700th an­niver­sary of Marco Polo's death

The Venetian merchant and explorer Marco Polo (ca. 1254 - 08.01.1324) is probably the most famous traveler of the Middle Ages. At the age of 17, he set out for China overland with his father and uncle and lived there for many years at the court of the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan. In 1295 he returned to his native Vendig. Polo's extensive and detailed report on his journey to Asia, which was also available in print in 1477, had a great influence on geographical ideas in the 14th/15th century and was the basis of knowledge about China for many explorers and merchants for a long time.