In simple terms, risk is the possibility of something bad happening. Risk involves uncertainty about the effects/implications of an activity with respect to something that humans value (such as health, well-being, wealth, property or the environment), often focusing on negative, undesirable consequences. Many different definitions have been proposed. One international standard definition of risk is the "effect of uncertainty on objectives".
72-625: An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky . Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling , exploring , skydiving , mountain climbing , scuba diving , river rafting , or other extreme sports . Adventures are often undertaken to create psychological arousal or in order to achieve a greater goal, such as the pursuit of knowledge that can only be obtained by such activities. Adventurous experiences create psychological arousal , which can be interpreted as negative (e.g. fear ) or positive (e.g. flow ). For some people, adventure becomes
144-458: A 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. Economic historian Mark Elvin concludes that recent work "demonstrates by specific example the ultimately overwhelming probability of the broad authenticity" of Polo's account, and that the book is, "in essence, authentic, and, when used with care, in broad terms to be trusted as
216-594: A Mongol delegate was solemnly baptised at the Second Council of Lyon . At the council, Pope Gregory X promulgated a new Crusade to start in 1278 in liaison with the Mongols. The Travels is divided into four books. Book One describes the lands of the Middle East and Central Asia that Marco encountered on his way to China. Book Two describes China and the court of Kublai Khan. Book Three describes some of
288-431: A company's prospects. In economics, as in finance, risk is often defined as quantifiable uncertainty about gains and losses. Environmental risk arises from environmental hazards or environmental issues . In the environmental context, risk is defined as "The chance of harmful effects to human health or to ecological systems". Environmental risk assessment aims to assess the effects of stressors, often chemicals, on
360-452: A detailed analysis of Polo's description of currencies, salt production and revenues, and argued that the evidence supports his presence in China because he included details which he could not have otherwise known. Vogel noted that no other Western, Arab, or Persian sources have given such accurate and unique details about the currencies of China, for example, the shape and size of the paper,
432-482: A few exaggerations and errors, Polo's accounts are relatively free of the descriptions of irrational marvels, and in many cases where present (mostly given in the first part before he reached China), he made a clear distinction that they are what he had heard rather than what he had seen. It is also largely free of the gross errors in other accounts such as those given by the Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta who had confused
504-405: A highly quantified way. The technique is usually referred to as probabilistic risk assessment (PRA). See WASH-1400 for an example of this approach. The incidence rate can also be reduced due to the provision of better occupational health and safety programmes. Security is freedom from, or resilience against, potential harm caused by others. A security risk is "any event that could result in
576-400: A large organization or simply crossing the road. Intuitive risk management is addressed under the psychology of risk below. Risk management refers to a systematic approach to managing risks, and sometimes to the profession that does this. A general definition is that risk management consists of "coordinated activities to direct and control an organization with regard to risk". ISO 31000 ,
648-1007: A major pursuit in and of itself. According to adventurer André Malraux , in his Man's Fate (1933), "If a man is not ready to risk his life, where is his dignity?" Similarly, Helen Keller stated that "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." Outdoor adventurous activities are typically undertaken for the purposes of recreation or excitement : examples are adventure racing and adventure tourism . Adventurous activities can also lead to gains in knowledge, such as those undertaken by explorers and pioneers – the British adventurer Jason Lewis , for example, uses adventures to draw global sustainability lessons from living within finite environmental constraints on expeditions to share with schoolchildren. Adventure education intentionally uses challenging experiences for learning . Author Jon Levy suggests that an experience should meet several criteria to be considered an adventure: Some of
720-431: A pool of risks including market risk, credit risk, operational risk, interest rate risk, mortality risk, longevity risks, etc. The term "risk" has a long history in insurance and has acquired several specialised definitions, including "the subject-matter of an insurance contract", "an insured peril" as well as the more common "possibility of an event occurring which causes injury or loss". Occupational health and safety
792-475: A serious though obviously not always final, witness." The source of the title Il Milione is debated. One view is 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. A more common view is that the name refers to medieval reception of the travelog, namely that it was full of "a million" lies. Modern assessments of
