Marco Polo And The Silk Road

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IRP 3 Explorers of the Silk Road “Marco Polo” The Venetian traveler and writer Marco Polo (ca. 1254-ca. 1324) left Venice for Cathay, or China, in 1271, spent 17 years in Kublai Khan's realm, and returned to Venice in 1295. Marco was born into a family of travelers, with his Father and Uncle both being veteran travelers due to their jobs in the trade industry. In 1271, when Marco was just 17, he was invited by his Father and Uncle to embark on a adventure with them, They would take the 3 year long journey from Venice across the Silk Road and into China, where they would be welcomed warmly by the Great Kahn once again. They had a long and difficult odyssey, mostly on horseback, to reach China. After Leaving Venice, they traveled through Jerusalem, Acre, Tabriz, Saveh, Yazd, Minab, Kerman, Kashgar, with the adventure ending in 1274. Marco kept detailed journals, where he recorded his impressions of the terrain. When he first saw the great Gobi Desert, more than 500,000 square miles (805,000 km) of sand, he wrote: "This desert is reported to be so long that it would take a year to go from end to end... There is nothing at all to eat." The Polos stopped for a year in the Mongol region, where they learned about the lives and civilization of the people there. When the Polos reached Cathay to stay with the Emperor Kublai Khan, Marco impressed the ruler with his knowledge of Mongol Traditions. The Polos had traveled 5600 miles (9000 km) in over three and a half years to Reach Cathay. All three of the European visitors were maintained as envoys and advisers. Marco was used on several extended missions that sent him traveling over much of China and even beyond. By his own account, he skirted the edge of Tibet and northern Burma. This business-diplomatic relationship between the Polos and Kublai Khan lasted more than 16 years, during which Marco served as the

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