Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant believed to have journeyed across Asia at the height of the Mongol Empire. He first set out at age 17 with his father and uncle, traveling overland along what later became known as the Silk Road. Upon reaching China, Marco Polo entered the court of powerful Mongol ruler Kublai Khan, who dispatched him on trips to help administer the realm. Marco Polo remained abroad for 24 years. Though not the first European to explore China—his father and uncle, among others, had already been there—he became famous for his travels thanks to a popular book he co-authored while languishing in a Genoese prison.
Marco Polo was born around into a prosperous merchant family in the Italian city-state of Venice. The two brothers then went to the port city of Soldaia now Sudak, Ukraine , where they owned a house. The Byzantine re-conquest of Constantinople in , along with upheavals in the Mongol Empire, may have blocked their way home. After spending three years in Bukhara in present-day Uzbekistan, they were encouraged by a Mongolian embassy to visit Kublai Khan , grandson of Genghis Khan , who controlled a huge swath of Asia.
Kublai quizzed them on European affairs and decided to send them on a goodwill mission to the pope. At the request of Kublai Khan, they secured some holy oil from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and then backtracked to Acre to pick up gifts, papal documents and two friars from newly elected Pope Gregory X.
The friars quickly abandoned the expedition, but the Polos continued on, possibly by camel, to the Persian port city of Hormuz. Over the next three years they slowly trekked through deserts, high mountain passes and other rough terrain, meeting people of various religions and cultures along the way. Kublai, who generally relied on foreigners to administer his empire, took Marco Polo into his court, possibly as a tax collector.
At one point, the Venetian was sent on official business to the port city of Hangzhou then called Quinsai , which, like Venice, was built around a series of canals.
Marco Polo also purportedly journeyed across inland China and into present-day Myanmar. After many years of seeking a release from service, the Polos finally secured permission from Kublai to escort a young princess to her intended husband Arghun, the Mongol ruler of Persia. Nevertheless, young Marco Polo enjoyed a keen sense of adventure and curiosity, taking in the sights, smells and cultural phenomena with wonder.
Finally, the Polos reached Beijing and met Kublai Khan at the summer palace, Xanadu, a glorious marble and gold structure that enchanted young Marco. Khan happily received the Polos. He invited them to stay and for Niccolo and Maffeo to become part of his court. Marco immersed himself in Chinese culture, quickly learning the language and taking note of customs.
Khan was impressed and eventually appointed Marco the position of special envoy. Khan recognized his talents … Polo was devoted to serving the Emperor. This position allowed Marco to travel to the far reaches of Asia — places like Tibet, Burma and India; places that Europeans had never before seen.
Over the years, Marco was promoted to governor of a great Chinese city, to the tax inspector in Yaznhou, and to an official seat on the Khan's Privy Council.
This in effect was an official passport making the Polos honored guests of the emperor and allowing them to travel freely throughout Asia," said Abernethy. Through it all, Marco Polo marveled at China's cultural customs, great wealth and complex social structure. He was impressed with the empire's paper money, efficient communication system, coal burning, gunpowder and porcelain, and called Xanadu "the greatest palace that ever was.
The Polos stayed in China for 17 years, amassing vast riches of jewels and gold. When they decided to return to Venice, unhappy Khan requested that they escort a Mongol princess to Persia, where she was to marry a prince.
During the two-year return journey by sea across the Indian Ocean, passengers and members of the crew died. By the time they reached Hormuz in Persia and left the princess, just 18 people remained alive on board.
The promised prince, too, was dead, so the Polos had to linger in Persia until a suitable match for the princess could be found. Eventually, the Polos made it back to Venice. After being gone for 24 years, people did not recognize them and the Polos struggled to speak Italian. Three years after returning to Venice, Marco Polo assumed command of a Venetian ship in a war against Genoa. He was captured and, while being held in a Genovese prison, he met a fellow prisoner, a romance writer called Rustichello.
When prompted, Polo dictated his adventures to Rustichello. Many copies of the book were created and it was translated into several languages. It was only after Polo's death that people realized the book contained the truth about his travels and what he witnessed. Additionally, some readers questioned Polo's reliability, possibly leading to the book's popular Italian title, "Il Milione," short for "The Million Lies.
In what is now Afghanistan, Polo was forced to retreat to the mountains in order to recoup from an illness he'd contracted. Crossing the Gobi desert, meanwhile, proved long and, at times, arduous. It consists entirely of mountains and sands and valleys. There is nothing at all to eat. Finally, after four years of travel, the Polos reached China and Kublai Khan, who was staying at his summer palace known as Xanadu, a grand marble architectural wonder that dazzled young Polo.
The Polos had originally planned to be gone for only a few years. However, they were away from Venice for more than 23 years. Debate has swirled among historians as to whether Polo ever really made it to China. There is no evidence outside his famous book that he traveled so far east. Yet his knowledge of the culture and its customs are hard to dismiss. His later account told of Khan's extensive communication system, which served as the foundation for his rule. Polo's book, in fact, devotes five pages to the elaborate structure, describing how the empire's information highway efficiently and economically covered millions of square miles.
Khan's acceptance of the Polos offered the foreigners unparalleled access to his empire. Niccolo and Maffeo were granted important positions in the leader's Court. Polo, too, impressed Khan, who thought highly of the young man's abilities as a merchant. Polo's immersion into the Chinese culture resulted in him mastering four languages. Kublai Khan eventually employed Polo as a special envoy he sent to far-flung areas of Asia never before explored by Europeans, including Burma, India and Tibet.
With Polo, as always, was a stamped metal packet from Khan himself that served as his official credentials from the powerful leader. As the years wore on, Polo was promoted for his work.
He served as governor of a Chinese city. Later, Khan appointed him as an official of the Privy Council. At one point, he was the tax inspector in the city of Yanzhou. From his travels, Polo amassed not only great knowledge about the Mongol empire but incredible wonder.
He marveled at the empire's use of paper money, an idea that had failed to reach Europe, and was in awe of its economy and scale of production. Polo's later stories showed him to be an early anthropologist and ethnographer. His reporting offers little about himself or his own thoughts, but instead gives the reader a dispassionate reporting about a culture he had clearly grown fond of.
Finally, after 17 years in Khan's court, the Polos decided it was time to return to Venice. Their decision was not one that pleased Khan, who'd grown to depend on the men. In the end, he acquiesced to their request with one condition: They escort a Mongol princess to Persia, where she was to marry a Persian prince.
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