In the following list of foreign observers of Russia dates are normally date of first publication, or other appropriate date where this is not possible * 922: Ahmed ibn Fadlan travelled from Bagdad to near Kazan, saw Vikings * c. 950: Ahmad ibn Rustah went to Novgorod * c. 1241: Snorri Sturluson described Rus chieftains as typical Vikings * c. 1300: Marco Polo mentioned Russia as a distant country in the far north * 1476: Ambrogio Contarini Venetian ambassador to Persia, passed through Moscow. Early (earliest?) printed source * 1486: Iurii Trakhaniot Muscovite ambassador to Milan, interviewed by Milanese officials, their report possibly not published * 1487: Giosafat Barbaro Venetian to Sea of Azov, published 1543 * 1515 Jacob Piso: Polish anti-Russian propaganda, never in Russia