  book of the marvels of the world (french: livre des merveilles du monde) or description of the world (divisament du monde), in italian il milione (the million) or oriente poliano and in english commonly called the travels of marco polo, is a 13th-century travelogue written down by rustichello da pisa from stories told by marco polo, describing polo's travels through asia, persia, china, and indonesia between 1276 and 1291, and his experiences at the court of kublai khan. the book was written in old french by romance writer rustichello da pisa, who worked from accounts which he had heard from marco polo when they were imprisoned together in genoa. there has been incredulity over polo's sometimes fabulous stories from the beginning and scholarly debate in recent times. some have questioned whether marco had actually traveled to china or was just repeating stories that he had heard from other travelers. supporters of the book's basic accuracy have replied in even greater force. economic historian mark elvin concludes that recent work "demonstrates by specific example after specific example the ultimately overwhelming probability of the broad authenticity" of polo's account. the book is, "in essence, authentic, and, when used with care, in broad terms to be trusted as a serious though obviously not always final, witness." ==history== right|thumb|the route polo describes. the source of the title il milione is debated. one view is that it comes from the polo family's use of the name emilione to distinguish themselves from the numerous other venetian families bearing the name polo. "il secondo fu ch
1290s_books Books_about_Asia Italian_literature Marco_Polo Medieval_literature Prison_writings Travel_books