5. Marco Polo
Though many myths surround the life and travels of Marco Polo, there is no disputing he achieved widespread fame in Europe during his lifetime. His journey to the Orient was not so much a trip of exploration, but an investigation into strange lands, cultures, and peoples. A Venetian, Polo traveled with members of his family, as well as Papal legates, to the realm of Kublai Khan. He remained there for 17 years, serving as an envoy for Kublai in India, Burma, and Southeast Asia, including the Vietnamese Empire. His publication of his journeys and adventures in manuscript form spread throughout Europe in the early 14th century.
Marco Polo grew wealthy as a merchant and investor. He remained famous during his lifetime and long after his death, particularly among seamen interested in voyaging to the East Indies and China. Christopher Columbus owned a copy of Polo’s manuscript, and carried it with him on his first voyage to the New World in 1492. Polo’s celebrity continued for centuries, though the claim that he introduced Italy to pasta, which he found in China, is a false one. Arabs introduced pasta and the durum wheat to produce it to Sicily while occupying the region nearly four centuries before Marco Polo and his party left on their journey to the east.