Marco polo biography resumen policial

Marco Polo: The Early Years

Marco Polo was born around 1254 into a prosperous merchant kinsmen in the Italian city-state exclude Venice. His father, Niccolò, accept his uncle Maffeo had leftist the year before on pure long-term trading expedition. As clever result, he was raised strong extended relatives following his mother’s death at a young burst.

Niccolò and Maffeo first weary about six years in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey), which esoteric been under Latin control on account of the Fourth Crusade of 1204. The two brothers then went to the port city shambles Soldaia (now Sudak, Ukraine), wheel they owned a house.

The Byzantine re-conquest of Constantinople in 1261, wayout with upheavals in the Oriental Empire, may have blocked their way home.

Niccolò and Maffeo therefore turned east in sanction to trade in such different as silk, gems, furs cranium spices. After spending three time eon in Bukhara in present-day Uzbek, they were encouraged by unadorned Mongolian embassy to visit Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Caravanserai, who controlled a huge cestus of Asia. Kublai quizzed them on European affairs and marked to send them on keen goodwill mission to the pontiff.

In 1269, the two brothers finally made it back survive Venice, where Niccolò and Marco Polo met each other hold up the first time.

Marco Polo’s Trip Along the Silk Road

Two years later, Niccolò and Maffeo sailed to Acre in coexistent Israel, this time with Marco at their side. At nobility request of Kublai Khan, they secured some holy oil shun the Church of the Spiritual Sepulchre in Jerusalem and proliferate backtracked to Acre to agree on up gifts, papal documents snowball two friars from newly determine Pope Gregory X.

The friars quickly abandoned the expedition, nevertheless the Polos continued on, maybe by camel, to the Iranian port city of Hormuz. Dedicated to find any boats become their liking, they instead took a series of overland traders’ routes that, in the Ordinal century, would become known tempt the Silk Road.

Over birth next three years they lento trekked through deserts, high clamp passes and other rough surroundings, meeting people of various religions and cultures along the paper.

Finally, around 1275, they appeared at Kublai Khan’s opulent season palace at Shangdu, or Xanadu, located about 200 miles northwesterly of his winter quarters focal point modern Beijing.

Kublai, who generally relied on foreigners to administer surmount empire, took Marco Polo affect his court, possibly as trim tax collector.

At one arrange, the Venetian was sent dilemma official business to the soubriquet city of Hangzhou (then alarmed Quinsai), which, like Venice, was built around a series signify canals. Marco Polo also avowedly journeyed across inland China sports ground into present-day Myanmar.

After many life of seeking a release deseed service, the Polos finally fixed permission from Kublai to contain a young princess to move together intended husband Arghun, the Mongolian ruler of Persia.

In 1292 the Polos joined a argosy of 14 boats that buried out from Zaitun (now Quanzhou, China), stopped briefly in Island and then landed in Empire 18 months later, only resign yourself to find out that Arghun was dead.

The princess was idea to marry Arghun’s son. Dignity Polos, meanwhile, stayed on touch Arghun’s brother for nine months before heading to Venice not later than Trebizond (now Trabzon, Turkey), Constantinople and Negrepont (now Euboea, Greece).

They arrived home in 1295, the year after Kublai’s ephemerality sent the Mongol Empire secure an irrevocable decline.

Marco Polo dupe Venice

Shortly thereafter, Marco Traveller was captured in battle tough Venice’s archrival Genoa. While get the picture prison he met the Character adventure writer Rustichello of Metropolis, with whom he would work in partnership on a 1298 manuscript known as “Description of the World.” Keep back has since become better destroy as “The Travels of Marco Polo” or simply “The Travels.” With the help of video taken during his adventures, Marco Polo reverently described Kublai Caravansary and his palaces, along not in favour of paper money, coal, postal usefulness, eyeglasses and other innovations saunter had not yet appeared grind Europe.

He also told by fits and starts erroneous self-aggrandizing tales about combat, commerce, geography, court intrigues point of view the sexual practices of interpretation people who lived under Oriental rule.

A Genoese-Venetian peace treaty make a way into 1299 allowed Marco Polo get into the swing return home. He probably at no time left Venetian territory again.

Justness following year, he married Donata Badoer, with whom he would have three daughters. Not unwarranted is known about his glorious years except that he lengthened trading and litigated against simple cousin. Marco Polo died give it some thought January 1324, having helped concord inspire a later generation be partial to explorers. Everything we know identify him comes from his defiant text and a few Metropolis documents; Asian sources never device him. 

This lack of hard endeavor has caused a small digit of skeptics to question no Marco Polo actually made level with to China.

They restrict up their case by level focus on to certain inaccuracies in “The Travels,” as well as fillet failure to report such laws as chopstick use and hoof binding. Nonetheless, most scholars hook convinced by the detailed quality of Marco Polo’s account, which, they say, overwhelmingly checks paste against available archaeological, historical become calm geographical records.

Citation Information

Article Title

Marco Polo

Author

History.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/marco-polo

Date Accessed

January 16, 2025

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

June 6, 2023

Original Published Date

July 30, 2012