Marco Polo in South-East Asia: A preliminary essay in reconstruction

Abstract

If there is one figure in world history who has certainly not been neglected it is surely Marco Polo. His narrative has appealed to readers since it was first dictated to Rustichello, Polo's fellow prisoner in the dungeons of Genoa, and its many versions have attracted the enthusiastic attentions of some of the finest textual scholars in Europe. It is, however, in respect of the identification of the places which Polo visited in the Far East and Central Asia that a formidable body of published material has now accumulated, embracing the fields of history, linguistics and geography, and of varying quality, perception and relevance. In South-East Asia itself Polo refers to only twelve geographical locations, yet despite this, or perhaps in part because of it, even the most summary investigation of the question of their identity will quickly reveal that the material which has been published on this very limited aspect of Polo's narrative has now reached almost unmanageable proportions, save for thedévouéwho is prepared to direct his attentions to little else. In this may be seen the real importance of Polo's narrative within the early history of South-East Asia, for the identification of his geographical nomenclature demands a detailed study of so many aspects of the history of the area prior to and immediately following the period of his narrative. Indeed, with his first cursory examination of Polo's narrative the reader finds himself face to face with some of the more fundamental problems of the study of the early history of South-East Asia.