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#1732765041916864-622: A simple summary, defining risk as "the possibility of something bad happening". The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 31073 provides basic vocabulary to develop common understanding on risk management concepts and terms across different applications. ISO 31073 defines risk as: effect of uncertainty on objectives Note 1: An effect is a deviation from the expected. It can be positive, negative or both, and can address, create or result in opportunities and threats . Note 2: Objectives can have different aspects and categories, and can be applied at different levels. Note 3: Risk
936-574: A translation under the title Description of the World that uses manuscript F as its base and attempts to combine the several versions of the text into one continuous narrative while at the same time indicating the source for each section (London, 1938). ISBN 4-87187-308-0 An introduction to Marco Polo is Leonard Olschki, Marco Polo's Asia: An Introduction to His "Description of the World" Called "Il Milione" , translated by John A. Scott (Berkeley: University of California) 1960; it had its origins in
1008-521: A variety of hazards that may result in accidents causing harm to people, property and the environment. In the safety field, risk is typically defined as the "likelihood and severity of hazardous events". Safety risks are controlled using techniques of risk management. A high reliability organisation (HRO) involves complex operations in environments where catastrophic accidents could occur. Examples include aircraft carriers, air traffic control, aerospace and nuclear power stations. Some HROs manage risk in
1080-489: A whole had now been closed": 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". Although Marco Polo was certainly the most famous, he was not the only nor the first European traveler to the Mongol Empire who subsequently wrote an account of his experiences. Earlier thirteenth-century European travelers who journeyed to
1152-494: A wide variety of literary genres. Many adventure games ( text and graphic ) are designed for a single player, since this emphasis on story and character makes multi-player design difficult. From ancient times, travelers and explorers have written about their adventures. Journals which became best-sellers in their day were written, such as Marco Polo 's journal The Travels of Marco Polo or Mark Twain 's Roughing It . Others were personal journals, only later published, such as
1224-494: Is a questionnaire screening tool, used to provide individuals with an evaluation of their health risks and quality of life. Health, safety, and environment (HSE) are separate practice areas; however, they are often linked. The reason is typically to do with organizational management structures; however, there are strong links among these disciplines. One of the strongest links is that a single risk event may have impacts in all three areas, albeit over differing timescales. For example,
1296-416: Is an individual or collaborative undertaking planned to achieve a specific aim. Project risk is defined as, "an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on a project's objectives". Project risk management aims to increase the likelihood and impact of positive events and decrease the likelihood and impact of negative events in the project. Safety is concerned with
1368-476: Is concerned with occupational hazards experienced in the workplace. The Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) standard OHSAS 18001 in 1999 defined risk as the "combination of the likelihood and consequence(s) of a specified hazardous event occurring". In 2018 this was replaced by ISO 45001 "Occupational health and safety management systems", which use the ISO Guide 73 definition. A project
1440-555: Is however unclear whether he was only relaying something he heard as his description is inaccurate), no other foreign visitors to Yuan China mentioned the practice, perhaps an indication that the footbinding was not widespread or was not practiced in an extreme form at that time. Marco Polo himself noted (in the Toledo manuscript) the dainty walk of Chinese women who took very short steps. It has also been pointed out that Polo's accounts are more accurate and detailed than other accounts of
1512-432: Is narrowly focused on computer security, information risks extend to other forms of information (paper, microfilm). Insurance is a risk treatment option which involves risk sharing. It can be considered as a form of contingent capital and is akin to purchasing an option in which the buyer pays a small premium to be protected from a potential large loss. Insurance risk is often taken by insurance companies, who then bear
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#17327650419161584-472: Is the use of computers to store, retrieve, transmit, and manipulate data. IT risk (or cyber risk) arises from the potential that a threat may exploit a vulnerability to breach security and cause harm. IT risk management applies risk management methods to IT to manage IT risks. Computer security is the protection of IT systems by managing IT risks. Information security is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. While IT risk
1656-436: Is usually expressed in terms of risk sources, potential events, their consequences and their likelihood. This definition was developed by an international committee representing over 30 countries and is based on the input of several thousand subject-matter experts. It was first adopted in 2002 for use in standards. Its complexity reflects the difficulty of satisfying fields that use the term risk, in different ways. Some restrict
