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Marco Polo Biography & Facts

Marco Polo ( , Venetian: [ˈmaɾko ˈpolo], Italian: [ˈmarko ˈpɔːlo] ; c. 1254 – 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in The Travels of Marco Polo (also known as Book of the Marvels of the World and Il Milione, c. 1300), a book that described to Europeans the then-mysterious culture and inner workings of the Eastern world, including the wealth and great size of the Mongol Empire and China under the Yuan dynasty, giving their first comprehensive look into China, Persia, India, Japan, and other locations throughout Asia. Born in Venice, Marco learned the mercantile trade from his father and his uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, who travelled through Asia and met Kublai Khan. In 1269, they returned to Venice to meet Marco for the first time. The three of them embarked on an epic journey to Asia, exploring many places along the Silk Road until they reached "Cathay". They were received by the royal court of Kublai Khan, who was impressed by Marco's intelligence and humility. Marco was appointed to serve as Kublai's foreign emissary, and he was sent on many diplomatic missions throughout the empire and Southeast Asia, such as in present-day Burma, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. As part of this appointment, Marco also travelled extensively inside China, living in the emperor's lands for 17 years and seeing many things that had previously been unknown to Europeans. Around 1291, the Polos also offered to accompany the Mongol princess Kököchin to Persia; they arrived around 1293. After leaving the princess, they travelled overland to Constantinople and then to Venice, returning home after 24 years. At this time, Venice was at war with Genoa; Marco was captured and imprisoned by the Genoans after joining the war effort and dictated his stories to Rustichello da Pisa, a cellmate. He was released in 1299, became a wealthy merchant, married, and had three children. He died in 1324 and was buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Venice. Though he was not the first European to reach China, Marco Polo was the first to leave a detailed chronicle of his experience. This account of the Orient provided the Europeans with a clear picture of the East's geography and ethnic customs, and was the first Western record of porcelain, gunpowder, paper money, and some Asian plants and exotic animals. His travel book inspired Christopher Columbus and many other travellers. There is substantial literature based on Polo's writings; he also influenced European cartography, leading to the introduction of the Catalan Atlas and the Fra Mauro map. Life Family origin Marco Polo was born around 1254 in Venice, but the exact date and place of birth are archivally unknown. The "Travels of Marco Polo" contains some basic information concerning Marco Polo's Venetian family and his birth in Venice; the book states that Marco's father, the travelling merchant Niccolò Polo, returned to visit his family in his hometown of Venice around 1269 and there found out that his wife, whom he had left pregnant, had died and left a 15-year-old son named Marco. In contrast to the general consensus, there are theories suggesting that Marco Polo's birthplace was the island of Korčula or Constantinople but such hypotheses failed to gain acceptance among most scholars and have been countered by other studies. There has also been dispute as to whether the Polo family is of Venetian origin because their exact origin is also unknown. There existed at least two families of the same surname in Venice, one in the San Geremia district, and another in the San Giovanni Grisostomo where was Marco's family house (he is mentioned in 1323 as Marco Paulo de confinio Sancti Iohannis Grisostomi), and their members and coat of arms are often mistaken in the sources. Some Venetian sources of the 15th and 16th centuries considered that the family Polo was of Dalmatian origin. Placido Zurla in the early 19th century noted that in the historical sources there is a lack of any specific mention related to Polo's family, while Niccolò Tommaseo in the mid-19th century considered Dalmatian origin of the family. Some scholars such as Alvise Zorzi argue Venetian origin and that it can be traced up to the 10th century. According to another disputed theory their origin and Polo's birthplace was on the island of Korčula, which is influenced by Ramusio's account about Polo's capture during the Battle of Curzola (1298). According to some sources, in 1168, his great-uncle, Marco Polo "the Elder", borrowed money and commanded a ship in Constantinople, and his grandfather Andrea Polo of the parish of San Felice had three sons Maffeo, yet another Marco, and the traveller's father Niccolò. This genealogy and information, also probably confusing separate Polo families, created by Giovanni Battista Ramusio in Navigationi et Viaggi (1559), is not universally accepted as there is no additional evidence to support it. The date of birth of Polo's father Niccolò and the name of Polo's mother are unknown. Nickname Milione He was nicknamed Milione during his lifetime (which in Italian literally means 'Million'). In fact, the Italian title of his book was Il libro di Marco Polo detto il Milione, which means "The Book of Marco Polo, nicknamed 'Milione'". According to the 15th-century humanist Giovanni Battista Ramusio, his fellow citizens awarded him this nickname when he came back to Venice because he kept on saying that Kublai Khan's wealth was counted in millions. More precisely, he was nicknamed Messer Marco Milioni (Mr Marco Millions). However, since also his father Niccolò was nicknamed Milione, 19th-century philologist Luigi Foscolo Benedetto was persuaded that Milione was a shortened version of Emilione, and that this nickname was used to distinguish Niccolò's and Marco's branch from other Polo families. Early life and Asian travel His father, Niccolò Polo, a merchant, traded with the Near East, becoming wealthy and achieving great prestige. Niccolò and his brother Maffeo set off on a trading voyage before Marco's birth. In 1260, Niccolò and Maffeo, while residing in Constantinople, then the capital of the Latin Empire, foresaw a political change; they liquidated their assets into jewels and moved away. According to The Travels of Marco Polo, they passed through much of Asia, and met with Kublai Khan, a Mongol ruler and founder of the Yuan dynasty. Their decision to leave Constantinople proved timely. In 1261 Michael VIII Palaiologos, the ruler of the Empire of Nicaea, took Constantinople, promptly burned the Venetian quarter and re-established the Byzantine Empire. Captured Venetian citizens were blinded, while many of those who managed to escape perished aboard overloaded refugee ships fleeing to other Venetian colonies in the Aegean Sea. Almost nothing is known about the childhood of Marco Polo until he was fifteen years old, except t.... Discover the Marco Polo popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Marco Polo books.