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Marco Polo
Marco Polo was a Venetian explorer and merchant. He was one of the first Westerners to travel through Asia and visit Kublai Khan. Marco Polo wrote “Il Milione” which introduced Europeans to China and Central Asia.
1,137 Questions
Who WEre Marco Polos family members?
Marco polo had a uncle, maffeo, a father, niccolo, a mother, dona, and three daughters, fantina, bellela, and moreta. and a aunt, mihyo.
What country paid for Marco Polo's trip?
Portugal did and the king and queen from Portugal did for your info-mation
What circumstances led to the publication of The Travels of Marco Polo?
it is because Marco Polo wrote a story about his travels and also he was the first person from italy to travel to china.
How did Marco Polo start the Renaissance?
He didn't start the Renaissance. He lived in the 1200's and the Renaissance started in the late 1400's. Two hundred years after him.
What countries did Marco Polo explore?
Polo was the 17 year old son of an Italian merchant who went to China with his father and uncle. It took them 4 years to get there and he stayed 25 before returning to Venice. He wrote a book about his adventures that influenced explorers 200 years later. When he came home he brought back silks, perfumes, spices, and gunpowder. The gunpowder will change the shape of war and the balance of power.
Did Marco Polo visit China during the Yuan dynasty?
Technically yes, it is the Yuan Dynasty, but it's also "wrong" history in that the Chinese government later changed it to make it seem that the Yuan dynasty was "of" China at all. Remember that the Emperor of "China" that Polo visited was Kublai Khan. Khan is not a surname; Khan is the title of chief or lord to the Mongol people. Kublai's grandfather is the famous conqueror Genghis Khan.
They conquered the Chinese empire, therefore obviously, the Chinese empire is no more and is replaced and absorbed by the Mongol empire which still holds the title of the largest contiguous empire in human history. Once again, "technically," Marco Polo could not have visited a state which no longer existed by that point. Polo was indeed traveling to Mongolia.
Same thing happens again and again. The Last Emperor of China (also a multiple academy award winning film) is himself not Chinese, but Manchurian, who was later usurped by the Communist Leader Mao Ze Dong. Much of Chinese culture, music, and even "traditional" clothing is actually not Chinese at all.
The Chinese culture is certainly the pre-eminent one in Asia just as the Romans are in European culture, but history is far more nuanced. Technically, China's rule in the past 1000 years has been for the slight majority held by other powers.
Why did Marco polo described the Japanese people as idolaters?
If you're not a Christian, ignore this argument, as the term "idolater" only applies to those who follow the Christian religion. This argument isn't pushing Christianity-- it's just explaining a point of view that might have been shared by Marco Polo.
I'm not sure about the context of the times, but Japanese people have superstition and folklore about everything that exists. They have a strange (as far as I, a Christian American, am concerned) fascination on a spiritual standpoint with everything from trees to fish to demons. There isn't anything that exists that Japanese don't have some supernatural derivative or portrayal of.
They seem to have a thing with death, demons, and spirits, and if you watch any of their anime, whether it be Dragon Ball, Bleach, or Sailor Moon, their strange fascination with dark beings shows. It's not that they worship them or see them as not evil per se, but most Christian people wouldn't feel comfortable even showing them in the style that Japanese do long enough to portray them as evil in the first place. For this reason, I personally feel dirty watching most Japanese shows. Sometimes I just want to enjoy my Dragon Ball martial arts, ki attacks, and good vs. tyrant plots, but even Dragon Ball has its fair share of showing sex, demons, and cults throughout, making me feel uncomfortable.
I highly doubt that Japanese have changed much over the centuries in the way they view supernaturality, so I think it would be fair to say that this is why Marco Polo called them idolaters. From a Christian standpoint, idolaters often don't have a single god and switch between hundreds of gods at the drop of a hat. They are also often not what Americans would consider "gods". They pray to or hope for fortune from everything from fish to dirt to stars. And in my opinion, this is what traditional Japanese spirituality is like, unless of course you're Buddhist...
Marco Polo is also a popular children's game played in a pool. The child who is "it" must swim around the pool with his eyes closed, attempting to tag the other players. The "it" child can only sense where the other players are by calling out "Marco!," at which point all the other players are required to yell "Polo!". By judging where the sounds are coming from, the child who is "it" is able to overcome his self-imposed blindness and hopefully tag somebody else, who then becomes "it." There are other rules to this game, varying from region to region (see 'fish out of water[?]').
MARCO POLO
How many explorers do you know? Do you have a favorite? One that really stands out above the others was Marco Polo. Polo was a European merchant who just happened to change history by discovering a land route to China for the Europeans.
