The book was a wild success, though many readers questioned Polo’s reliability, many have questioned whether Polo even went to China or if the entire thing was false. When Polo was on his deathbed in 1324, visitors came by urged him to admit the book was fiction, to which he proclaimed, “I have not told half of what I saw.” Though no authoritative version of Polo’s book exists, researchers and historians have verified much of what he reported. It is generally accepted that he reported faithfully what he could, though some accounts probably came from others that he met along the way. Regardless, the information in his book proved vital to European geographic understanding and inspired countless explorers; including Christopher Columbus, who,
