Earliest European Mention of Japan // Marco Polo Describes Mongol Invasion of 'Chipangu' (1281) episode artwork

EPISODE · Sep 14, 2026 · 13 MIN

Earliest European Mention of Japan // Marco Polo Describes Mongol Invasion of 'Chipangu' (1281)

from History's Living Voices: The Past, Told by Those Who Lived It · host HLV

Here we have Marco Polo telling the Mongol side of the invasion of 1281, and the catastrophes that followed - and the first European mention of the mysterious island of 'Chipangu'. Taken from the translation by Henry Yule. Video actor and editor: David Kelly If this channel is something you like, if you think saving primary sources is important, head over to the patreon and join up! https://www.patreon.com/voicesofthepast — Don’t forget to subscribe to my brother's channel History Time, where he makes full length historical documentaries:- https://www.youtube.com/historytime — Music courtesy of:- Epidemic Sound Artlist.io We try to use copyright free images at all times. However if we have used any of your artwork or maps then please don't hesitate to contact me and we’ll be more than happy to give the appropriate credit. Thanks to: A. Omer Karamollaoglu Kublai Khanそらみみ / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) Hideyuki KAMON / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0) James St. John Pearls By Copyright © National Land Image Information (Color Aerial Photographs), Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Attribution, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=278362http://record.museum.kyushu-u.ac.jp/mouko/e_04.html Kyushu University: https://web.archive.org/web/20131019155043/http://record.museum.kyushu-u.ac.jp/mouko/index.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Earliest European Mention of Japan // Marco Polo Describes Mongol Invasion of 'Chipangu' (1281)

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