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Marco Polo Social Studies D148 (Marco Polo: Journey to The East (Il…
Marco Polo Social Studies D148
Marco Polo: Journey to The East
September 15, 1254 -January 8, 1324
He was a Venetian trader and explorer who, with his father Niccolò and his uncle Maffeo, was one of the first Europeans to travel the Silk Road to China (back then was called Cathay)
And visited the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, Kublai Khan (grandson of Genghis Khan)
Although Marco Polo was not the first Westerner to reach to Far East, his journeys, chronicled in Il Milione ("The Million" or The Travels of Marco Polo), became much more widely known than those of any predecessor and popularized the East in European imagination
Subsequently, trade and commerce with China became much more significant and Chinese products found their way into European homes
Voyages of Marco
Journey to Cathay and service to the khan
Maffeo 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, along with two friars who did not finish the voyage due to fear
When Marco Polo arrived at Kublai Khan's court he became a favorite of the khan and was employed for 17 years and was sent on voyages and was given permission to trade freely throughout China
In 1291, Kublai entrusted Marco with his last duty, to escort the Mongol princess Koekecin (Cocacin in Il Milione) to her betrothed, the Ilkhan Arghun
In 1293 or 1294 the Polos reached the Ilkhanate, ruled by Gaykhatu after the death of Arghun, and left Koekecin with the new Ilkhan
Then they moved to Trabzon and from that city sailed to Venice
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
According to a late tradition, since they did not believe him, Marco Polo invited them all to dinner one night during which the Polos dressed in the simple clothes of a peasant in China
Shortly before the crowds ate, the Polos opened their pockets to reveal hundreds of rubies and other jewels which they had received in Asia
Though they were much impressed, the people of Venice still doubted the Polos
Marco Polo was later captured in a minor clash of the war between Venice and Genoa, or in the naval battle of Curzola, according to one tradition
He spent the few months of his imprisonment, in 1298, dictating to a fellow prisoner, Rustichello da Pisa, a detailed account of his travels in the then-unknown parts of the Far East
His book, Il Milione (the title comes from either "The Million," then considered a gigantic number, or from Polo's family nickname Emilione), was written in Old French and entitled Le divisament dou monde ("The Description of the World")
The book was soon translated into many European languages and is known in English as The Travels of Marco Polo
The original is lost and there are now 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