THE EARLY YEARS

Marco Polo was born in 1254 in the Italian city of Venice, one of the most important trade centers in medieval Europe. The Polo family owned a fine home in Venice, which is still standing after 700 years. They also owned shops, warehouses in the busy port of Korcula, which is now Croatia. It was a busy port in Marco Polo's time.

Marco Polo's mother died when he was quite young. He was named after his uncle. The Polo family were great nobles originating on the coast of Dalmatia. Marco Polo's father, Niccolo (also Nicolo in Venetian) and his uncle, Maffeo (also Maffio), were prosperous merchants who traded with the East. They were partners with a third brother, named Marco il vecchio (the Elder).

THE POLO BROTHERS TRIP TO CONSTANTINOPLE VIA CHINA

Marco's two brothers were partners with a third brother, named Marco il Vecchio (the Elder). Niccolo and Maffeo had established a trading outpost on the island of Curzola, off the coast of Dalmatia.

Venice where Marco Polo grew up, was the large center for commerce in the Mediterranean world. Marco had the usual education of a young gentleman of his time. He had learned much of the classical authors, understood the texts of the Bible, and knew the basic theology of the Latin Church. He had a sound knowledge of commercial French as well as Italian. From his later history we can be sure of his interest in natural resources, in the ways of people, as well as strange and interesting plants and animals.

In 1259, the two brothers lived in the Venetian quarter of Constantinople, where they enjoyed political privileges and tax relief because of their country's role in establishing the Latin Empire in the Fourth Crusade of 1204. But the family judged the political situation of the city precarious, so they decided to transfer their business northeast to Soldaia, a city in Crimea. Their decision proved wise. Constantinople was recaptured in 1261 by Michael Palaeologus, the ruler of the Empire of Nicaea, who promptly burned the Venetian quarter. Captured Venetian citizens were blinded, while many of those who managed to escape perished aboard overloaded refugee ships fleeing to other Venetian colonies in the Aegean Sea.

As their new home on the north rim of the Black Sea, Soldaia had been frequented by Venetian traders since the 12th century. The Mongol army sacked it in 1223, but the city had never been definitively conquered until 1239, when it became a part of the newly formed Mongol state known as the Golden Horde. Searching for better profits, the Polos continued their journey to Sarai, where the court of Berke Khan, the ruler of the Golden Horde, was located. At that time, the city of Sarai already visited by William of Rubruck a few years earlier was no more than a huge encampment, and the Polos stayed for about a year. Finally, they decided to avoid Crimea, because of a civil war between Berke and his cousin Hulagu or perhaps because of the bad relationship between Berke Khan and the Byzantine Empire. Instead, they moved further east to Bukhara, in modern day Uzbekistan, where the family lived and traded for three years.

In 1264, Niccoli and Maffio joined up with an embassy sent by the Ilkhan Hulagu to his brother, the Grand Khan Kublai. In 1266, they reached the seat of the Grand Khan in the Mongol capital Khanbaliq, present day Beijing, China.

In 1260, Marco Polo was only 6 years old when his father and uncle set out eastward on their first trip to Cathay (China) on one of their regular business trips. But this time disaster struck. The men became trapped between the enemy armies in a civil war. Unable to turn back toward home, Matteo and Niccolo traveled through Constantinople, enroute to China.

MEDIEVAL ASIA: KINGDOM OF THE KHANS

Medieval Asia was the kingdom of the Khans. Never before had any person controlled as much land as Genghis Kahn. He built his power unifying separate Mongol tribes before expanding his kingdom south and west. He and his grandson, Kublai Khan, controlled lands in China, Burma, Central Asia, Russia, Iran, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. Estimates are that the Mongol armies reduced the population of China by nearly a third. Genghis Khan was a pagan who tolerated nearly every religion except Islam, and their culture often suffered the harshest treatment from Mongol armies. The Khan armies pushed as far west as Jerusalem before being defeated in 1260.

Upon reaching the new capital of the Great Khan, Bejing in 1266, the Great Khan, Kublai, was very hospitable. He enquired of them about their part of the world, the Pope and the Roman church. Niccolo and Matteo, who spoke Turkic dialects perfectly, provided truthfully accounts. They were received with the utmost hospitality by the infamous Chinese Emporer.

One year later, the Great Khan sent them on their way with a letter in Turki addressed to Pope Clement IV) He requested that they return with one of the his barons to Europe on an embassy to the Pope. He gave them letters in Mongolian which asked the Pope to send him a hundred men skilled in the seven liberal arts (the standard educational curriculum of the learned at that time in the West) capable of acting as missionaries within his domains, together with some oil from the lamp which burnt in the Church of the Sepulchre of Christ in Jerusalem.

The Polos were give a paiza, a gold tablet which served as a safe-conduct and which entitled its possessor to use the relay-posts and provision of escorts and supplies throughout the Mongol domains.asking the Pope to send him 100 learned men to teach his people about Christianity and Western science. Meanwhile, back in Venice Polo's mother died. It took the Polos three full years to return home, in April 1269.

THE ANCIENT SILK ROAD

The earliest travelers along the Silk Road were Chinese, making the journey from east to west. In a.d. 400,monks traveled from India bringing Buddhism to China. After a.d. 800, Muslims from the Middle East used this same route to introduce Islam to Central Asia.

China and the west first became aware of one another in the second century BC. Chinese traders exchanged silks, tea, furs, and spices for gold, silver, precious stones, glass, ivory, horses, and wool. The primary trade route between China and the west was the Silk Road, a 4,000-mile caravan route through South Asia and the Middle East. The Silk Road was also a route for the exchange of information and ideas. Buddhism traveled from the Indian subcontinent to China by the Silk Road.

