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Marco Polo
Venetian merchant's son who travelled with his father and uncle to Khubilai's court, stayed some seventeen years in Yuan lands, and dictated the account of his journeys in a Genoese prison
Mural of the event “Marco Polo's Journey”, which this person took part in.
The Mongol Empire's three western expeditions objectively wholly opened the safe passage across the Eurasian continent, lowering the physical defense-line risk of long-distance commercial trade and travel exploration to a historic low.
Also known as Ma Ke · Bo Luo
Marco Polo was born in 1254 into a merchant family of Venice. In 1271 he set out east with his father Niccolo and his uncle Maffeo, crossing Central Asia to reach Khubilai Khan's summer capital Shangdu in 1275. By his own account he spent about seventeen years in Yuan service, travelling on missions to Yunnan and elsewhere and holding a post at Yangzhou. In 1291 the Polos sailed from Quanzhou with the embassy escorting the princess Kokochin to marry the Ilkhan, and they reached Venice in 1295. Captured in a sea battle between Venice and Genoa in 1298, he told his story in prison to his fellow captive Rustichello of Pisa, who wrote it up as the Description of the World, known in Chinese as the Travels of Marco Polo. He died in Venice in 1324. No Yuan Chinese source names him, but in 1941 Yang Zhijiu found a 1290 document quoted in the Yongle Encyclopedia that names three envoys escorting the princess, matching his book.
Life and times
- 1254 CEBorn
Song
Yuan - 1275Marco Polo's Journey
Took partage 21Marco Polo traveled overland to Yuan China, and the account produced after his return described Kublai's Asian realm to European readers.- Marco Polo Meets Kublai at ShangduIn 1275, Marco Polo arrived at Yuan Shangdu with his father and uncle and met Kublai Khan.
- Marco Polo Sails from Zayton1292age 38Around 1292, Marco Polo's party sailed from Zayton on the return journey to Europe, and his account described it as one of the world's largest ports.
- Marco Polo Meets Kublai at Shangdu
- 1277Quanzhou Zayton as Global Hub
Took partage 23Known internationally as Zayton, Quanzhou was a major maritime trade center linking Song-Yuan China to overseas networks from the tenth through fourteenth centuries.- Yuan Quanzhou Becomes a Global Portc. 1277Under the Yuan Maritime Customs, Quanzhou (Zayton) handled hundreds of oceanic spice fleets, acclaimed by Marco Polo as the greatest trading hub in the world.
- Yuan Quanzhou Becomes a Global Port
- 1324 CEDied
