The First Account of China

Marco Polo, the celebrated traveller, born at Venice about 1254, gave to the world the first correct account of China. In 1271 he started on a tour through Asia, finally reaching China in 1275, which was then known in Europe as Cathay, supposed to comprise the entire "Far East" of the world.

The Emperor of China received him, and soon gave him important offices in the government, making him governor of a large city, which position he held for three years.

The emperor, however, would not allow him to leave the empire, as it was closed to all foreigners; and for sixteen years he was an honored prisoner of the emperor. He finally managed to escape on board a ship which was carrying the emperor's daughter to Persia, where she was to become the king's wife. After nine months Polo went from Persia to the Black Sea, and finally returned to Venice in 1295.

He had almost forgotten his native language; and his friends would not believe his story, even when he showed the rich presents he had received from the Emperor of China. He entered the navy, and was taken prisoner in a war with Genoa: during five years' imprisonment he prepared an account of his travels, and gave to the world the first correct description of China. His book was published, and created an immense excitement among learned men, who did not hesitate to affirm it to be pure fiction.

After his liberation he returned to Venice, was abjured by his friends, and even on his death-bed was urged to retract his falsehoods.

He died in 1323, aged seventy years.

Subsequent Venetian travellers and Roman-Catholic missionaries verified many of Polo's statements: then came a re-action of public opinion, and the wonderful accuracy of Polo's history became the theme of universal praise. His work became of inestimable value as a guide in geographical research: by it the Portuguese were led to sail round the Cape of Good Hope, and Columbus to make his discoveries in the western hemisphere.

The book was translated into all foreign languages, but not into English until 1844.

Marco Polo was long remembered in China; and a bust of him is still to be seen in one of the temples of Canton, where great men figure as social idols.