Marco Polo's travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. Born into a Venetian merchant family, he joined his father and uncle on a journey to China, traveling along the Silk Road and reaching the court of Kublai Khan.
Now, an Italian team of archaeologists studying in Japan have cast doubts about one of their country's national heroes. Far from being a trader who spent years in China and the Far East, Marco Polo probably never went further east than the Black Sea. Professor Daniele Petrella of the University of Naples told Italian history magazine Focus Storia there were many inconsistencies and inaccuracies in Marco Polo's description of Kublai Khan's invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281.
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