Marco Polo (; ) (
c. 1254 – January 8, 1324) was a
merchant from the
Venetian Republic who wrote
Il Milione, which introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle,
Niccolò and Maffeo, voyaged through Asia and met
Kublai Khan. In 1269, they returned to Venice to meet Marco for the first time. The three of them embarked on an epic journey to Asia, returning after 24 years to find Venice at war with
Genoa; Marco was imprisoned, and dictated his stories to a cellmate. He was released in 1299, became a wealthy
merchant, married and had 3 children. He died in 1324, and was buried in
San Lorenzo.
Il Milione was translated, embellished, copied by hand and adapted; there is no authoritative version. It documents his father's journey to meet the Kublai Khan, who asked them to become ambassadors, and communicate with the
pope. This led to Marco's quest, through Acre, into China and to the
Mongol court. Marco wrote of his extensive travels throughout Asia on behalf of the Khan, and their eventual return after and 24 years of adventures.
Their pioneering journey inspired Columbus and others. Marco Polo's other legacies include
Venice Marco Polo Airport, the
Marco Polo sheep, and several books and films. He also had an influence on European cartography, leading to the introduction of the
Fra Mauro map.
Life
From childhood through to Genoese captivity
The exact time and place of Marco Polo's birth are unknown, and current theories are mostly conjectural. However, the most quoted specific date is somewhere "around 1254",
[Many sources state this date; states, "born in or around 1254. (This date, like nearly all the others concerning major events in his life, is conjectural.)"] and it is generally accepted that Marco Polo was born in the
Venetian Republic. While the exact birthplace is unknown, most biographers point towards
Venice itself as Marco Polo's home town.
[Some sources (e.g. ) suggest that Polo was born in Korčula, an island in Dalmatia, now Croatia. The website states, "Polo is reputed to have been born in Korcula itself, although evidence to support this thesis is at best sketchy." A "Birthpace of Marco Polo" exists on the island ().] His father Niccolò was a merchant who traded with the
Middle East, becoming wealthy and achieving great prestige.
Niccolò and his brother Maffeo set off on a trading voyage, before Marco was born.
In 1260, Niccolò and Maffeo were residing in
Constantinople when they foresaw a political change; they liquidated their assets into jewels and moved away.
According to
The Travels of Marco Polo, they passed through much of Asia, and met with the
Kublai Khan. Meanwhile, Marco Polo's mother died, and he was raised by an aunt and uncle.
Polo was well educated, and learned merchant subjects including foreign currency, appraising, and the handling of cargo ships,
although he learned little or no
Latin.
In 1269, Niccolò and Maffeo returned to Venice, meeting Marco for the first time. In 1271, Marco Polo (at seventeen years of age), his father, and his uncle set off for Asia on the series of adventures that were later documented in Marco's book. They returned to Venice in 1295, 24 years later, with many riches and treasures. They had travelled almost .
Upon their return, Venice was at war with
Genoa, and Marco Polo was taken prisoner. He spent the few months of his imprisonment dictating a detailed account of his travels to fellow inmate,
Rustichello da Pisa,
who incorporated tales of his own as well as other collected anecdotes and current affairs from China. The book became known as
The Travels of Marco Polo, and depicts the Polos' journeys throughout Asia, giving Europeans their first comprehensive look into the inner workings of the
Far East, including China, India, and Japan. Marco Polo was finally released from captivity in August 1299,
and returned home to Venice, where his father and uncle had purchased a large house in the central quarter named
contrada San Giovanni Crisostomo. The company continued its activities and Marco soon became a wealthy merchant. Polo financed other expeditions, but never left Venice again. In 1300, he married Donata Badoer, the daughter of Vitale Badoer, a merchant. They had three daughters, called Fantina, Bellela and Moreta.
Death
thumb|The San Lorenzo di Venezia church building in the [[sestiere of
Castello of
Venice, where Polo is buried. The photo was taken after the church was rebuilt.]]
In 1323, Polo was confined to bed, due to illness. On January 8, 1324, despite physicians' efforts to treat him, Polo was on his deathbed. To write and certify the will, his family requested Giovanni Giustiniani, a priest of San Procolo. His wife, Donata, and his three daughters were appointed by him as
co-executrices. The church was entitled by law to a portion of his estate; he approved of this and ordered that a further sum be paid to the convent of
San Lorenzo, the place where he wished to be buried.
