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> Always find it interesting that Marco Polo, who 'discovered the east' in popular western culture

No one thinks Marco Polo "discovered the east", but he was one of the first medieval westerners to travel throughout some parts of east and, most importantly, write about it.

His father and uncle and were the successful ones, Marco Polo learned their trade and travelled with them. The really interesting part is that they won the favour of the Kublai Khan, arguably the most powerful ruler of the time.

I guess that only very rarely a person made the whole trip along the entire silk road, but knowledge about the foreign lands definitely travelled much earlier.

For instance here's a Chinese description of the Roman empire from the 3rd century:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XdPodNwSGU

Goods could have passed through many intermediaries before they reached China.