Toward the end of the thirteenth century, at about the time Marco Polo was being received by the great Khubilai Khan, a Nestorian Christian monk from China called Rabban Sauma was making the reverse journey from the Mongol capital (what is now Beijing) to Jerusalem. Upon reaching Baghdad - the first traveler to arrive from China - Sauma learned that his pilgrimage could not be fulfilled because of Islamic control of the Holy Land. In "Voyager from Xanadu", Morris Rossabi traces Sauma's trans-Eurasian travels against the turbulent era of the Mongol Empire and the last Crusades. His indispensable book provides a unique first-hand Asian perspective on Europe and illuminates a crucial period in the early history of global, diplomatic, and commercial networking.
- ISBN10 0520262379
- ISBN13 9780520262379
- Publish Date 10 February 2010 (first published 1 June 1992)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University of California Press
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 248
- Language English