Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, variously rendered in English as
John of Pian de Carpine,
John of Plano Carpini or
Joannes de Plano (
ca 1185 – August 1, 1252), was one of the first Europeans to enter the court of the
Great Khan of the
Mongol Empire. He is the author of the earliest important Western account of northern and
central Asia,
Rus, and other regions of the
Mongol dominion. He was the Primate of Serbia, based in
Antivari, from 1247 to 1252.