Nevertheless, the book was actually written by Rustichello of Pisa, Polo’s cellmate when he was captured and imprisoned as a prisoner of war during a battle between Venice and Genoa in 1298. Marco Polo with elephants and camels arriving at Hormuz on the Gulf of Persia from India, in a manuscript of The Travels of Marco Polo at the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris. In fact, “the wealth of information Marco Polo provided on China and its surrounding lands was unprecedented in its time,” explained National Geographic. The story of Marco Polo’s travels included a plethora of useful information for merchants at a time when few Christians had ever travelled into the Far East, let alone to China. Marco Polo was even employed at the court of Mongolian emperor Kublai Khan for 17 years. Originally from a family of well-travelled merchants, Marco Polo left Venice at just 17 years old and returned at 41, passing through countries including Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir and China between 12. The bestselling biography / autobiography / travelogue recounted the experiences of Marco Polo during a 24-year voyage alongside his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo Polo. Marco Polo’s tale of adventure in the Far East became a bestseller when it was published around 1300, inspiring generations of explorers, including Christopher Columbus who kept an annotated copy amongst his personal belongings. Marco Polo may be a household name, but few know that his famous literary masterpiece, The Travels of Marco Polo, was not only written while he was in prison, but was penned by somebody else.
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