Biography:Marco Polo
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Marco Polo (1254-1324), is probably the most famous Westerner traveled on the Silk Road. He excelled all the other travelers in his determination, his writing, and his influence. His journey through Asia lasted 24 years. He reached further than any of his predecessors, beyond Mongolia to China. He became a confidant of Kublai Khan (1214-1294). He traveled the whole of China and returned to tell the tale, which became the greatest travelogue.
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In 1260, the brothers and Venetian merchants Nicolo and Matteo Polo traveled east from Europe. In 1265, they arrived at Kaifeng, the capital of Kublai Khan's (also known as the Great Khan) Mongol Empire. In 1269, the brothers returned to Europe with a request from Khan for the Pope to send one hundred missionaries to the Mongol Empire, supposedly to help convert the Mongols to Christianity. The Khan's message was ultimately relayed to the Pope but he did not send the requested missionaries.
Upon arriving in Venice, Nicolo discovered that his wife had died, leaving the care of a son, Marco (born in 1254 and thus fifteen years old), in his hands.
It was in Venice in 1269 that the Polos settled after Marco's birth. When Nicolo and MatteoPolo returned after years of trading in Asia back to Europe, Marco was fifteen years old and his mother had died a long time previously. Marco listened with enthusiasm to their stories about the wonders and riches of China. His joy knew no bounds when he learned that he was going with them on the next journey. In the summer of 1271, Marco, at the age of seventeen years, embarked with his father and uncle on the galley and gazed with melancholy at the contours of Venice which he was not see for twenty four years, but he would be seeing more of the world than any man of his time.
Continue................His Voyages
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