The Description of the World was a useful book as well as an interesting one. Merchants later read all about the markets on the Silk Road and they learned from Marco about the best goods to buy and sell in different cities.
In the next centuries, map markets in Spain and Italy also carefully read Marco’s book. They put a lot of the places from his descriptions onto their new maps for travelers, traders, and sailors.
We know that one famous sailor from Genoa later read The Description of the World and we still have his book today with his notes all over it. This man was very interested in Marco’s exciting stories of Cipangu – Japan – and all the gold there. He wanted to open up a trade route to Japan for European merchants.
And what was this sailor’s name? Christopher Columbus. He began to sail west around the world because he wanted to arrive in Japan, of course, but that is a different story.