When did Marco Polo explore the Silk Road?
Marco Polo (1254-1324) was an Italian voyager and merchant who
was one of the first Europeans to travel across Asia through China,
visiting the Kublai Khan in Beijing. He left in 1271 (he was a
teenager at the time) with his father (Nicolo Polo) and uncle
(Maffeo Polo); they spent about 24 years traveling. [Nicolo and
Maffeo had previously made a trip to China, from 1260-1269, during
which the Kublai Khan (the conqueror of China) requested holy oil
blessed by the Pope.] Polo sailed south from Venice, Italy, in the
Mediterranean Sea to the Middle East. They then went southeast
overland to Persia (now Iran), then through the Pamir Mountains and
the Gobi Desert, to Beijing, China. They explored the area south of
Beijing, including Yunan and Szechuan. Returning to Beijing, they
traveled east to Tankchow (at the mouth of the Yangtse River), then
south to Hangchow, China. They then sailed south along the coast of
China, to what are now Vietnam and Sumatra. They sailed west to Sri
Lanka and India, and then back to Ormuz (on the Persian Gulf). They
went northwest overland to the Black Sea, then the Mediterranean
Sea, and back to Venice, Italy. Marco Polo's written accounts of
his travels were the first Western record of porcelain, coal,
gunpowder, printing, paper money, and silk; Polo wrote "Book of Ser
Marco Polo" around 1298.