Marco Polo
Marco PoloMARCO POLO
Marco Polo is one of the most well known heroic travelers and traders around the world. In my paper I will discuss with you Marco Polo�s life, his travels, and his visit to China to see the great Khan. Marco Polo was born in 1254 in Venice. He was a Venetian explorer and merchant whose account of his travels in Asia was the primary source for the European image of the Far East until the late 19th century. Marco\'s father, Niccolo, and his uncle Maffeo had traveled to China as merchants. When they left Venice to return to China, they were accompanied by 17 year old Marco and two priests.
Early life, despite his enduring fame, very little was known about the personal life of Marco Polo. It is known that he was born into a leading Venetian family of merchants. He also lived during a favorable time in world history, when the height of Venice�s influence harmonized with the greatest extent of Mongol conquest of Asia. Ruled by Kublai Khan, the Mongol Empire stretched all the way from China to Russia and the Levant. The Mongol crowds also threatened other parts of Europe, particularly Poland and Hungary, inspiring fears everywhere by their ruthless advances. Yet the ruthless methods brought a measure of stability to the lands they controlled, opening up trade routes. Into this favorable atmosphere a number of European traders ventured, including the family of Marco Polo. The Polos had long-established ties in the Levant and around the Black Sea: for example, they owned property in Constantinople. Around 1260, Marcos uncle, Maffeo, and Marco�s father, Niccolo, made a trading visit into Mongol territory, the land of the Golden Horde, ruled by Berke Khan. While they were there, a war broke out between Berke and the Cowan of Levant, blocking their return home. Thus Niccolo and Maffeo traveled deeper into Mongol territory, moving southeast to Bukhara, which was ruled by Cowan.
In 1269, Niccolo and Maffeo Polo arrived back in Venice, where Niccolo found out his wife had died while he was gone. Their son, Marco, who was only about fifteen years old, had been only six or younger when his father left home: thus; primarily his mother and the streets of Venice reared Marco. Then his father and uncle suddenly reappeared, after nine years of traveling. These experiences were the very finest influences on Marco, and one can see their effects mirrored in his character: a combination of sensitivity and toughness, independence and loyalty, motivated by an eagerness for adventure, a love of stories, and a desire to please or impress.
Marco was seventeen years old when he, his father and uncle finally set out for the court of Kublai Khan. They were accompanied not by one hundred wise men but by two Dominican monks, and the two good monks turned back at the first sign of misfortune, another local war. Aside from the pope�s messages, the only spiritual gift Europe was able to furnish the...
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