Marco Polo was born in 1252 and died in 1324.
He was born in Venice. At that time Venice was a very busy town.
Its travelers traveled far and wide to buy and sell goods.
In 1265 two merchants traveled to Asia. Their names were Niccolo and Matteo Polo. On their way home they encountered an ambassador of the court of Kublai Kahn. The two Polo brothers decided that they would travel with the ambassador to his court.
Not many years before the Polos had first left Venice, Niccolo's son Marco had been born. He was 15 years old when his father and uncle returned.
2 years later the Polos left again this time with Marco. On the way to China the Polos traveled many treacherous deserts and almost un-crossable mountains. But finally after 3 years the reached the court of Kublai Kahn.
In those times China was far ahead of Europe in some ways. For instance it had larger cities. One city was the largest port in the world. Its palaces had great parks around them. Some of the palaces even had roves of gold.
The Chinese also knew how to make paper. They used wooden blocks for printing. They also had coal, which was known to little in Europe.
In the end Marco Polo had to lead a party to persia to take a princess to her marage.
The only reason that marco polo is so famous is because he was captured in battle between Venice and Genoa. He told of his adventures to an inmate and he wrote them down.
Marco Polo lived to be 70 and on his death bead many people asked him to admit his stories were lies. His answer was "I have not told of half of what I saw."
