Marco Polo lived for 16 years in China where he was employed for several years by Kublai Khan. He served as Governor of Yangzhou, but then left China in 1292, returned to Venice (1295), and fought against the Genoese, but was captured.

In prison he wrote an account of his adventures in 'Travels of Marco Polo' - a book which instantly fired the imagination of all Medieval Europe, although there is some dispute as to the reliability of his account.