Very few people traveled the entire legnth of the Silk Road. Goods passed from one trader to another in short segments. Trade resembled a chain, with each trader and segment of the trade route representing a link in the trade. The Silk Road was often very dangerous to travel. Muslim Turks seized much of the land along the Silk Road in the tenth century. Mongol armies used the Silk Road in the thirteenth century to expand their empire. The Silk Road lost its importance after Vaco daGama circumnavigated Africa to find a water route to India. It then became easier to travel between Europe and China by sea.

Marco Polo had heard nothing from his father and Uncle for many years. No one seemed able to tell him when if ever they would return. He was 15 years old when his father and his uncle returned to Venice and they were safe and well, with an extraordinary story to tell. A mongol nobleman had aided their escape from the civil war, and they traveled with him to China to meet the Mongol emporer Kublai Khan. Young Polo's mother had died in their absence. He remained in Venice with his father and uncle for two more years and then three of them embarked the most couragous journey to Cathay the second time.

POLO'S FATHER'S INVITATION

By 1271 Polo's father was ready to leave for China. Most exciting of all, he wanted to take his son with him when he returned to China. He was now a valuable and able bodied business partner, for by this time he was trained as a merchant. He could keep accounts, plan a journey and read and write French and Italian.

To get to China, the polos followed an ancient trade route consisting of a network of rough pathways and camel tracks known as the Silk Road. This ancient route had been used by merchants for over 1,000 years. It lead them through Armenia,Georgia, Persia, and Afghanistan. It led them over the Pamir Mountains, commonly called the "Roof of the World," where they faced extreme cold, steep slopes, and a shortage of oxygen. Polo observed the effects of this oxygen shortage. He wrote that fires did not burn brightly and food did not cook well. They traveled across the Gobi and stony Taklamakan deserts. In the local language of Turki, Taklamakan means "Go there and you won't come out again." Many travelers reported seeing "mirages" which lead them astray from their planned route so that they became lost. Polo reported that the deserts were haunted by voices which howled in the night. Blowing winds confused and disoriented travelers. The three finally arrived at Kublai Khan's capital city of Shangdu. Polo must have spent much of his time there, for he offers a detailed account of the structure. Their journey had taken three years.

Foreigners Could not enter China without being observed,and Polo reported that Kublai Khan sent royal officials to meet the three Polo men while they were 40 days away from his court.

Emporer Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, remembered Niccolo and Maffeo, and he welcomed them back to his court. He greeted Marco warmly. Recognizing Marco Polo's intelligence, the khan offered him a job. He already had many foreigners working for him in China. The winter palace in Peking was a large and organized fortress.

Marco speaks of the use of lions, leopards, and eagles in hunting, including a long description of the methods of hunting with a hawk. Kublai Khan spent the three spring months on hunting expeditions, the summer months relaxing at his palace in Shangtu, and the six winter months governing at his palace in Peking.

THE RETURN TO EUROPE

After staying for 17 years in Asia, the Polos requested permission of Kublai Khan to return to Europe. At first he was reluctant, but finally consented. The land was blocked by war in Central Asia,so the Polos decided to travel by sea. They set sail in Chiese junks. It took 18 monthes for the Polos fleet to cross the South China Sea, pass by the islands of Indonesia and Malaya, round the tip of India and finally reac safe harbor in the Persian Gulf. Polo reported that among 600 passengers,only 18 plus the three Polos survived.

Marco had left Venice at 17, and he was now 41 years old. He'd spent most of his life traveling throughout Asia. Having spent so much of his life in the Orient, there were people who found Marco Polo difficult to relate to. He's been on a journey that had taken him more than 24,000 miles, and he told of finding jade, porcelain, silk, ivory, and other riches of Asia. He described the festival in which they celebrated the Emperor Kublai Khan's birthday in minute detail describing everything from clothing to ornaments which were laced in gold. He told of seeing black stones used for fuel (later known as coal). Unfortunately, all his stories and details of the unimaginable were rejected, and Marco Polo became the "man of a million lies."

Within just a few years after returning to Venice in 1295, Marco again found himself aboard a Venetian ship, this time under the post of gentleman-commander during a regional war between Venice and Genoa. The ship was captured by the Genoese fleet and Marco consequently spent the next few years, until May of 1299, in a Genoa prison. It was during this period that Marco found the time to dictate, possibly with the help of notes taken during his voyage, the story of his years abroad. Rustigielo, a citizen of Pisa and cell mate of Marco, took down Marco's story. The book was dictated in prison and copied by hand, as the technology of mass printing had not yet immigrated to Europe from China. As a consequence, there exist today many versions, translations, and reconstructions of the Rustigielo transcript.

After retrieving his diary pages from China, Marco Polo transformed his travels into manuscript form. His work has at times, been criticized because he did not include aspects of Chinese soial life such as tea, foot-binding, or even the Great Wall of China. He was frank, unpoetic in imagination and vision, and constantly spoke of trade, money, risks, and profits (as an ordinary business man/merchant would do). However, he wrote in incredible detail of the birds animals, plants, and other aspects of nature.

Marco Polo died in his home on January 1324, at almost 70 years old. When he was near death, a priest entered his room and asked him if he wanted to admit his stories were false. Instead, Marco Polo replied, "I do not tell half of what I saw because no one would have believed me." He was buried in the Church of San Lorenzo.

In Polo's own 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, great and noble citizen of the city of Venice (and Vela Luka)."

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