Esperanto - A made up language

I bumped into two friends on a station platform and told them:
'I am learning Esperanto on my train journeys. Do you know about Esperanto?'

'No.Never heard of it. What is it?'

'A made up language based on a mixture of European languages. It is easy to learn and spoke by lots of people as a second language.'

'Is it new?'

'No. It was started in the 1880s in Poland in a city where people spoke several languages.'

'What languages is it based on?'

'I'll have to check in Wikipedia - hold on ... It's based on Latin words - like hello is Saluton.
Also Romance languages Italian and Spanish and French.'

On the train home I thought I had better check on the facts which I half knew and half remembered.

I was surprised to see that there is a version of Wikipedia in Esperanto.