Delivered at the annual Graduate Student Symposium at Perdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana in March 2013 When Marco Polo’s account of his travels throughout Asia was released in the year 1299 (originally entitled Il Milione or The Million, a reference to the sheer numbers of people and riches described within) his descriptions of “heathen” … Continue reading The Million ‘Mortal Sins’: Marco Polo’s Travels and European Conceptions of Asian Cultures