History
1271
General
Population: 423 Million*
- Exploration: Venetian explorer Marco Polo sets out for China (age 17 with uncle), visits Kublai Khan (to 1295)
- Religion: End of three-year vacancy in the papacy as Pope Gregory X (Tebaldo Visconti Piacenza) elected
Asia
- Marco Polo describes oil springs near Caspian Sea where fire-worshipers revere "eternal fires"
Europe
- England: Famine and flooding
- Ireland: Pestilence and famine
Middle East
- Krak des Chevaliers (Crag of the Knights) fortress conquered by a forged note on a carrier pigeon (in Acre area)