The Travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian

Traveling by land to Mongol China with his father and uncle, Marco Polo made such a good impression on Kublai Khan that he was invited to become a bureaucrat at the Khan's court. In this capacity, Polo traveled throughout central Asia, finding such favor with the Khan that he and his kinsmen were compelled to remain at court for some seventeen years. Polo finally returned to his native Venice in 1295, only to be captured several years later in a war with Genoa; while in prison, he dictated the tales of his adventures, which became the Book of Marco Polo.