Abstract
This chapter explores the meanings of natural diversity: what it consisted of, whence it arose, and why it was important, in one text. The idea of natural diversity had different meanings and associations in each of these contexts, and the interaction of these various meanings and associations is one of the principal sources of the book's coherence and power. One of the most resonant expressions of the idea of natural diversity appears in the passage in which Polo described the Indian kingdom of Coilum. Marco Polo's vision of the world as essentially and naturally diverse contrasts strongly with the two principal narratives produced by earlier European travelers to the Mongol court, those of the friars John of Pian di Carpini and William of Rubruck, who were sent in 1245-46 and 1253, respectively, as missionaries and ambassadors by the pope and the king of France. Keywords: John of Pian di Carpini; Marco Polo; Mongol court; natural diversity; William of Rubruck
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