Cathay, << ka THAY >>, is the name Europeans once gave to China, especially the part north of the Yangtze River. The name Cathay is derived from Khitan, a pre-Mongol people who controlled parts of China from the early A.D. 900’s to the early 1100’s. The Italian trader Marco Polo called the country Khitai, or Cathay, in his account of his travels to the land of Kublai Khan. His journey there took place in the late 1200’s. In Russia and Central Asia, Khitai is still the preferred term for China.
See also China; Kublai Khan; Polo, Marco.
