Uploaded July 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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
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— 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 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
Hideyuki KAMON / CC BY-SA (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, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=278362http://record.museum.kyushu-u.ac.jp/mouko/e_04.html
Kyushu University: web.archive.org/web/20131019155043/http://record.museum.kyushu-u.ac.jp/mouko/index.html
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!
patreon.com/voicesofthepast
— Don’t forget to subscribe to my brother's channel History Time, where he makes full length historical documentaries:-
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 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
Hideyuki KAMON / CC BY-SA (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, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=278362http://record.museum.kyushu-u.ac.jp/mouko/e_04.html
Kyushu University: web.archive.org/web/20131019155043/http://record.museum.kyushu-u.ac.jp/mouko/index.html

![Japanese Historian Describes First Contact With Europeans // 16th cent. Teppo-ki // Primary Source
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Here we have something special - the Japanese perspective of the first Europeans in Japan. In 1543 two Portuguese traders - men whose physical features differed from the locals - arrived on a Chinese junk, with a gift that would change the course of Japanese history. Recorded for posterity by Nanpo Bushi half a century later, this account gives us the view of a people coming into contact with Europe for the first time.
Translated by Olof G Lidin in his book Tanegashima: The Arrival Of Europe In Japan and published by NIAS press: http://www.niaspress.dk
If this channel is something you like, if you think saving primary sources is important, head over to the patreon and join up!
patreon.com/voicesofthepast
— Don’t forget to subscribe to my brothers channel History Time, where he makes full length historical documentaries:-
https://www.youtube.com/historytime
— Music courtesy of:-
- Epidemic Sound
— Voice actor & editor:-
David Kelly
We try to use copyright free images at all times. However if we have used any of your artwork or maps then please dont hesitate to contact me and we’ll be more than happy to give the appropriate credit.
Thanks to:
Image Credit: NASA Goddard/MODIS Rapid Response Team
alisdair [CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]
ryochiji [CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]
みっち
PHGCOM Japanese Historian Describes First Contact With Europeans // 16th cent. Teppo-ki // Primary Source](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xZnaCel6LdU/mqdefault.jpg)