1728-777: The Venetian language , spread in Northern Italy in the 13th century; for Luigi Foscolo Benedetto, this "F" text is the basic original text, which he corrected by comparing it with the somewhat more detailed Italian of Ramusio, together with a Latin manuscript in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana . A version written in Old French, titled Le Livre des merveilles (The Book of Marvels). A version in Tuscan (Italian language) titled Navigazione di messer Marco Polo
1800-756: The Yellow River with the Grand Canal and other waterways, and believed that porcelain was made from coal. Many of the details in Polo's accounts have been verified. For example, when visiting Zhenjiang in Jiangsu , China, Marco Polo noted that a large number of Christian churches had been built there. His claim is confirmed by a Chinese text of the 14th century explaining how a Sogdian named Mar-Sargis from Samarkand founded six Nestorian Christian churches there in addition to one in Hangzhou during
1872-478: The variance (or standard deviation) of asset prices. More recent risk measures include value at risk . Because investors are generally risk averse , investments with greater inherent risk must promise higher expected returns. Financial risk management uses financial instruments to manage exposure to risk. It includes the use of a hedge to offset risks by adopting a position in an opposing market or investment. In financial audit , audit risk refers to
1944-550: The "omissions" could be explained. For example, none of the other Western travelers to Yuan dynasty China at that time, such as Giovanni de' Marignolli and Odoric of Pordenone , mentioned the Great Wall, and that while remnants of the Wall would have existed at that time, it would not have been significant or noteworthy as it had not been maintained for a long time. The Great Walls were built to keep out northern invaders, whereas
2016-515: The Great Wall, but when he asked about the wall while in China during the Yuan dynasty, he could find no one who had either seen it or knew of anyone who had seen it. Haw also argued that practices such as footbinding were not common even among Chinese during Polo's time and almost unknown among the Mongols. While the Italian missionary Odoric of Pordenone who visited Yuan China mentioned footbinding (it
2088-508: The Indies ), it is reasonable to think that they considered Marco's book as a trustworthy piece of information for missions in the East. The diplomatic communications between Pope Innocent IV and Pope Gregory X with the Mongols were probably another reason for this endorsement. At the time, there was open discussion of a possible Christian-Mongol alliance with an anti-Islamic function. In fact,
2160-496: The Mongols as "barbarians" who appeared to belong to "some other world". Doubts have also been raised in later centuries about Marco Polo's narrative of his travels in China, for example for his failure to mention a number of things and practices commonly associated with China, such as Chinese characters , tea, chopsticks, and footbinding . In particular, his failure to mention the Great Wall of China had been noted as early as
2232-641: The World "). The book was translated into many European languages in Marco Polo's own lifetime, but the original manuscripts are now lost, and their reconstruction is a matter of textual criticism. A total of about 150 copies in various languages are known to exist, including in Old French , Tuscan , two versions in Venetian , and two different versions in Latin . From the beginning, there has been incredulity over Polo's sometimes fabulous stories, as well as
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2304-696: The Yuan era. Economic historian Mark Elvin , in his preface to Vogel's 2013 monograph, concludes that Vogel "demonstrates by specific example after specific example the ultimately overwhelming probability of the broad authenticity" of Polo's account. Many problems were caused by the oral transmission of the original text and the proliferation of significantly different hand-copied manuscripts. For instance, did Polo exert "political authority" ( seignora ) in Yangzhou or merely "sojourn" ( sejourna ) there? Elvin concludes that "those who doubted, although mistaken, were not always being casual or foolish", but "the case as
2376-497: The book a bestseller. The Italian scholar Luigi Foscolo Benedetto had previously demonstrated that the book was written in the same "leisurely, conversational style" that characterised Rustichello's other works, and that some passages in the book were taken verbatim or with minimal modifications from other writings by Rustichello. For example, the opening introduction in The Book of Marvels to "emperors and kings, dukes and marquises"
2448-470: The celebrations of the seven hundredth anniversary of Marco Polo's birth. Since its publication, many have viewed the book with skepticism. Some in the Middle Ages viewed the book simply as a romance or fable, largely because of the sharp difference of its descriptions of a sophisticated civilisation in China to other early accounts by Giovanni da Pian del Carpine and William of Rubruck who portrayed
2520-526: The coastal regions of the East: Japan, India, Sri Lanka, South-East Asia, and the east coast of Africa. Book Four describes some of the then-recent wars among the Mongols and some of the regions of the far north, like Russia. Polo's writings included descriptions of cannibals and spice-growers. The Travels was a rare popular success in an era before printing. The impact of Polo's book on cartography
2592-711: The common methods of management, the measurements of risk and even the definition of risk differ in different practice areas. This section provides links to more detailed articles on these areas. Business risks arise from uncertainty about the profit of a commercial business due to unwanted events such as changes in tastes, changing preferences of consumers, strikes, increased competition, changes in government policy, obsolescence etc. Business risks are controlled using techniques of risk management . In many cases they may be managed by intuitive steps to prevent or mitigate risks, by following regulations or standards of good practice, or by insurance . Enterprise risk management includes
