David Nabhan

There’s some nagging quirks about Marco Polo, topping the list no Chinese document anywhere concerning this emissary of Kublai Khan himself. And, Marco Polo, the first Westerner to see the marvels of China, fails to mention tea, chopsticks, bound feet, Great Walls. Explorers were outrageous liars—mermaids, giants, devils, dragons, Amazons—and many historians wonder if Polo ever made it beyond Constantinople, picking up his tales there from traders, the easy way.


Las Casas himself documenting these explorers drifting in fantasy: "What a wonder to see men greatly desiring something and strongly attaching themselves to it through imagination such to create the impression that everything argues in favor of that thing."

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 11:52 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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