Giovanni Da Pian Del Carpini, English John Of Plano Carpini, (born c. 1180, Pian del Carpine?, near Perugia, Umbria—died Aug. 1, 1252, Antivari [Bar], Dalmatia?), Franciscan friar, first noteworthy European traveller in the Mongol Empire, to which he was sent on a formal mission by Pope Innocent IV. He wrote the earliest important Western work on Central Asia.
