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I was reading about the origins of interest in spices recently and came
across a quote supposedly from Marco Polo. He names two cities in China
I can't identify. Is there an ancient cities gazetteer anywhere that
would help me associate the Chinese cities of Zayton or Kinsay with
their modern equivalents? I think Kinsay sounds a lot like Shanghai, but
Zayton escapes me.
 
Here's the quote from Marco Polo (according to Sylvia Windle Humphrey,
author of "A Matter of Taste") about the spice ships arriving in the
harbor at Zayton:
 
   "...they bring thither spicery and all other costly wares. And I
    assure you that for one shipload of pepper that goes to Alexandria
    or elsewhere, there comes a hundred such, aye, and more, too, to
    this haven of Zayton, for it is one of the two greatest havens in
    the world for commerce."
 
Polo goes on to mention that the daily consumption of pepper in another
port city, Kinsay, was nearly 10,000 pounds.
 
These two cities appear to be major ports of China in the late 13th and
early 14th century. They were obviously pretty important then, but where
are these cities today? What Chinese harbor was once called Zayton, and
where was the other "haven"? (Venice?) Does anyone have answers or
suggestions as to where I should look? Or is this a question better put
to MAPHIST-L? My motivation to know is mostly idle curiousity, I
suppose, but you can never have too many odd facts to make your head an
interesting place to screw around in... I'll summarize responses at
least, if there are any.
 
TIA,
 
_   /|   Bill Thoen <[log in to unmask]>
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