Note 733 — Chapter XVI
Reading edition
It seems probable that Columbus was more influenced by what he heard from Toscanelli of the discoveries of Marco Polo than by anything else. Martin Behaim, in 1492, constructed a map in which Zipango (supposed to be Japan) is placed according to Polo’s description, and it is believed that Columbus had a similar map with him on his first voyage. A copy of this map, which was nearly, if not quite, the same as Toscanelli’s, is given in W. Irving, p. 16 (Murray).