Born in Venice in 1254, died in 1324; his father and uncle
mercantile men whom he accompanied in 1271, when seventeen
years of age, on a journey to Central Asia by way of Bagdad,
and thence to the court of Kublai Khan; in 1275 entered the
public service of Kublai Khan and was employed by him on
important missions; left China in 1292, returning to Venice
by way of India; at a battle between Venetians and Genoese,
1298, made a prisoner and confined for a year, during which
he dictated in the French language to a fellow captive his
book of travels; he and his father and uncle first-known
Europeans to visit China.