Marco Polo
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Marco Polo (15 September1254 - 8 January 1324) was a Venetian trader and explorer who, together with his father and uncle, was one of the first Westerners to travel the Silk Road to China (which he called Cathay) and visited the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, Kubilai Khan (grandson of Genghis Khan). His travels are written down in Il Milione ("The Milione", from Polo's family nickname Emilione, or The Travels of Marco Polo). Marco Polo is known as one of the world's greatest explorers — some skeptics see him as the world's greatest storyteller. He told many stories to Kublai Khan. The Polos lived in China for seventeen years before returning to Venice. After his return, in a sea battle between Venice and Genoa, Marco was captured and taken to prison, where he dictated the book Il Milione about his travels.
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The first voyage
The Polo family had explorers other than Marco. His father and his uncle Maffeo (also Maffio) were prosperous merchants in the East trade. The two merchants set out to Asia in 1255, reached China in 1266, arriving at Khanbaliq (now Beijing). They returned from China as Kublai Khan's envoys with a letter for the Pope asking to be sent educated people to teach in his empire, to inform the Mongols about their way of life.
There is a tradition that the Polo family originated from the island of Korčula in today's Croatia (then known as Curzola) in the Adriatic Sea. It is considered dubious as there is some factual evidence supporting these claims, and some evidence contrary to it, with no complete records that would help ascertain the truth. The city of Korčula still maintains an old house in which Marco was said to have been born. Regardless, the Polos gained prominence in Venice and are historically recorded as Venetians.
The second voyage
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Maffeo and Niccollo set out on a second journey, with the Pope's response to Kublai Khan, in 1271. This time Niccolok his son Marco. Soon afterwards Marco became the Khan's emissary. In his seventeen years of service to the Khan, Marco Polo became acquainted with the vast regions of China and with numerous achievements of Chinese civilization, many of which were more advanced than similar contemporary European developments.
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. 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.
His restless spirit drove Marco Polo to take part in the naval battle of Curzola between Genoa and Venice in 1298. He was captured by and spent the few months of his imprisonment dictating a detailed account of his travels in the then-unknown parts of the Far East. His book, Il Milione ("The Million"; known in English as The Travels of Marco Polo) was written. The original is lost and we have 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.
Did the trip really take place?
On his deathbed, a priest begged Marco to confess that he had lied in his stories. Marco refused, insisting, "I have not told half of what I saw!"
While most historians believe that Marco Polo did indeed reach China, in recent times some have proposed that he did not get that far, and only retold information he had heard from others. Those skeptics point out that, among other omissions, his account fails to mention Chinese writing, chopsticks, tea, foot binding, or the Great Wall. Also, Chinese records of the time do not mention him, despite the fact that he claimed to have served as a special emissary for Kublai Khan—which is puzzling, given the careful record-keeping in China at that time.
On the other hand, Marco describes other aspects of Far Eastern life in much detail: paper money, the Grand Canal, the structure of a Mongol army, tigers, the Imperial postal system. He also refers to Japan by its Chinese name Zipang or Cipangu. This is usually considered the first mention of Japan in Western literature. However, it is possible that Marco heard of these things from Arab silk road traders; trade between the Middle East and Far East was flourishing and travellers are often happy to retell stories of their ventures in great detail.
Marco Polo is also believed to have described a bridge that was the site of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, a battle that marked the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945).
In his defense, much of what he did not mention is circumstantial, and there are no arguments today that refute any of the descriptions that he did write about.
Historical impact
Although the Polos were by no means the first Europeans to reach China overland (see for example Giovanni da Pian del Carpini), thanks to Marco's book their trip was the first to be widely known, and the best-documented until then.
Legend has it that Marco Polo introduced to Italy some products from China, including ice cream, pizza and pasta, especially spaghetti. However, these legends are highly dubious — for instance, there is evidence that pasta was known in Italy since antiquity.
The airport in Venice is named Marco Polo International Airport. See also the Marcopolo satellites.
The name Marco Polo was also given to a children's game (Marco Polo), a story in the science fiction series Doctor Who (Marco Polo) and a three-masted clipper ship built in Saint John, New Brunswick, in 1851. The fastest ship of her day, Marco Polo was the first ship to sail around the world in under six months. Several ships of the Italian navy were named Marco Polo.