2664-452: The compromise of organizational assets i.e. the unauthorized use, loss, damage, disclosure or modification of organizational assets for the profit, personal interest or political interests of individuals, groups or other entities." Security risk management involves protection of assets from harm caused by deliberate acts. Risk is ubiquitous in all areas of life and we all manage these risks, consciously or intuitively, whether we are managing
2736-432: The context of public health , risk assessment is the process of characterizing the nature and likelihood of a harmful effect to individuals or populations from certain human activities. Health risk assessment can be mostly qualitative or can include statistical estimates of probabilities for specific populations. A health risk assessment (also referred to as a health risk appraisal and health & well-being assessment)
2808-604: The court of Kublai Khan . The book was written by romance writer Rustichello da Pisa, who worked from accounts which he had heard from Marco Polo when they were imprisoned together in Genoa . Rustichello wrote it in Franco-Venetian , a literary language widespread in northern Italy between the subalpine belt and the lower Po between the 13th and 15th centuries. It was originally known as Livre des Merveilles du Monde or Devisement du Monde (" Description of
2880-540: The court of the Great Khan were André de Longjumeau , William of Rubruck and Giovanni da Pian del Carpine with Benedykt Polak . None of them however reached China itself. Later travelers such as Odoric of Pordenone and Giovanni de' Marignolli reached China during the Yuan dynasty and wrote accounts of their travels. The Moroccan merchant Ibn Battuta traveled through the Golden Horde and China subsequently in
2952-540: The earliest use of the word in English (in the spelling of risque from its French original, 'risque') as of 1621, and the spelling as risk from 1655. While including several other definitions, the OED 3rd edition defines risk as: (Exposure to) the possibility of loss, injury, or other adverse or unwelcome circumstance; a chance or situation involving such a possibility. The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary gives
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3024-506: The first part of the fourteenth century, which he considered to be " perfettamente corretto " ("perfectly correct"). The edition of Benedetto, Marco Polo, Il Milione , under the patronage of the Comitato Geografico Nazionale Italiano (Florence: Olschki, 1928), collated sixty additional manuscript sources, in addition to some eighty that had been collected by Henry Yule , for his 1871 edition. It
3096-529: The idea of a quest: the hero goes off in pursuit of a reward, whether it be a skill, prize, treasure, or perhaps the safety of a person. On the way, the hero must overcome various obstacles to obtain their reward. In video game culture , an adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle solving . The genre 's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative -based media, literature and film , encompassing
3168-414: The importance of different adverse effects in a particular situation. The Society for Risk Analysis concludes that "experience has shown that to agree on one unified set of definitions is not realistic". The solution is "to allow for different perspectives on fundamental concepts and make a distinction between overall qualitative definitions and their associated measurements." The understanding of risk,
3240-626: The international standard for risk management, describes a risk management process that consists of the following elements: The Travels of Marco Polo Book of the Marvels of the World ( Italian : Il Milione , lit. 'The Million', possibly derived from Polo's nickname "Emilione"), in English commonly called The Travels of Marco Polo , is a 13th-century travelogue written down by Rustichello da Pisa from stories told by Italian explorer Marco Polo . It describes Polo's travels through Asia between 1271 and 1295, and his experiences at
3312-521: The journals of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark or Captain James Cook 's journals. There are also books written by those not directly a part of the adventure in question, such as The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe or books written by those participating in the adventure but in a format other than that of a journal, such as Conquistadors of the Useless by Lionel Terray . Documentaries often use
3384-444: The local environment. Finance is concerned with money management and acquiring funds. Financial risk arises from uncertainty about financial returns. It includes market risk , credit risk , liquidity risk and operational risk . In finance, risk is the possibility that the actual return on an investment will be different from its expected return. This includes not only " downside risk " (returns below expectations, including
3456-469: The methods and processes used by organizations to manage risks and seize opportunities related to the achievement of their objectives. Economics is concerned with the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. Economic risk arises from uncertainty about economic outcomes. For example, economic risk may be the chance that macroeconomic conditions like exchange rates, government regulation, or political stability will affect an investment or
