Full Answer
Who funded Marco Polo's voyage?
Marco Polo was supported as a merchant by his father's business and then was in the service of Kublai Khan.
What country sponsored Marco Polo's exploration?
Upon reaching China, Marco Polo entered the court of powerful Mongol ruler Kublai Khan, who dispatched him on trips to help administer the realm. Marco Polo remained abroad for 24 years.
What was Marco Polo's contribution to the exploration of the world?
It was Marco Polo's book of his travels that introduced Europeans to China and Central Asia. Although he was not the first European to travel to China, he was the first to write about his adventures and so it was his experiences that formed the basis of early European knowledge of the country.
Why did Marco Polo explore Asia?
He was born into a family of wealthy merchants. His father and uncle, Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, were merchants who traveled often to Asia to trade valuable materials such as jewels and silk.
Did Marco Polo really go to China?
Judging by the original records of the Chinese and Mongols, there is certainly no evidence whatsoever that Marco Polo actually traveled to China and reached the court of the great Mongol ruler Qublai Khan.
How did Marco Polo influence Christopher Columbus?
The geographical descriptions in his writing generated a basis for Columbus' scientific calculations for his expedition and the explicit depictions of the luxury of Cipangu and Cathay, flawed though they were, created a strong motivation for Columbus.
What did Marco Polo bring from China?
So the story goes. Marco Polo, the great Venetian explorer/merchant is said to have brought back with him from his fabled visits to China, noodles, which became the pasta that Italy is famed for today.
Who was Marco Polo and how did he affect trade?
Among them was Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant who embarked on the Silk Road for trade and good fortune. He was awe-struck by all he had seen during his years of travel through the countries of East, and his journey lasted almost a quarter of a century, as he became the inquisitive researcher of unknown grounds.
What is Marco Polo known for?
Quick Facts: Marco Polo is known for traveling along the Silk Road to China, where he explored and documented much of Asia not yet explored by Europeans. Name: Marco Polo [mahr-koh] [poh-loh] Birth/Death: 1254 - 1324. Nationality: Italian.
When did Marco Polo travel to China?
Principal Voyage. Marco Polo’s voyage began in 1271 when he traveled to Kublai Khan’s court in China with his father and uncle. Marco was 17 years old. They were only able to get two of the one hundred priests Kublai Khan wanted.
How long did it take Marco Polo to reach Venice?
This journey across the Indian Ocean took two years.They reached Venice around 1295; Marco Polo had been gone for twenty-four years.
How long did Marco Polo serve the Khan?
He served the Khan for seventeen years before deciding to head back home to Venice. After all his years of traveling on the Khan’s behalf, Marco Polo had knowledge of, or had actually visited, a greater number of different countries of the world than anyone else known.9. Subsequent Voyages.
What did Marco have to learn as a child?
As a child of a merchant family, he would have received a nice education that included reading, writing, and basic math.2 Marco’s story begins with his father and uncle’s journeys. Niccolo and Maffeo left Venice in 1254 and traveled east. Marco would not see his father again until he was 15.
What did Kublai Khan send on missions?
Kublai Khan often sent messengers, or envoys as they were called, on missions to different places. When they returned, they would report of their mission, but never about the people and customs of the places they went.8 So the Khan began asking Marco to travel on missions.
What was Polo's family?
Not much is known of his early childhood. He was born into a family of wealthy merchants. His father and uncle, Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, were merchants who traveled often to Asia to trade valuable materials such as jewels and silk.
Who was Marco Polo?
Italian explorer and merchant noted for travel to central and eastern Asia. Marco Polo. Polo wearing a Tartar outfit, print from the 18th century. Born. September 15, 1254. Venice, Republic of Venice. Died. January 8, 1324 (aged 69) Venice, Republic of Venice.
What happened to Marco Polo in 1295?
Marco Polo returned to Venice in 1295 with his fortune converted into gemstones. At this time, Venice was at war with the Republic of Genoa. Polo armed a galley equipped with a trebuchet to join the war. He was probably caught by Genoans in a skirmish in 1296, off the Anatolian coast between Adana and the Gulf of Alexandretta (and not during the battle of Curzola (September 1298), off the Dalmatian coast, a claim which is due to a later tradition (16th century) recorded by Giovanni Battista Ramusio ).
Why was Milione nicknamed Milione?
However, since also his father Niccolò was nicknamed Milione, 19th-century philologist Luigi Foscolo Benedetto was persuaded that Milione was a shortened version of Emilione, and that this nickname was used to distinguish Niccolò's and Marco's branch from other Polo families.
What is the book of Marco Polo called?
In fact, the Italian title of his book was Il libro di Marco Polo detto il Milione, which means "The Book of Marco Polo, nicknamed ' Milione' ".
