Description
This illustrated lecture discusses the ways in which Marco Polo’s book, The Description of the World, shaped expectations about the inhabitants, resources, and size of the Americas in sixteenth-century France. Polo composed his book in French in 1298, and the French nobility were among its earliest and most devoted readers. Polo’s Description was an essential reference for French cartography, cosmography, and exploration for centuries, and offers crucial insight into France’s early colonial activity.
This program is co-organized with the Chicago Map Society.
Speaker
Mark Cruse is a Professor of French at Arizona State University. His research focuses on the Global Middle Ages in art, literature, maps, and material culture. His latest book, The Mongol Archive in Late Medieval France: Texts, Objects, Encounters, 1221-1422(Cornell) was published in 2025.
Registration Information
This hybrid program is free and open to all. No registration is required to attend in person. To join the program on Zoom, click on the registration link below.
Register Here