The work was an important introduction for Europeans to the history and geography of Central Asia and China. For these reasons, Les voyages de Marco Polo is sometimes called Divisament du monde (Description of the world) or Livre des merveilles du monde (Book of the marvels of the world). Marco Polo's account was not just a simple record of the journey, but a description of the world-a mixture of a travel report, legend, hearsay, and practical information. According to tradition, while in prison he dictated the stories of his travels to a cellmate, Rustichello da Pisa, who wrote them down in Old French.

He was taken prisoner by the Genoese in 1296. Marco Polo soon was caught up in the war between Venice and Genoa, for which he equipped and commanded a galley in the Venetian navy. The three Venetians returned to their native city by sea in 1292-95. He then spent 17 years serving Kublai Khan (1215-94), grandson of Genghis Khan and conqueror of China, for whom he undertook assignments in China as well as in South and Southeast Asia. Accompanied by his father Niccolò and his uncle Maffeo, Marco Polo travelled overland to China in 1271-75. It was sold to Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-89) in 1650. Later it was part of the library of the French book collector Alexandre Petau. It is possibly one of five manuscripts relating to Marco Polo's journey that belonged to King Charles V of France (reigned 1364-80). Urn:oclc:828189208 Republisher_date 20140115122526 Republisher_operator Scandate 20140107052057 Scanner manuscript from about 1350 is one of the oldest extant copies of Les voyages de Marco Polo (The travels of Marco Polo), the account by the Venetian merchant Marco Polo (circa 1254-1324) of his adventures in Central Asia and the Far East during the latter part of the 13th century. K00039066 Ocr ABBYY FineReader 9.0 Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.11 Ocr_module_version 0.0.14 Openlibrary OL1734231M Openlibrary_edition Urn:lcp:travelsofmarcopo00polo_0:epub:840b3f87-7b40-4318-8dd5-317e3785b64b Extramarc University of Alberta Libraries Foldoutcount 0 Identifier travelsofmarcopo00polo_0 Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t7bs17x5j Invoice 11 Isbn 9780486275864 Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 16:42:02 Boxid IA1113418 Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II City New York Donorīostonpubliclibrary Edition London 1903.

The Travels of Marco Polo by Marco Polo