Yes, you read that correctly. Marco Polo visited Thailand.
Ok, I know that there was no place called “Thailand” in the late thirteenth century when Marco Polo traveled across Southeast Asia on his way back to Venice, however, he did pass through places that are now part of Thailand.
This is something that I don’t think anyone has ever realized. Instead, people have assumed that Marco Polo went from China down to the Straits of Melaka, and then onward to India.
In particular, from his account, we can see that Marco Polo went to Champa. His account then has information about the island of Java, but it is information that he heard from others. He didn’t actually go to Java.
Instead, from Champa, he went to “the islands of Sondur and Kondur” and then to “the country of Lochac.” He then went to “the island of Pentan” and “the kingdom of Malaiur.” Finally, he went from there to “the island of Java Minor,” a reference to Sumatra, where he appears to have visited various polities near the northern end of that island.
Ok, so I think everyone is clear about where Champa is, as well as where northern Sumatra is, however, the places in between have been difficult for scholars to locate.
“Pentan” sounds like “Bintan” (also called “Bintang”), an island near Singapore, and this has led people to think that Marco Polo went south from Champa to Singapore. However, if we follow his route to that location, then the rest of the information he provided becomes difficult to locate.
In some recent posts (here and here and here), I have demonstrated that prior to this period we have evidence of travelers moving between India and China by crossing the Malay Peninsula, rather than by going through the Straits of Melaka. Could it be that Marco Polo did the same?
As is well known, the account of Marco Polo’s travels is problematic. It contains information that most people agree must be incorrect (for instance, in one place it says “upon leaving Java” but many scholars believe that this should say “upon leaving Champa” because Marco Polo did not actually go to Java), and there are variations between different versions of the account.
Also, from my experience of reading texts, I find that numbers and directions (north, south, etc.) are much more likely for scribes to copy incorrectly than other types of words, and Marco Polo’s book contains many numbers and mentions of directions.
So, with that as a caveat, let’s look at what he says. I’m going to be referring to a version entitled The Travels of Marco Polo the Venetian (Polo, Marsden, and Masefield, 1929 [orig. 1908]).
He leaves Champa (the text says “Java” but that’s incorrect) and heads to the south and south-west for 700 miles until he reaches two uninhabited islands.
He then goes 50 miles beyond those islands (I think some versions say 500 miles) in a south-easterly direction (at least one manuscript has south-south-west) and reaches a mainland, where there is a place called Lochac. (335)
While the information here does not perfectly match, nonetheless, this could be describing the same route that I showed in an earlier post that was documented during the Tang Dynasty period. In that itinerary, people sailed from Côn Đảo/Pulo Condore just south of Champa at the tip of the Indochinese Peninsula across the Gulf of Thailand to a place where there was a “sea pass,” which I argue could be a reference to the two islands of Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan. Marco Polo’s mention of two “islands” seems to confirm this.
From Lochac, Marco Polo says you go south for 500 miles until you reach an island called “Pentan.” (336) However, he then provides more detailed information which makes this leg of his journey much shorter.
In particular, it appears that he says that there are 60 miles between Lochac and the island of Pentan. He then says that “After sailing these sixty miles, in a south-easterly direction, and then proceeding thirty miles further, you arrive at an island, in itself a kingdom, named Malaiur, which is likewise the name of its chief city.” (337)
Ok, so there is some interesting information here. First, notice the odd wording here about going sixty miles “and then proceeding thirty miles further.” Why not just say “after 90 miles”?
I think it is because at that point he switched from traveling by ship to traveling overland to “Malaiur.”
This “Malaiur” has to be the same place that others referred to as Malāyur/Malayu/Malaya, etc. And as I explained in the previous post, I am completely convinced that this place was located on the other side of the Malay Peninsula from what is now Surat Thani province in the area of what is now Phang Nga province, where there are ancient remains of buildings.
I’m guessing that after reaching the two islands of Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan, Marco Polo went a bit further to perhaps the area of what is now Chumpon (yea, the directions aren’t 100% right, but. . .). From there, it would make sense to go to the southeast for 60 miles, and yes, the water there is not deep.
It would then make sense to “proceed further,” meaning, proceed overland. The distance would have been longer than 30 miles, however, again, I don’t think the numbers are reliable. Plus, he probably would have been riding on the back of an elephant, and couldn’t calculate the distance as well. 😊
Given that we know that Marco Polo’s account contains inaccuracies and contradictory information, what I find significant are the basic stages and the places and landmarks mentioned, because given what we know about travel at that time (i.e., that it did not have to go through the Straits of Melaka), I think we can tease evidence out of his account that enables us to demonstrate that he took a route that crossed the Malay Peninsula.
He went a long way from Champa to 2 islands, then a bit further to a mainland, and then southeastward from there probably along a coast, and then another distance to Malaiur. That is basically the same as the Tang Dynasty itinerary that I examined in a previous post. And then to go from there to northern Sumatra also makes sense.
One question that remains unresolved concerns the island of “Pentan.” Another translation of Marco Polo’s account (by Moule and Pelliot) says that Marco Polo ends up in a place where the chief city is called “Malaiur” and the island is called “Pentan.” (370)
That matches perfectly with Ibn Sa’īd’s account of Malāyur from earlier in the thirteenth century: “From the right to the left extent two capes, between which the sea is only two miles wide. The sea there is not deep. They call this place Bintan.”
I’m convinced! Marco Polo visited Thailand!!
