Marco Polo :: Biographies Biographical Essays

Marco Polo is one of the most well-know heroic travelers andtraders around the world. In my paper I will discuss with you Marco Poloslife, his travels, and his visit to China to see the great khan. MarcoPolo was born in c.1254 in Venice. He was a Venetian adventurer and merchantwhose account of his travels in Asia was the primary source for theEuropean image of the Far East until the late 19th century.Marcos father, Niccol, and his uncle Maffeo had traveled toChina (1260-69) as merchants. When they left field (1271) Venice to return toChina, they were accompanied by 17-year-old Marco and two priests. EarlyLife Despite his enduring fame, very little was known about the personallife of Marco Polo. It is known that he was born into a leading Venetianfamily of merchants. He also lived during a propitious time in worldhistory, when the height of Venices influence as a city-state coincidedwith the greatest extent of Mongol conquest of Asia(Li Man Kin 9). Ruledby Kublai Khan, the Mongol E mpire stretched all the way from China toRussia and the Levant. The Mongol hordes also threatened other parts ofEurope, particularly Poland and Hungary, inspiring fear everywhere bytheir bloodthirsty advances. Yet the ruthless methods brought a measureof constancy to the lands they controlled, opening up trade routes such asthe famous Silk Road. Eventually,the Mongols discovered that it was moreprofitable to collect tribute from people than to kill them outright, andthis policy likewise stimulated trade(Hull 23).Into this favorable atmosphere a number of European tradersventured, including the family of Marco Polo. The Polos had long-established ties in the Levant and around the Black Sea for example, theyowned property in onstantinople, and Marcos uncle, for whom he was named,had a home in Sudak in the Crimea(Rugoff 8). From Sudak, around 1260,another uncle, Maffeo, and Marcos father, Niccol, made a trading visitinto Mongol territory, the land of the Golden Horde(Russia), contro l byBerke Khan. While they were there, a war broke out between Berke and theCowan of Levant, blocking their return home. Thus Niccol and Maffeotraveled deeper into mongol territory, moving southeast to Bukhara, whichwas control by a third Cowan. While waiting there, they met an emissarytraveling farther eastward who invited them to accompany him to the courtof the great Cowan, Kublai, in Cathay(modern China). In Cathay, KublaiKhan gave the Polos a friendly reception, appointed them his emissaries tothe pope, and ensured their safe travel back to Europe(Steffof 10).