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Marco Polo Travels Even though many people only recognize Marco Polo as the famous one in his family, his uncle and his father were also travelers. They were actually the first ones from the family to travel to China. On their second journey they brought Marco and this would be the adventure that many people would remember in years to come. Marco Polo was born in 1274.
He was an Italian traveler and explorer. He was also the first European to cross the entire continent of Asia and leave a record of what he saw and heard. Marco Polo was born in Venice, Italy. His father Nicolo Polo and Uncle Maffeo Polo were merchants and travelers. A merchant is a person who sells and trades goods.
When they went to China thy met the emperor Kublai Kahn in Peking. This is where Kublai had made his capital of his extensive empire. After nine years in China they would return home promising Kublai that they would bring back some friars to aid in the introduction to Christianity. Figure 1 - 1: this is Maffeo s and Nicolo s route to China On their journey back they would bring the now 17 year old Marco Polo, son of Nicolo. This group of men was well received in 1275 although they did not bring the friars as he had suggested. Since Marco was a very studious man and knew many languages Kublai appointed Marco to civil service in 1277.
Marco rose quickly through the ranks and was sent by the emperor on several confidential missions. Marco eventually became the protector of a city known as Yangchow. figure 1 - 2: Kublai Kahn (who is shown in the picture above) was the ruler of China as Marco Nicolo and Maffeo entered China. The trip to China would not be the easiest thing possible.
They would start off by taking a caravan from Venice to Hormuz. They were planning on taking a ship but most of the ships in the port were not seaworthy so they would have to take the caravan all the way to China by land. The on the road to China they discovered one of the worst things possible. This was a marauder. Marauders were people who rode around stealing from and killing people that they found on the roads. Not much was taken because Marco, his father and uncle were merchants who traded with jewels so they were easier to hide and therefore a lot harder for the marauders to get to Figure 1 - 3: This is Marco s route to china.
As you see they have to go redirect from Hormuz because of the shipping problems. During Marcos fifteen years of service for China he gained much information about India and Japan and also learned about China from a Mongol point of view. When Marco applied to leave China in 1290, Kublai refused because since Marco was now so important to China, with all of his duties, he could not stand to lose the excellent service of that man. Marco was finally granted leave in 1292 because he was the best man to escort Lady Kokachin to Persia so she could marry Kublai's grand-nephew. There was only one condition.
It was that Marco would have to return to the Kahn's service. Since the Kahn died Polo was allowed out of this obligation. Marco continued his journey and arrived in Venice in 1295. At this time Venice was at war with the republic of Genoa.
A ship that Marco was traveling on was captured by the Genoese. Marco was held prisoner in Genoa from 1296 until 1299. It was during these years where Marco Polo would right down all of his adventures and form one of the most important books in history Marco was imprisoned with a man with the name of Rusticello of Pisa. Rusticello was a writer. Marco would dictate his stories to Rusticello and these stories would be written. In these stories there were explanations of what everything looked like, how the Chinese treated people, what it was like traveling from Venice, Italy all the way to China, and what his job was when he was there.
After Polo s release he went back to Venice bringing stories of China. Once he returned he realize that these stories would make him a laughing stock. He tried to explain to these people that China was a very beautiful place but they would not listen. As he was explaining his trip to China he described the palaces like this: Palaces made of marble and other handsome stones, admirable as well for the elegance of its design as for the skill displayed in its execution. The halls and chambers are all gilt, and very handsome. It presents one front towards the interior of the city and the other towards the wall to such an extent as to enclose sixteen miles in circuit of the adjoining plane which their is no access but through the palace.
Marco goes on to talk about how the pillars are so large and all about the rest of the building. Figure 1 - 3: Marco Polo (who is shown above) was not know as a hero or a great explorer in his time like many other genius s that we know about today. It just takes time for people to be respected for the achievements that they have made Even though Marco s stories were not believed his book was still a hit. Many people bought these books almost to act as a fairy tale because many of these things that he talked about in his book seemed so unreal. He mentioned how many people China had and this seemed unreal because no city or county had ever had that large of an amount.
Polo also talked about how powerful China was but again no one believed him because back then Venice and Constantinople were the most powerful cities and the people of Europe thought that no city could ever over throw them form that spot. Polo died in 1324 and was buried in the Church of San Lorenzo. Even after the death of Polo his legacy of his explorations still lived on. Other great explorers like Christopher Columbus even owned a copy of his book. These just shows how popular a person who was doubted can be after he dies.
Marco Polo is still talked about today whenever the topic of traveling occurs. Even though there were many travelers that may have went through greater odds and had an even tougher journey Marco Polo was the first man to ever travel across Asia and to record what he saw and heard. Section review 1. Identify (a) Marco Polo (b) Nicolo Polo (c) Maffeo Polo (d) Kublai Kahn (e) Yangchow (f) Rusticello 2. Define (a) merchants (b) marauder 3. (a) Why didn t Kublai Kahn want Marco to leave China in 1290? (b) Why was he finally allowed to leave? 4. How did Marco get all of his stories written down onto paper? 5.
Critical Thinking: Why do you think that many people did not believe Marco hen he told all of his stories from the
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