How many daughters did Marco Polo have?
They had three daughters, Fantina (married Marco Bragadin), Bellela (married Bertuccio Querini), and Moreta. Pietro d'Abano, philosopher, doctor and astrologer. Pietro d'Abano philosopher, doctor and astrologer based in Padua, reports having spoken with Marco Polo about what he had observed in the vault of the sky during his travels.
What is Marco Polo's role in Uncharted 2?
Polo appears as a Great Explorer in the strategy video game Civilization Revolution (2008). Marco Polo's 1292 voyage from China is used as a backdrop for the plot of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009), where Nathan Drake (the protagonist) searches for the Cintamani Stone, which was from the fabled city of Shambhala.
What is the nickname of Marco Polo?
Nickname Milione. Corte Seconda del Milion is still named after the nickname of Polo, Il Milione. Marco Polo is most often mentioned in the archives of the Republic of Venice as Marco Paulo de confinio Sancti Iohannis Grisostomi, which means Marco Polo of the contrada of St John Chrysostom Church .
Marco Polo: Route Overview
Marco Polo was an Italian merchant born in 1254 C.E. who traveled with his father further east than most Europeans had ever gone. The goals of this journey were to spread Christianity to the ruling class of China and to establish trade relations with the new Yuan dynasty.
Marco Polo: Travels and Background
Marco Polo's travels would not have been possible one hundred years before or one hundred years after this extensive journey took place. This is because Chinese Dynasties were largely uninterested in Europe and most peoples outside their border.
When Did Marco Polo Travel?
By the time the Polo brothers could give the Pope their letter from Kublai Khan, Marco Polo was seventeen years old. Upon reading the letter, the Pope agreed to send two Dominican Monks, instead of the requested dozens.
Where Did Marco Polo Travel?
Marco Polo's travel route was not direct. The three Polos made their way to China by first going to the Middle East and then trekking through Central Asia. Once they arrived, their travels were not over because in order to establish a relationship with the Mongolian Empire, the Polos were going to have to prove themselves again.
What was Marco Polo's motivation for exploration?
What Was Marco Polo's Motive for Exploration? Marco Polo's motivation for exploration was primarily financial, since he belonged to a family of merchants. East Asia, particularly China, offered valuable goods to be sold and traded in Europe. His motivation to explore was also familial, as he left on his voyage with his father and uncle.
How long did Marco Polo travel?
Marco Polo and his fellow explorers travelled on what today is known as "The Silk Road" and crossed the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Marco Polo spent 17 years in China before returning to Europe.
Where was Marco Polo born?
His motivation to explore was also familial, as he left on his voyage with his father and uncle. Marco Polo was born in 1254 in Venice to a family of wealthy merchants. Although Marco Polo is remembered as one of the first Europeans to travel to China, his father and uncle actually both travelled there before him.
Why was Marco Polo important to Europe?
Marco Polo's travels were written into a book that was widely distributed to Europe, and were pretty important to driving European interest for Eastern goods and increased knowledge about the culture and way of life of the East , which drove many things, including the whole age of exploration that Europe had.
What city was Marco Polo captured in?
As was custom for a wealthy merchant, Marco Polo financed his own war galley. He was captured during a naval battle and ended up in prison in Genoa.
How old was Marco Polo's son?
When the three Polo men returned to Venice after an absence of 16 years, Niccolo found that his wife had died and that he had a 15-year-old son, Marco, whom he did not know existed.
How long did it take for the Mongols to arrive at the Silk Road?
Even with a gold passport from Kublai Khan, which enabled the travelers to use lodgings and horses posted by the Mongols along the Silk Road routes, they took three and a half years to arrive. Upon reaching the summer palace of Kublai Khan in 1275, Niccolo presented his son and offered him in service to the emperor.
What languages were Marco Polo's travels translated into?
Soon translations of The Travels appeared, in Venetian, German, English, Catalan, Argonese, Gaelic, and Latin. It took more than a century for the book to become part of mainstream European consciousness. Few texts have provoked more controversy than The Travels of Marco Polo.
Where was Marco Polo born?
Marco Polo was born in Venice, or possibly Croatia, in 1254. Located on the eastern coast of Italy, Venice served as a gateway to the riches of Asia during this era of increasing trade. Goods flowed like water through the city. Ships from around the eastern Mediterranean docked at its port.
Where did Marco's father go?
At the time of Marco’s birth, his father, Niccolo, and two uncles, all merchants, were away trading. Supposedly they were visiting cities on the Black Sea, but their adventures had actually taken them all the way to the Mongol capital of China, Khanbaliq (city of the Khan).