3528-503: The middle of the seventeenth century. In addition, the difficulties in identifying many of the place names he used also raised suspicion about Polo's accounts. Many have questioned whether or not he had visited the places he mentioned in his itinerary, or he had appropriated the accounts of his father and uncle or other travelers, or doubted that he even reached China and that, if he did, perhaps never went beyond Khanbaliq (Beijing). Historian Stephen G. Haw however argued that many of
3600-539: The oldest and most widespread stories in the world are stories of adventure, such as Homer 's Odyssey . The knight errant was the form the "adventure seeker" character took in the Late Middle Ages . Adventure fiction exhibits these "protagonist on adventurous journey" characteristics, as do many popular feature films , such as Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark . Adventure books may have
3672-655: The periods. Polo had at times denied the "marvelous" fables and legends given in other European accounts, and also omitted descriptions of strange races of people then believed to inhabit eastern Asia and given in such accounts. For example, Odoric of Pordenone said that the Yangtze river flows through the land of pygmies only three spans high and gave other fanciful tales, while Giovanni da Pian del Carpine spoke of "wild men, who do not speak at all and have no joints in their legs", monsters who looked like women but whose menfolk were dogs, and other equally fantastic accounts. Despite
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#17327650419163744-425: The possibility of losing some or all of the original investment) but also "upside risk" (returns that exceed expectations). In Knight's definition, risk is often defined as quantifiable uncertainty about gains and losses. This contrasts with Knightian uncertainty , which cannot be quantified. Financial risk modeling determines the aggregate risk in a financial portfolio. Modern portfolio theory measures risk using
3816-440: The potential that an audit report may fail to detect material misstatement either due to error or fraud. Health risks arise from disease and other biological hazards . Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution, patterns and determinants of health and disease. It is a cornerstone of public health , and shapes policy decisions by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive healthcare . In
3888-461: The ruling dynasty during Marco Polo's visit were those very northern invaders. The Mongol rulers whom Polo served also controlled territories both north and south of today's wall, and would have no reasons to maintain any fortifications that may have remained there from the earlier dynasties. He noted the Great Wall familiar to us today is a Ming structure built some two centuries after Marco Polo's travels. The Muslim traveler Ibn Battuta did mention
3960-530: The second half of the 13th century. Nestorian Christianity had existed in China since the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD) when a Persian monk named Alopen came to the capital Chang'an in 635 to proselytize , as described in a dual Chinese and Syriac language inscription from Chang'an (modern Xi'an ) dated to the year 781. In 2012, the University of Tübingen sinologist and historian Hans Ulrich Vogel released
4032-422: The term to negative impacts ("downside risks"), while others also include positive impacts ("upside risks"). Some resolve these differences by arguing that the definition of risk is subjective. For example: No definition is advanced as the correct one, because there is no one definition that is suitable for all problems. Rather, the choice of definition is a political one, expressing someone's views regarding
4104-514: The text usually consider it to be the record of an observant rather than imaginative or analytical traveler. Marco Polo emerges as being curious and tolerant, and devoted to Kublai Khan and the dynasty that he served for two decades. The book is Polo's account of his travels to China, which he calls Cathay (north China) and Manji (south China). The Polo party left Venice in 1271. The journey took three years after which they arrived in Cathay as it
4176-787: The theme of adventure as well. There are many sports classified as adventure sports, due to their inherent danger and excitement. Some of these include mountain climbing , skydiving , or other extreme sports . Risk The understanding of risk, the methods of assessment and management, the descriptions of risk and even the definitions of risk differ in different practice areas ( business , economics , environment , finance , information technology , health , insurance , safety , security etc). This article provides links to more detailed articles on these areas. The international standard for risk management, ISO 31000 , provides principles and general guidelines on managing risks faced by organizations . The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) cites
4248-468: The theme of the hero or main character going to face the wilderness or Mother Nature . Examples include books such as Hatchet or My Side of the Mountain . These books are less about "questing", such as in mythology or other adventure novels, but more about surviving on their own, living off the land, gaining new experiences, and becoming closer to the natural world. Many adventures are based on
4320-472: The truthfulness of the book and defined Marco as a "prudent, honoured and faithful man". In his writings, the Dominican brother Jacopo d'Acqui explains why his contemporaries were skeptical about the content of the book. He also relates that before dying, Marco Polo insisted that "he had told only a half of the things he had seen". According to some recent research of the Italian scholar Antonio Montefusco,
