations later. ...

Marco Polo was the most famous traveller of his time. His voyages began in 1271 with a visit to China, after which he served the Kubilai Khan on numerous diplomatic missions. On his return to the West he was made a prisoner of war and met Rustichello of Pisa, with whom he collaborated on this book. The accounts of his travels provide a fascinating glimpse of the different societies he encountered: of their religions, customs, ceremonies and way of life; of the spices and silks of the East; of precious gems, exotic vegetation and wild beasts. He tells the story of the holy shoemaker, the wicked caliph and the three kings, among a great many others, evoking a remote and fascinating world with colour and immediacy.

In his introduction, R. E. Latham examines Marco Polo's background to explain how he understood and classified the people, races,cultures and religions he describes in The Travels. This edition also contains an index and maps.

INTRODUCTION

PROLOGUE 

THE MIDDLE EAST

THE ROAD TO CATHAY 

KUBILAI KHAN 

FROM PEKING TO BENGAL 

FROM PEKING TO AMOY 

FROM CHINA TO INDIA 

INDIA 

THE ARABIAN SEA

NORTHERN REGIONS AND TARTAR WARS 

EPILOGUE

GENEALOGICAL TABLE OF MONGOL

  IMPERIAL HOUSE

MAPS

INDEX