The Travels of Sir John Mandeville

The Travels of Sir John Mandeville is a 14th-century book detailing the travels of an English knight who claims to have gone to China and back. It blends elements of a guide to geography and a travel narrative, as Mandeville includes both places he claims to have personally visited and “objective” descriptions of regions without personal comment. It was an exceptionally popular book after its release, quickly being translated into multiple languages and becoming a staple of the travel literature genre. Offering a window into Medieval Depictions of the Exotic and the Other, The Interplay of Religion, Folklore, and Reality in the Medieval Mind, and The Lessons Christians Can Learn From Other Cultures, the book influenced how Middle Eastern, Asian, and African cultures were thought of in Europe and inspired later colonial explorers, including Christopher Columbus. However, the amount of misinformation contained within has led many to doubt the authenticity of the entire narrative. It is now widely believed that John Mandeville was a fictious character and that the real author traveled little, if at all. There are many theories about the book’s true authorship, but none have received wide support.