4392-423: The uncontrolled release of radiation or a toxic chemical may have immediate short-term safety consequences, more protracted health impacts, and much longer-term environmental impacts . Events such as Chernobyl , for example, caused immediate deaths, and in the longer term, deaths from cancers, and left a lasting environmental impact leading to birth defects , impacts on wildlife, etc. Information technology (IT)
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#17327650419164464-460: The use of seals, the various denominations of paper money as well as variations in currency usage in different regions of China, such as the use of cowry shells in Yunnan, details supported by archaeological evidence and Chinese sources compiled long after Polo's had left China. His accounts of salt production and revenues from the salt monopoly are also accurate, and accord with Chinese documents of
4536-583: The various copies. According to the French philologist Philippe Ménard , there are six main versions of the book: the version closest to the original, in Franco-Venetian; a version in Old French ; a version in Tuscan ; two versions in Venetian ; two different versions in Latin . The oldest surviving Polo manuscript is in Franco-Venetian , which was a literary language which mixed Old French with
4608-594: The very close relationship that Marco Polo cultivated with members of the Dominican Order in Venice suggests that local fathers collaborated with him for a Latin version of the book, which means that Rustichello's text was translated into Latin for a precise will of the Order. Since Dominican fathers had among their missions that of evangelizing foreign peoples (cf. the role of Dominican missionaries in China and in
4680-472: The work of Rustichello who was giving what medieval European readers expected to find in a travel book. Apparently, from the very beginning Marco's story aroused contrasting reactions, as it was received by some with a certain disbelief. The Dominican father Francesco Pipino [ it ] was the author of a translation into Latin, Iter Marci Pauli Veneti in 1302, just a few years after Marco's return to Venice. Francesco Pipino solemnly affirmed
4752-597: Was Benedetto who identified Rustichello da Pisa, as the original compiler or amanuensis , and his established text has provided the basis for many modern translations: his own in Italian (1932), and Aldo Ricci's The Travels of Marco Polo (London, 1931). The first English translation is the Elizabethan version by John Frampton published in 1579, The most noble and famous travels of Marco Polo , based on Santaella's Castilian translation of 1503 (the first version in that language). A. C. Moule and Paul Pelliot published
4824-455: Was accompanied on his trips by his father and uncle (both of whom had been to China previously), though neither of them published any known works about their journeys. The book was translated into many European languages in Marco Polo's own lifetime, but the original manuscripts are now lost. A total of about 150 copies in various languages are known to exist. During copying and translating many errors were made, so there are many differences between
4896-501: Was delayed: the first map in which some names mentioned by Polo appear was in the Catalan Atlas of Charles V (1375), which included thirty names in China and a number of other Asian toponyms . In the mid-fifteenth century the cartographer of Murano, Fra Mauro , meticulously included all of Polo's toponyms in his 1450 map of the world . A heavily annotated copy of Polo's book was among the belongings of Columbus. Marco Polo
4968-518: Was in fact a collaboration written in 1298–1299 between Polo and a professional writer of romances, Rustichello of Pisa. It is believed that Polo related his memoirs orally to Rustichello da Pisa while both were prisoners of the Genova Republic . Rustichello wrote Devisement du Monde in the Franco-Venetian language. Latham also argued that Rustichello may have glamorised Polo's accounts, and added fantastic and romantic elements that made
5040-432: Was lifted straight out of an Arthurian romance Rustichello had written several years earlier, and the account of the second meeting between Polo and Kublai Khan at the latter's court is almost the same as that of the arrival of Tristan at the court of King Arthur at Camelot in that same book. Latham believed that many elements of the book, such as legends of the Middle East and mentions of exotic marvels, may have been
5112-643: Was then called and met the grandson of Genghis Khan , Kublai Khan. They left China in late 1290 or early 1291 and were back in Venice in 1295. The tradition is that Polo dictated the book to a romance writer, Rustichello da Pisa , while in prison in Genoa between 1298 and 1299. Rustichello may have worked up his first Franco-Italian version from Marco's notes. The book was then named Devisement du Monde and Livres des Merveilles du Monde in French, and De Mirabilibus Mundi in Latin. The British scholar Ronald Latham has pointed out that The Book of Marvels
5184-760: Was written in Florence by Michele Ormanni . It is found in the Italian National Library in Florence. Other early important sources are the manuscript "R" (Ramusio's Italian translation first printed in 1559). The version in Venetian dialect is full of mistakes and is not considered trustworthy. The first attempt to collate manuscripts and provide a critical edition was in a volume of collected travel narratives printed at Venice in 1559. The editor, Giovan Battista Ramusio, collated manuscripts from
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