TIL - Europeans didn't know Marco Polo's "Cathay" was really China or that the city "Cambulac" was really Beijing, until 1598 when Jesuit priests in Beijing talked to Arab merchants there, who still called it Cambulac. Maps until the 17th century showed China and Cathay as 2 different empires.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanbaliq#Legacy



Submitted March 19, 2015 at 05:51PM by ma_ka_dhokla http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/2zkt80/til_europeans_didnt_know_marco_polos_cathay_was/