Sometime after 1318, Odoric left Venice to begin his multi-year journey across Asia. In the introduction to his travel journal, Odoric says that he went as a missionary and never alludes to any other capacity such as an ambassador or emissary. No records have been found to indicate whether he was sent by some ecclesiastical authority or simply received permission to undertake a journey of his own choosing. There is little chronological information regarding the exact sequence and duration of the stops on his travel. His narrative and other evidence only tell that he was in western India soon after 1321 (with high probability in 1322) and that he spent three years in China between the opening of 1323 and the close of 1328. Along the way he provided brief descriptive notes for each of the places he visited, highlighting various cultural, religious, and social peculiarities. During at least a part of his journey, the companion of Odoric was Friar
James of Ireland, who assisted at Odoric's funeral and subsequently received a payment of two marks from the city of Udine, recorded with the Latin notation,
Socio beati Fratris Odorici, amore Dei et Odorici ('companion of the Blessed Brother Odoric, for the love of God and Odoric'). From Venice he first went to
Constantinople and then crossed the
Black Sea to
Trebizond. From Trebizond he traveled southeast along the caravan route to
Erzerum,
Tabriz, and
Soltania. It is likely that he spent time at the Franciscan monasteries established in these cities. From Soltania his travels become somewhat confused. He seems to have wandered through Persia and Mesopotamia, visiting
Kashan,
Yazd,
Persepolis, and
Baghdad. From Baghdad he traveled along the
Persian Gulf, and at
Hormuz embarked for India. Odoric landed on the western Indian coast at
Tana, where
Thomas of Tolentino and his three Franciscan companions had recently been
martyred for "
blaspheming"
Muhammad before the local magistrate or
qadi. Their remains had been interred by
Jordan of Severac, a
Dominican missionary. Odoric relates that he recovered these
relics and carried them with him on his further travels. From Tana, he travelled down the
Malabar coast, stopping at
Kodungallur and
Quilon. From there, he proceeded around the southern tip of India and up along the
southeast coast, where he visited the shrine of
Thomas the Apostle, which tradition places near
Chennai. From India, Odoric sailed in a
junk to northern
Sumatra,
Java, and
Borneo where he became the first European to make a recorded visit to the island. At this point, his journey becomes somewhat confusing and it is unclear if it is recorded in the correct chronological order. After visiting
Champa, an ancient coastal kingdom in
Vietnam, Odoric says that he travelled to the
Nicobar Islands and then on to
Ceylon. After Ceylon, Odoric writes about the island of "
Dondin", identified by some historians as the
Andaman Islands by while others believe it to be entirely fictional. Next, he travelled to
Guangzhou (which he knew as "
Chin-Kalan" or "
Mahachin"). From Guangzhou, he travelled overland to the great port of "
Zayton" (possibly
Quanzhou), where there were two houses of his Order. In one of these, he deposited the relics of the Martyrs of Thane. A letter from the bishop Andrea da Perugia, dated 1326, confirms their reception. From
Fuzhou, Odoric struck across the mountains into
Zhejiang and visited
Hangzhou ("
Cansay"). It was at the time one of the great cities of the world and Odoric — like
Marco Polo,
Marignolli, and
Ibn Battuta— gives details of its splendours. He mentions Hangzhou as a "greater city than any other in the world, being 100 miles around, with everywhere within inhabited; often a house has 10 or 12 families. The city has twelve gates and at each gate at about eight miles are cities larger than
Venice or
Padua". Passing northward by
Nanjing and crossing the
Yangzi, Odoric embarked on the
Grand Canal and travelled to the imperial city of the
Great Khan (probably
Yesün Temür Khan) at
Khanbaliq (within present-day
Beijing). He remained there for three years, probably from 1324 to 1327. He was attached, no doubt, to one of the churches founded by the Franciscan Archbishop
John of Monte Corvino, by this time in extreme old age. He also visited
Yangzhou where Marco Polo had served as governor for three years. After three years in Khanbaliq, Odoric elected to travel back to Europe, possibly in response to the Emperor's request for more missionaries. His return journey is less clearly described. Traveling overland across Asia, he passed through what he called the "kingdom of
Prester John" (possibly
Mongolia), and then "
Kansan" (possibly
Shaanxi). Some commentators have suggested that he may have been the first European to have reached
Tibet, but a number of modern scholars have contested this interpretation. Beyond here, the friar likely proceeded through
Kashmir,
Afghanistan, Persia,
Armenia and back to Trebizond, where he may have caught a ship home to Venice. ==Return to Friuli==