What were the contributions of Marco Polo?

Question

His travels, things he brought back, everything.

Answer 1

Maps of his route to China and back, pasta, and the most important thing, gunpowder.

Answer 2

Marco Polo's book, "The Travels of Marco Polo",  includes fanciful accounts of men with tails and cannibals seem to be around every corner. The book is somewhat a geography of Asian provinces. It is divided into chapters covering specific regions and Polo delves into the politics, agriculture, military power, economy, sexual practices, burial system, and religions of each area. Polo brought the ideas of paper currency and coal to Europe. He also included second-hand reports of areas that he had not visited, such as Japan and Madagascar.

Much of his writing is discounted, and he was asked to recant some of the more outlandish things he wrote, but he refused to do so, saying "I have not told of even half of the things I have seen."

His travels did, however, provide some guidance for Columbus on his travel to and discovery of "The New World".