Marco Polo The First Voyage The Second Voyage Il Milione

The Polos supposedly lived there for seventeen years before returning to Venice. After his return, in a sea battle between Venice and Genoa, Marco was captured and taken to prison, where he dictated to Rustichello da Pisa the book Il Milione about his travels.

The name Marco Polo was also given to a children's game — see Marco Polo (game) — and to a story in the science fiction series Doctor Who — see Marco Polo (Doctor Who)Doctor Who serials Marco Polo is a 7 episode Doctor Who serial. It is the fourth story in the first season, featuring William Hartnell as The Doctor. Synopsis The TARDIS lands in Central Asia in 1289, where the Doctor and his companions fall in with Marco — and to a three-masted clipper ship built in Saint John, New Brunswick, in 1851. The fastest ship of her day, the Marco Polo was the first ship to circumnavigate the world in under six months.

1 The first voyage

The Polo family had other explorers other than Marco. His father Niccolò (also Nicolò in Venetian) and his uncle Matteo (also Maffio) were prosperous merchants in the East trade. The two merchants set out to AsiaThe continent of Asia is defined by subtracting Europe and Africa from the great land mass of Africa-Eurasia. The boundaries are vague, especially between Asia and Europe: Asia and Africa meet somewhere near the Suez Canal. The boundary between Asia and E in 1255Events Konigsberg was founded Births Deaths Monarchs/Presidents Aragon James I King of Aragon and count of Barcelona (reigned from 1213 to 1276) 1255., reached China in 1266Events February 26 French defeat Germans and Sicilians at Battle of Benevento. Dictum of Kenilworth issued. Treaty of Perth gives Western Isles to Scotland. Prince Koreyasu succeeds Prince Munetaka as shogun in Japan. Births Beatrice Portinari, Dante Alig, arriving at KhanbaliqKhanbaliq or Cambuluc ("great residence of the khan") is the ancient Mongol name for Beijing, the current capital of China. As the capital city of the Mongolian Empire under Kublai Khan, it was founded during the Yuan Dynasty, until it was renamed to Beij near Peking. They returned from China as Kublai KhanKublai Khan or Khubilai Khan ( 1215 1294), Mongol military leader, was Khan (1260-1294) of the Mongol Empire and founder and first Emperor (1279-1294) of the Yuan Dynasty. Born the second son of Tolui and Sorghaghtani Beki and grandson of Genghis Khan, he's envoys with a letter for the PopeThis article is about the Catholic pope. See Pope (disambiguation) for other meanings of the word pope. The Pope is the Catholic bishop and patriarch of Rome, and ex officio supreme spiritual leader of what might be called the Catholic Communion (that is, asking to be sent educated people to teach in his empire, to inform the Mongols about their way of life.

There is a tradition that the Polo family originated from the island of Curzola in the Adriatic Sea (now Korcula, part of Croatia). It is considered dubious as there is some factual evidence supporting these claims, and some evidence contrary to it, with no complete records that would help ascertain the truth. The city of Korcula still maintains an old house in which Marco was said to have been born. Regardless, the Polos gained prominence in Venice and are historically recorded as Venetians.

2 The second voyage

Matteo and Niccolò Polo set out on a second journey, with the Pope's response to Kublai Khan, in 1271. This time Niccolò took his son Marco who soon won the favour of Kublai Khan, who made Marco his adviser. Soon afterwards Marco became the Khan's emissary. In his seventeen years of service to the Khan, Marco Polo became acquainted with the vast regions of China and with numerous achievements of Chinese civilization, many of which were more advanced than similar contemporary European developments.

3 Il Milione

On their return from China in 1295, the family settled in Venice where they became a sensation and attracted crowds of listeners, who had difficulties in believing their reports of distant China.

His restless spirit drove Marco Polo to take part in the naval battle of Curzola/Korcula between Genoa and Venice in 1298. He was captured by and spent the few months of his imprisonment dictating a detailed account of his travels in the then-unknown parts of the Far East. His book, Il Milione ("The Million"; known in English as The Travels of Marco Polo) was written in the Provençal language and was soon translated into many European languages. The original is lost and we have several often-conflicting versions of the translations. The book became an instant success — quite an achievement in a time when printing was not known in Europe.

4 Did the trip really take place?

On his deathbed, his family begged Marco to confess that he had lied in his stories. Marco refused, insisting, "I have only told half of what I saw!"

While most historians believe that Marco Polo did indeed reach China, in recent times some have proposed that he did not get that far, and only retold information he had heard from others. Those skeptics point out that, among other omissions, his account fails to mention Chinese writing, chopsticks, tea, foot binding, or the Great Wall. Also, Chinese records of the time do not mention him, despite the fact that he claimed to have served as a special emissary for Kublai Khan—which is puzzling, given the careful record-keeping in China at that time.

On the other hand, Marco describes other apects of Far Eastern life in much detail: paper money, the Grand Canal, the structure of a Mongol army, tigers, the Imperial postal system. He also refers to Japan by its Chinese name " Zipang" or Cipangu. This is usually considered the first mention of Japan in Western literature.

Marco Polo is also believed to have described a bridge that was the site of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, a battle that marked the beginning of the Japanese invasion of north central China in World War II.

5 Historical impact

Although the Polos were by no means the first Europeans to reach China overland (see for example Giovanni da Pian del Carpini), thanks to Marco's book their trip was the first to be widely known, and the best-documented until then.

Legend has it that Marco Polo introduced to Italy some products from China, including ice cream, the piñata and pasta, especially spaghetti. However, these legends are highly dubious — for instance, there is evidence that pasta was known in Italy since antiquity.

The airport in Venice, Italy is named Marco Polo International Airport. See also the Marcopolo satellites.

The travels of Marco Polo are given an extended fantasy treatment in the Irish writer Donn Byrne 's Mesuser Marco Polo.

6 References

Sir Henry Yule (Ed.): The Travels of Marco Polo Dover Publications, New York, 1983 [new edition of: London 1870]
Henry H. Hart: Marco Polo, Venetian Adventurer Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1967
Frances Wood , Did Marco Polo Go to China?, Westview Press , 1995
John Larner: Marco Polo and the Discovery of the World Yale Univ. Press, 1999

7 External links

Category at Open Directory.
Marco Polo Travels
Marko Polo's Korcula Home
Marco Polo Stamps
Marco Polo's Description of the World - from Frances Wood 's book Did Marco Polo Go to China?

Polo, Marco Polo, Marco Polo, Marco

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