Marco Polo

Marco Polo is one of the best known explorers in the world. His name is even turned into a popular/annoying pool game. He was born on 1254 and died on 1334. He wrote a book about his travels and opened a whole new door to Europeans on trading with Asia. He traveled with Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, his father and his uncle.

Little was known about Marco Polo's early life. We do know that he probably had some typical education as he learned how to read, write, and calculate. He was born in Venice, Italy in a family of merchants.

Marco Polo's account is the primary source of information about the travels of his father and uncle, NiccolÐ"І and Maffeo Polo, who were jewel merchants. They left Venice in 1260 on a trip to the Black Sea ports of Constantinople (now Ð"Ñœstanbul, Turkey) and Soldaia (now Sudak, Ukraine). They continued east to trading cities on the Volga River in present-day Russia. In 1262 a war broke out prevented the Polos from returning home, so they proceeded farther east to the great Central Asian trading city of Bukhara (in present-day Uzbekistan). In three years there they joined a diplomatic mission going to the court of Kublai Khan, who was the Mongol ruler of China. He welcomed the Polos kindly and wanted to learn more about Christianity. He asked NiccolÐ"І and Maffeo to go back to Europe and send Christian scholars to teach Kublai Khan more about Christianity.. NiccolÐ"І and Maffeo journeyed back to Europe in 1269 to satisfy the khan's request.

The Polos stayed in China for the next 17 years and carried out several diplomatic assignments, too. Marco told a lot about the lands he visited to the khan. It was written that the Polos asked several times to the khan for permission to leave for Europe.

Kublai Khan finally agreed to let them travel back to Europe if the khans daughter was escorted to marry a Persian prince.

The sea journey back was a terrible one. 600 crew members died. But Marco made it back alive. It was these words in his book:

" I believe it was God's will that we should come back, so that men might know the things that are in the world, since, as we have said in the first chapter of this book, no other man, Christian or Saracen, Mongol or pagan, has explored so much of the world as Messer Marco, son of Messer Niccolo Polo,