Marco Polo, a Venetian, spent a quarter of a century in faraway travels. Of these, 17 years he served as a trusted person and adviser to the conqueror of China and founder of the Yuan dynasty, the Great Mongol Khan Kublai. Carrying out the Khan’s missions, he traveled across all of Asia. And on the way home, he circled it by ship—from China’s shores, through Sumatra and Ceylon, to the port of Ormuz in the Persian Gulf.
For more than 700 years, his “Book of Marvels” has never ceased to amaze and delight grateful readers: Marco Polo tells of the countries he visited, the peoples living there, and the wonderful, astonishing oddities he encountered on his journeys.