Marco Polo was born on September 15, 1244, in Venice, Italy. His father was the famous trader Niccolò Polo. He actually "discovered" (reported it's existence) China and made a friendship with Kublai Khan, the emperor of China. Little is known about Marco's childhood, although we know that his father and uncle, Maffeo Polo, did embark on several long voyages to the Middle East. During these voyages, he was usually left at home, with several thick books to read. Eventually, Marco studied very hard at a very fine school; he was a very avid and gifted learner and eagerly retained all of the information he was taught in school. He also played sports, like kick-the-ball (soccer) and swimming. What allowed him to go on the expedition was that he was an only child, and he seemed very eager to go, so he could gain more knowledge of the world, so his father allowed him to go, but only if he followed his father's stringent directions throughout the trip. They only expected this trip to take two years at the most.
Marco, Maffeo, and Niccolò set out on their great journey in 1251. It all started because of a friendly relationship with Kublai Kahn, due to a much earlier journey his father had taken when he was a young man. And also, Italy needed more kerosene oil, and wanted to dispatch a few catholic missionaries as well. They were the first westerners to travel to Eastern Asia by land. The Silk Road hadn't formed yet, so they had to pave their own path. That was a very hard task, because they had to cross mountains, raging rivers, and bone deserts. The Polos planned a trip to the Middle East, but they decided to take the north passage, became lost, and wandered off until they reached modern day Mongolia, which was ruled by Kublai Khan. Khan reined all of Asia as well. He recognized them instantly once they reached China. He became interested in their religion on their last journey there as well. Kublai Khan treated the Polos very nicely, making them guests of honor. He even put Marco (now an adult) in charge of the military for some time! Unfortunately, Kublai was quite greedy, for he kept the Polos there for more than twenty years. When the Polos wanted to go, Khan wouldn't let them, because he wanted an audience of Westerners. Finally, when Kublai let them go back to Europe, they had to do a favor for him; return a princess to a town in present-day India. The obvious answer: they did.
When they finally returned to Italy, a war was raging between Venice and Geneva, and Marco was put in a prison as a wartime prisoner. There, he met a writer named Rustchello, who had been a writer before he had been put in prison as a wartime hostage, and told him about of his adventures in the Eastern Land. Since Rustchello had been a former writer, he wrote the stories down onto the paper that Marco had given him, and published a book under the title of Le Livre des Merveilles, or The Book of Wonders. In this book, he described China and its marvels, such as the Great Wall. The book described many accurate aspects, of China, such as how to get there. There was also information about China's government, who Kublai Khan was, and most importantly, the travels of Marco. Polo related his experiences traveling the trade routes to the Far East with his father and uncle in the late 13th Century. They twice visited the ruler Kublai Khan in China, and brought greeting from him to the Vatican. On the second trip, they stayed at Khan's insistence nearly 17 years (1274-1291). Polo's recounting of the trips includes sections on the Middle East, China, Japan and Southeast Asia, and eastern Africa. Eventually Polo's "Silk Road" to the East was mostly taken over by sailing routes. One section that really annoyed most Europeans was that China was more technologically more advanced at the time than Europe, with all those silk makers, and advanced metal-working, which should've not surprised the Europeans, but it did. This book actually inspired Christopher Columbus on his stormy way across the Atlantic. Nevertheless, the book became an instant bestseller. The scribes were working frantically to copy the book down onto the paper that Marco had already taught a few people how to make, and each copy that was finished, sold quickly, for there was always someone waiting to buy that copy.
Marco Polo died on January 9, 1324. When he died, he was approximately 71 years old. Overall, Marco Polo is considered one of history's greatest explorers, not to mention that he actually was trained to be a merchant. The Polos contributed many marvels, items and ideas to European trade, such as noodles (Spaghetti!), and opened the door to exploration. The Polo family were the first modern Europeans to set foot in China. One secret of his success was that, Marco wasn't greedy, like Christopher Columbus. He only took his fair share of merchandise, and became so worried when a Chinese merchant gave him too much, that he returned the excess! He possessed the ideal conscience and character for a perfect explorer (and the great Kublai Khan adored him.) Thanks to Marco, he became one of history's greatest explorers that helped open relations between Europe and Asia.
Marco Polo is most famous for his adventures in the Chinese court and country.
Marco Polo and his crew began to explore from Venice then went to Arabia , Jerusalem, Acre , Turkey , Hormuz , Central Asia , kashmir , Mongolia , and China.
Marco polo wrote an account of the marvels of?
Marco Polo wrote in great detail about the things he saw and wondered at on his travels on the Silk Road throughout Asia.
