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Fernão Nunes, also known as Fernao Nuniz, was a Portuguese traveler, chronicler and horse trader who spent three years in Vijayanagara, capital of the Vijayanagara Empire in the time period 1535-1537 CE. His writings have brought to light many interesting details about Vijayanagara at that time,[1] including construction of massive fortification works, watch towers and security walls. From his notes it is known that the expansion of the regal capital limits happened during the rule of King Bukka Raya II and Deva Raya I.

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Domingos Paes (16th century) was a Portuguese traveller who visited the Vijayanagara Empire around the year 1520. His account of the capital Vijayanagara (Hampi) is the most detailed of all historic descriptions of this ancient city.

He visited the city during the rule of King Krishna Deva Raya[1] and recorded his impressions of Vijayanagara state in his Chronica.

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In 1466, Nikitin left his hometown of Tver on a commercial trip to India. He travelled down the Volga River, and reached Derbent, then Baku and later Persia proper by crossing the Caspian Sea. He lived in Persia for one year. In the spring of 1469, Nikitin arrived at the city of Ormus and then, crossing the Arabian Sea, reached the sultanate of Bahmani, where he would live for 3 years. On his way back, Nikitin visited Muscat, the Arabian sultanate of Fartak, Somalia and Trabzon, and in 1472 arrived at Feodosiya by crossing the Black Sea. On his way to Tver, Nikitin died not far from Smolensk in the autumn of that year.

During his trip, Nikitin studied the population of India, its social system, government, military (he witnessed war-games featuring war elephants), its economy, religion, lifestyles, and natural resources. The abundance and trustworthiness of Nikitin's factual material provide a valuable source of information about India at that time.

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Niccolò de' Conti (1395–1469) was an Italian merchant and explorer, born in Chioggia, who traveled to India and Southeast Asia, and possibly to Southern China, during the early 15th century. He was one of the human sources used to create the 1450 Fra Mauro map, which indicated that there was a sea route from Europe around Africa to India.De' Conti departed from Venice about 1419 and established himself in Damascus, Syria, where he studied Arabic. Over a period of 25 years, he traveled as a merchant to numerous places in Asia. His familiarity with the languages and cultures of the Islamic world allowed him to travel to many places, on board ships owned by Islamic merchants.De' Conti's travels followed the period of Timurid relations with Europe.[1] They also occurred around the same time and in the same places as the Chinese expeditions of Admiral Zheng He. His accounts are contemporary, and fairly consistent with those of the Chinese writers who were on Zheng He's ships, such as Ma Huan (writing in 1433) and Fei Xin (writing in about 1436).

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Muhammad Ibn Battuta was a medieval Moroccan traveller and scholar, who is widely recognised as one of the greatest travellers of all time.[1][2] He is known for his extensive travels, accounts of which were published in his Travels (Rihla). Over a period of thirty years, Ibn Battuta visited most of the known Islamic world as well as many non-Muslim lands. His journeys included trips to North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Africa, the Middle East, India, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and China

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After Mahmud of Ghazni the next invader in India was Muhammad Ghori, whose royal title was Mu'izzuddin. As a prince, he was known as Shahab-ud-din. He belonged to the Ghorid dynasty which replaced the Ghaznavids in Afghanistan.

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Al-Biruni is regarded as one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic era and was well versed in physics, mathematics, astronomy, and natural sciences, and also distinguished himself as a historian, chronologistand linguist.[12] He studied almost all fields of science and was compensated for his research and strenuous work. Royalty and powerful members of society sought out Al-Biruni to conduct research and study to uncover certain findings. He lived during the Islamic Golden Age, in which scholarly thought went hand in hand with the thinking and methodology of the Islamic religion. In addition to this type of influence, Al-Biruni was also influenced by other nations, such as the Greek, who he took inspiration from when he turned to studies of philosophy.[13] He was conversant in Khwarezmian, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, and also knew Greek, Hebrew and Syriac. He spent a large part of his life in Ghazni in modern-day Afghanistan, capital of the Ghaznavid dynasty, which was based in what is now central-eastern Afghanistan. In 1017 he traveled to the Indian subcontinent and authored Tarikh Al-Hind (History of India) after exploring the Hindu faith practised in India.[a] He was given the title "founder of Indology". He was an impartial writer on customs and creeds of various nations, and was given the title al-Ustadh ("The Master") for his remarkable description of early 11th-century India.[12] He also made contributions to Earth sciences, and is regarded as the "father of geodesy" for his important contributions to that field, along with his significant contributions to geography.

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The Indian campaign of Alexander the Great began in 326 BC. After conquering the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, the Macedonian king (and now the great king of the Persian Empire) Alexander launched a campaign into India. The Battle of the Jhelum river against a regional Indian King, Porus is considered by many historians, Peter Connolly being one of them, as the most costly battle that the armies of Alexander fought.

