Mind-Benders of Jewish History
The Jewish traveler who beat Marco Polo by a century
Benjamin of Tudela set out from Spain around 1165 and spent roughly eight years crossing three continents — through Rome, Constantinople, the Land of Israel, Baghdad and Persia, and home by way of Egypt — recording the Jewish communities he found along the way. He returned around 1173, nearly a hundred years before Marco Polo even left Venice.
How we know
Benjamin of Tudela traveled c. 1165–1173 across some 300 cities and three continents; Marco Polo departed Venice in 1271 — 98 years later.
One of many fact-checked wonders across eight traditions at The Spring of Wisdom.