Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The Arabs of the medieval period similarly had the means to sail the world. Certainly, they were more
advanced than their European counterparts in many respects. Instead of burning the so-called pagan texts
of writers like Ptolemy, they studied them and improved upon them. But in more practical terms, the Arabs
lacked the fundamental reason that later Europeans like Columbus had for their voyages. They didn't need
to find a way to sail to the East. They were already well established there and had little interest in expand-
ing their contacts with Europeans who had shown their colors during the crusades.
That raises a third point of difference. Unlike European explorers who carried the cross as well as the
flag of their sponsors, there was no missionary zeal among the Chinese. And while the Arabs took Islam
with them, neither culture produced the equivalent of the Jesuits or any of the other Roman Catholic orders
bent on proselytizing and converting the “heathen.” However misguided those Christian efforts might have
been, the urge to spread the faith was a powerful force behind the European voyages of discovery.
Geographic Voices
From Marco Polo's Travels (circa 1299)
In this island of Cipangu (Japan) and the others in its vicinity, their idols are fashioned in a vari-
ety of shapes, some of them having the heads of oxen, some of swine, of dogs, goats, and many
other animals. Some exhibit the appearance of a single head with two faces; others of three heads,
one of them in its proper place, and one upon each shoulder. Some have four arms, others ten, and
some an hundred, those which have the greatest number being regarded as the most powerful, and
therefore entitled to the most particular worship.
When they are asked by Christians wherefore they give to their deities these diversified forms,
they answer that their fathers did so before them. “Those who preceded us,” they say “left them
such, and such we shall transmit them to our posterity.”
The various ceremonies practiced before these idols are so wicked and diabolical that it would
be nothing less than an abomination to give an account of them in this topic. The reader should,
however, be informed that the idolatrous inhabitants of these islands, when they seize the person of
an enemy who has not the means of effecting his ransom for money, invite to their house all their
relations and friends. Putting their prisoner to death they cook and eat the body, in a convivial man-
ner, asserting that human flesh surpasses every other in the excellence of its flavor.
It is to be understood that the sea in which the island of Cipangu is situated is called the Sea of
Chin, and so extensive is this eastern sea that according to the report of experienced pilots and mar-
iners who frequent it, and to whom the truth must be known, it contains no fewer than seven thou-
sand four hundred and forty four islands, mostly inhabited. It is said that of the trees which grow in
them, there are none that do not yield a fragrant smell. They produce many spices and drugs, partic-
ularly lignum-aloes and pepper, in great abundance, both white and black.
It is impossible to estimate the value of the gold and other articles found in the islands; but their
distance from the continent is so great, and the navigation attended with so much trouble and incon-
venience, that the vessels engaged in the trade . . . do not reap large profits.
Born in Venice in 1254, Marco Polo came from a well-heeled merchant family. At seventeen, he set off
with his father and uncle on a diplomatic mission from Pope Gregory X to the court of Kublai Khan, first
Mongol emperor of China. Their journey to China took three and a half years through Persia and Afgh-
anistan. After arriving in Peking (Beijing), the young European attracted the notice of the emperor and
remained in his service for twenty years.
After returning to Venice, Marco Polo served on a Venetian ship during one of the regular wars between
his city and its rival, Genoa. He was captured and imprisoned. During his time in prison, he dictated an ac-
count of his experiences in the Far East to a fellow prisoner, relying on notebooks and perhaps a selective