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Marco Polo was born in 1254[8][nb 1] in the Republic of Venice.[9] His exact date and place of birth are archivally unknown.[10][11] Some historians mentioned that he was born on September 15[12][13] but that date is not endorsed by mainstream scholarship.[citation needed] Marco Polo's birthplace is generally considered Venice,[11][14] but also varies between Constantinople[15][11] and the island of Korčula.[16][11][17][18] There is dispute as to whether the Polo family is of Venetian origin, as Venetian historical sources considered them to be of Dalmatianorigin.[8][11][19][20]

The first recorded Polo is Venetian Domenico Polo who was mentioned in 971 regarding the prohibition of trade with the Arabs.[16][21] Later other Polos were also mentioned in the service of the realm.[16][21]Whether they were related with the family of Marco Polo is uncertain, but this could indicate that his ancestors travelled between Venice and Dalmatia.[16]

Some of the first indications of where his family originated and were resident come from Venetian documents and manuscripts.[22] In the 1280 testament of Marco Polo's homonymous uncle it is said that the uncle previously lived in Constantinople, and that his son Nicollo and daughter Marota at the time of testament lived in family house in Soldaia (in Crimea).[23][22] Some scholars argued that this account could go along with the note from Il Milione that his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, in 1250 stayed in Constantinople with merchandise from Venice.[9][22]

The non-Venetian i.e. Dalmatian origin of his family was considered by the Venetians themselves since the 14th century; in the Chronicon Iustiniani (1385) his family was mentioned among immigrants in Venice,[nb 2] in the Cronaca di Venezia (1446) along his family coat of arms it states "antigamente vene de Dalmatia" (in ancient times came from Dalmatia), and the same again was recorded by Marino Sanuto the Younger in Le Vite dei Dogi (1552).[24][25] Sanuto also mentioned a captain from Korčula, Antonio di Polo.[26] Marco Barbaro in his Genealogie Patrizie (1566) mentioned a document from 1033 by which time the family arrived from Šibenik, but the year was probably symbolically chosen by Barbaro himself as in that is the year that Dalmatian cities were conquered by Venetian Doge Pietro II Orseolo.[16][27] Arthur C. Moule cited two early 17th century Venetian manuscripts "questi ueneno de dalmatia", "Polo questi uene de Dalmatia".[24][28]

Scholars etymologically argued that his family name derives from Latin Paulus,[16][21] the name of a certain bird species,[29] or like Albert t'Serstevens considered - from Eastern origin.[nb 3] Two bird species - the shorebird wader the jackdaw, and the chough - fit the representation of the bird(s) in family coat of arms. These birds are called pol in the Old Croatian dialect from Poljica, and pola/pole in the Old Venetian dialect (compared to Italian pollo, rooster).[29][31][22] However, the habitat of the shorebird is non-existent on Korčula, and should be related to Venice laguna or wetland areas of Dalmatia like that of Šibenik.[32] The surname Polo seems related with other widespread Dalmatian surnames.[33] The lack of evidence makes the Korčula theory (probably under Ramusio influence[34]) as a specific birthplace strongly disputed,[9] and even some Croatian scholars consider it justly invented.[35]

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While residing in the city of Luoyang (in Henan in Central China), Xuanzang was ordained as a śrāmaṇera (novice monk) at the age of thirteen. Due to the political and social unrest caused by the fall of the Sui dynasty, he went to Chengdu in Sichuan, where he was ordained as a bhikṣu (full monk) at the age of twenty. He later travelled throughout China in search of sacred books of Buddhism. At length, he came to Chang'an, then under the peaceful rule of Emperor Taizong of Tang, where Xuanzang developed the desire to visit India. He knew about Faxian's visit to India and, like him, was concerned about the incomplete and misinterpreted nature of the Buddhist texts that had reached China.

He became famous for his seventeen-year overland journey to India, which is recorded in detail in the classic Chinese text Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, which in turn provided the inspiration for the novel Journey to the West written by Wu Cheng'en during the Ming dynasty, around nine centuries after Xuanzang's death.[1]

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Chandragupta Maurya was a pivotal figure in the history of India. Prior to his consolidation of power, Alexander the Great had invaded the northwest Indian subcontinent, then abandoned further campaigning in 324 BCE, leaving a legacy of Indian subcontinental regions ruled by Indo-Greek and local rulers.[17] The region was divided into Mahajanapadas, while the Nanda Empire dominated the Indo-Gangetic Plain.[18] Chandragupta, with the counsel of Chanakya (also known as Kautilya), created a new empire, applied the principles of statecraft, built a large army and continued expanding the boundaries of his empire. Indo-Greek rulers such as Seleucus I Nicator avoided war with him, entered into marriage alliances instead, and retreated into Persia.[19] Chandragupta's empire extended from Bengal to most of the Indian subcontinent, except the southernmost regions (now Tamil Nadu, Kerala and nearby) and Kalinga (now Odisharegion).[20][10] It was the largest ancient empire documented in Indian history.[21][22][23]

After unifying much of India, Chandragupta and his chief advisor Chanakyapassed a series of major economic and political reforms. He established a strong central administration from Pataliputra (now Patna), patterned after Chanakya's text on governance and politics, the Arthashastra.[24]Chandragupta's India was characterised by an efficient and highly organised structure. The empire built infrastructure such as irrigation, mines and roads, leading to a strong economy.[25][26] With internal and external trade thriving and agriculture flourishing, the empire built a large and trained permanent army to help expand and protect its boundaries. Greek records suggest that art and city architecture thrived during his rule.[27] Chandragupta's reign, as well the dynasty that followed him, was an era when many religions thrived in India, with Buddhism, Jainism and Ajivika gaining prominence along with the Brahmanism traditions.[28][29]

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Megasthenes was an ancient Greek historian, diplomat and Indian ethnographer and explorer in the Hellenistic period, author of the work Indika.[1] He was born in Asia Minor and became an ambassador of Seleucus I Nicator of the Seleucid dynasty possibly to Chandragupta Maurya in Pataliputra, India.[2] However, the exact date of his embassy is uncertain. Scholars such as Kaushik Roy place him in the Maurya court between 302 and 298 BCE, prior to Chandragupta's voluntary death in 297.[3]

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Foreign travellers