Marco Polo (September 15, 1254[1] – January 9, 1324 at earliest, but no later than June 1325[2]) was a trader and explorer from the Venetian Republic[3] who gained fame for his worldwide travels, recorded in the book Il Milione ("The Million" or The Travels of Marco Polo) also known as Oriente Poliano (the Orient of the Polos) and the Description of the World. [4]
Polo, together with his father Niccolò and his uncle Maffeo, was one of the first Westerners to travel the Silk Road to China (which he called Cathay, after the Khitan) and visit Kublai Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty.