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CATHAY

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 517 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CATHAY , the name by which See also:

China (q.v.) was known to See also:medieval See also:Europe and is still occasionally referred to in See also:poetry, as in See also:Tennyson's " Better fifty years of Europe than a See also:cycle of Cathay." It is derived from Khitai, or Khitat, the name which was properly that of the See also:kingdom established by the Khitan conquerors in the See also:northern provinces of China about A.D. 907, which after the fall of this See also:dynasty in 1125 remained attached to their former territory, and was subsequently applied by the nations of Central See also:Asia to the whole of China. Thus " Kitai " is still the See also:Russian name for China. The name penetrated to Europe in the 13th See also:century with the fame of the conquests of Jenghiz See also:Khan. After the See also:discovery of See also:southern China by See also:European navigators Cathay was erroneously believed to be a See also:country to the See also:north of China, and it was the See also:desire to reach it that sent the See also:English adventurers of the 16th century in See also:search of the north-See also:east passage.

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