Exploration

Marco Polo

orn in 1254 in Venice, Marco Polo is today a well-known figure of pre-Renaissance travels, and for his groundbreaking travels to lands never before journeyed by Europeans. He was an Italian traveler and author, and spent the majority of his life travelling and exploring.

His father Nicolo and uncle Maffeo, both merchants, had conducted business and trade in Constantinopole (now known as Istanbul) and the Crimea. However, when Genoa's merchants, rivals to the Italian Polo's, took over trade in Constantinopole, Nicolo and Maffeo were forced to find alternative trade opportunities. Thus, in 1260, they set out to the north of the Caspian Sea and reached Bukhara (which was on the caravan route to China) and remained there for 3 years. Thereafter, in 1263, joining the Persian envoys, they made their way to visit the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan in Shangdu (near present Beijing). To arrive there, they traveled the Silk Route via SamarQand, the Northern Tibetan desert and the Mongolian Steppes.

Upon their arrival, Kublai Khan commissioned them to return with 100 missionaries to convert his nation to Christianity in opposition to the threatening Islamic armies.

Over the next 3 years the Polo brothers travelled via Bukhara, Persia, Syria and Acre (near Jerusalem) to arrive back home in Venice in 1269.

In 1271, at the age of 17, Marco Polo accompanied his father and uncle back to China, visiting Acre to collect a letter from the newly elected Pope Gregory X for Kublai Khan. They also collected a flask of oil from the Holy Land and 2 Dominican monks (who were later to desert the Polos) from Gregory X to deliver to the Khan.

In the hopes of travelling to India by sea, the Polos traversed Persia to the mouth of the Persian Gulf, Hormuz. Yet, unsuccessful at finding a suitably safe boat, they continued travelling by land in a North-Esterly direction through Persia's deserts and mountains to Kashgar (now Kashi), on the Chinese border. As Marco Polo was ill, they waited here for a year to rest, after which they continued journeying up the River Oxus (now Amu Darya). They travelled through the hindu Kush and Pamir mountains, (home of the large horned sheep that now bear Marco Polo's name), after which they travelled along the fringe of the Takla Makan desert to the region of Lop Nor in Sinkiang Province, China. Finally they crossed, by means of camel caravan, the Gobi Desert to reach (3 and a half years after leaving Europe) Kublai Khan's court in Shangdu in 1275.

The Polos were the first Europeans to reach most of the territory they had covered, particularly the Gobi Desert and Pamir mountains.

Marco Polo became an agent on numerous missions to various parts of the Mongolian Empire for 17 years as part of the Khan's diplomatic service. As part of his duties, he journeyed through Tibet as well as along the Yangtze, Yellow and upper Mekong rivers. He was probably also the first European to set foot on Burmese soil. It is believed he visited countries as far afield as Siberia to Indonesian archipelago. He also visited the Mongolian capital at Karakorum. It is also believed that Marco Polo was city governor for Yangzou (now Yangchow) for three years from 1282 to 1285.

During all this time, Marco's father and uncle served as military advisors to the Khan. As the Khan aged, the Polos were uneasy as to the Empire's soundness.

In 1292 the Polo's escorted the Mongol princess to Persia, where she was to be married to the Persian Khan. They travelled for two years, having to use a sea route as war prevented the use of the land route. With a crew of 600 and a 14-ship fleet, they sailed from Zaitun (today known as Quanchou) on China's coastline to Hormuz. On their way to Hormuz they journeyed through Sumatra, the Strait of Malacca, past Sri Lanka, past the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, reaching the city in 1294.

By this time, however, only 18 of the original crew had survived, and the Persian Khan had died a year earlier, leaving the Mongolian Princess to marry his son.

Finally, 24 years after the commencement of their travels, the Polos returned to their hometown of Venice in 1295. By that stage they were very wealthy, as they had sewn precious gems and stones to their clothing for safekeeping. When Venice went to war with Genoa, Marco Polo was a captain in the Venetian fleet. However, he was taken prisoner by the Genoese in 1298, and during his imprisonment dictated the history of his travels to inmate Rusticello of Pisa, a writer of romances. When he was released from prison in 1299, he returned to Venice where he married, had 3 daughters, and later died in 1324.He was buried next to his father in the church of Lorenzo.

The account of Polo's travels, first brought to light in French as Livre de Merveilles du Monde, later translated to The Travels of Marco Polo, is most probably the most influential travel book in history.

Providing the reader with distinct descriptions and graphic detail, this account provided pre-Renaissance Europe with an influential and revolutionary knowledge of the geographical make-up, history and life of the Orient. Although known to be somewhat exaggerated with fabulous extravagances, this book became the foundation for the first correct maps of Europe and Asia. The Polo's ultimately inspired Christopher Columbus' interest in the East and spurred him on to set off on a new west-ward route to the Orient in 1492, and later spurring Vasco da Gama to round the Cape of Good Hope in another new voyage in 1497.