History of Marco Polo's Travel

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Historical Recount of Marco Polo’s Travels Marco Polo(1254-1324) was an Italian merchant who travelled the world famous “Silk Road” and connected the European and Asian civilisations.(timeline) Marco Polo was born in Venice to the son of a rich family, who provided him with a good education, especially in language: Italian and French, literacy skills and arithmetics. In 1271, when Marco was seventeen, he joined his father, Nicolo Polo and uncle, Maffeo Polo on their second trip to the East. This time they changed the route and passed through Armenia, Persia, Afghanistan, the Pamier mountains and finally they reached the Gobi desert. After this long journey of three years, they arrived in China and met Kublai Khan. Here, Marco impressed the Khan with his wisdom and knowledge of theChinese culture and became a special envoy for Khan’s court.(Text A) During his seventeen years in Mongolia he was a governor as well as a successful businessman, which brought him a big fortune. Still, he missed his homeland and wished to return with the wealth he had earned, though he was denied by the Khan. Until the opportunity arrived when a princess, the Khan’s daughter, needed to be escorted to Persia for her wedding. Thus, in 1292 the Polos started on the voyage to Persia.(Text B) In 1295, they finally arrived back in Venice with all their fortune and became very popular. Three years later, Venice went to war with Genoa. Because of Marco’s leadership skills and money, he was made a commander in the Venetian navy. In one of the battles, his ship was defeated and he was imprisoned by the enemy. During his time in prison, he told Rustichello, a fellow inmate, the stories of his travel in the East, which led to the publishing of the book ”The Description of the World”. The content of the book was so foreign that many did not believe it. (Text C) He was released in 1299 when the

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