English

On September 7, 1298, near the island of Curzola, the fleets of two ancient enemies, Genoa and Venice, clashed. Genoa delivered a devastating defeat to the Venetians, sinking nearly all their galleys and capturing 7,000 prisoners. Among them was Marco Polo, the commander of one of the galleys.

Attempts have been made to precisely delineate the boundary between primitive and civilized peoples. The civilized person differs from the primitive one in degree, not in essence. The primitive person is characterized by a limited intellectual horizon, which indicates a smaller repository of knowledge rather than narrow-mindedness, as they live in...

Before the reign of Tsar Peter, this vast country was hardly known in Europe. The Muscovites stood on an even lower level of civilization than the Mexicans when Cortez discovered them; they were all born slaves, and their masters were as barbaric as they were; they lived in ignorance, without crafts or sciences, not even feeling their absence,...