The Later Middle Ages saw an intensification of cross-continental travel accounts. The Venetian Marco Polo, whose 700 years since his death is commemorated in 2024, became the best-known European traveller since the early XIVth century. He travelled along the silk roads that stretched from the Black and Caspian Seas to China and back via the Indian Ocean and the Gulf.

This conference puts Polo into conversation with other travellers and explorers from c. 1270 to 1450.

While Polo was a merchant, the Moroccan traveller Ibn Baṭṭūṭa was a scholar and pilgrim to Mecca. He completed at least four trips from his hometown of Tangier to Mecca, India, Southeast Asia, and perhaps China, as well as to the Kingdom of Mali, which lasted for over thirty years, starting in 1326. Two generations later, from China, Zheng He, the admiral of the Chinese imperial fleet, completed seven voyages to the "Western Ocean" (Indian Ocean), including Southeast Asia, India, the coasts of Arabia and East Africa between 1405 and 1433. His travels were recorded by Ma Huan. Focusing on Polo, Baṭṭūṭa, and Zheng He, this conference brings together experts in the history of travel and travellers from different parts of Eurasia to re-contextualise Polo’s attainments in a global framework.