The Travels of Marco Polo
Marco Polo, an Italian traveler and author, wrote one of the most influential books of all time. This book was no mere travel account, as it was able to give Europeans the first authoritative view of life in the Far East. His book also played a key role in the development of European overseas expansion. With the wealth of vivid detail that this book contains, it was the only existing source in Europe for information on the geography and the life of the Far East for a very long time. This book even gave Christopher Columbus the inspiration to explore the Orient. It is this book that I had the pleasure of reading. Marco Polo's Journal is a written account of Marco Polo's travels, dictated from Marco Polo himself to a fellow prisoner, Maestro Rustichello of Pisa, while he was imprisoned in Genoa. This recount has been accepted by most people, but some critics doubt whether Marco Polo ever reached China, as his recount never mentions tea drinking, foot binding or cormorant fishing that were prominent in China at that time. However, whether Marco Polo ever reached China we maybe will never know, so you will have to make your own judgement on whether he did or not. Marco Polo was born in Venice. His father and uncle were Venetian me
After several years they left there to serve in the court of the Mongol Emperor, Kublai Kahn. The three travelers first visited Acre to obtain a letter from the pope to Kublai Kahn. Another occasion in the book that was hard to understand was in Chapter XXXV, where the King of Kerman states, "Why are the inhabitants of the Persian kingdoms which surround us [Kerman] are wicked and bloodthirsty and are forever killing each other, our people, who are only next door, do not squabble among themselves". This meant that the two businessmen had lost their main trade, and in 1260, had to set out and find a new prospering market north of the Caspian Sea. They were the first Europeans to visit most of the territory they traversed in this journey, particularly the Pamir and the Gobi Desert, and during this journey Marco Polo logged many of the attributes of the geography and way of life of each place they came across. By then, his father and uncle were serving as military advisors to Kublai Kahn. He was released from prison in 1299 and returned to Venice where he married, had three daughters, and lived comfortably until he died at the age of 70, and was buried beside his father in the church of San Lorenzo. The reasons for this are unknown, but it could possibly be the stability of Kerman as opposed to the instability of the other kingdoms. They found a key city on the caravan route to China, where they remained for three years. An interesting theme that seemed to come through in the book was the reference to "black magic" and witchcraft, and of white magic also. Finally, after three years serving in Kublai Kahn's court, they returned home to Venice in 1269. All but 18 of the original crew had died during the two-year journey. If Marco Polo was not a man of great wisdom, he may never have written about his travels through strange continents. They were welcomed and carried out various missions during their stay.
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