He also set free a "
Tartar slave" who may have accompanied him from Asia.
He divided up the rest of his assets, including several properties, between individuals, religious institutions, and every guild and fraternity to which he belonged. He also wrote-off multiple debts including 300 lire that his sister-in-law owed him, and others for the convent of San Giovanni, San Paolo of the Order of Preachers, and a cleric named
Friar Benvenuto. He ordered 220
soldi be paid to Giovanni Giustiniani for his work as a notary and his prayers.
The will, which was not signed by Polo, but was validated by then relevant "signum manus" rule, by which the testator only had to touch the document to make it abide to the rule of law, was dated January 9, 1324. Due to the Venetian law stating that the day ends at sunset, the exact date of Marco Polo's death cannot be determined, but it was between the sunsets of January 8 and 9, 1324.
The Travels of Marco Polo
An authoritative version of Marco Polo's book does not exist, and the early manuscripts differ significantly. The published versions of his book either rely on single scripts, blend multiple versions together or add notes to clarify, for example in the English translation by
Henry Yule. Another English translation by A.C. Moule and
Paul Pelliot, published in 1938, is based on the Latin manuscript which was found in the library of the
Cathedral of Toledo in 1932, and is 50% longer than other versions.
Approximately 150 variants in various languages are known to exist, and without the availability of a
printing press many errors were made during copying and translation, resulting in many discrepancies.
Stories
thumb|A page from Il Milione, originally published during Polo's lifetime.The book starts with a preface about his father and uncle traveling to
Bolghar where Prince
Berke Khan lived. A year later, they went to
Ukek and continued to
Bukhara. There, an envoy from
Levant invited them to meet
Kublai Khan, who had never met Europeans. In 1266, they reached the seat of the Kublai Khan at
Dadu, present day Beijing, China. Khan received the brothers with hospitality and asked them many questions regarding the European legal and political system. He also inquired about the
Pope and Church in
Rome. After the brothers answered the questions he tasked them with delivering a letter to the Pope, requesting 100 Christians acquainted with the
Seven Arts (grammar, rhetoric, logic, geometry, arithmetic, music and astronomy). Kublai Khan requested that an envoy bring him back
oil of the lamp in Jerusalem. The long
sede vacante between the death of
Pope Clement IV in 1268 and the election of his successor delayed the Polos in fulfilling Khan's request. They followed the suggestion of Theobald Visconti, then papal legate for the realm of
Egypt, and returned to Venice in 1269 or 1270 to await the nomination of the new Pope, which allowed Marco to see his father for the first time, at the age of fifteen or sixteen.
In 1271, Niccolò, Maffeo and Marco Polo embarked on their voyage to fulfill Khan's request. They sailed to
Acre, and then rode on camels to the Persian port of
Hormuz. They wanted to sail to China, but the ships there were not seaworthy, so they continued overland until reaching Khan's summer palace in
Shangdu, near present-day
Zhangjiakou. Three and one-half years after leaving Venice, when Marco was about 21 years old, Khan welcomed the Polos into his palace.
The exact date of their arrival is unknown, but scholars estimate it to be between 1271 and 1275.
[Drogön Chögyal Phagpa, a Tibetan monk and confidant of Kublai Khan, mentions in his diaries that in 1271 a foreign friend of Kublai Khan visits — quite possibly one of the elder Polos or even Marco Polo himself, although, no name was given. If this is not the case, a more likely date for their arrival is 1275 (or 1274, according to the research of Japanese scholar Matsuo Otagi).()] On reaching the Mongol court, the Polos presented the sacred oil from Jerusalem and the papal letters to their patron.
Marco knew four languages, and the family had accumulated a great deal of knowledge and experience that was useful to Khan. It is possible that he became a government official;
he wrote about many imperial visits to China's southern and eastern provinces, the far south and
Burma.
Kublai Khan declined the Polos' requests to leave China. They became worried about returning home safely, believing that if Khan died, his enemies might turn against them because of their close involvement with the ruler. In 1292, Khan's great-nephew, then ruler of
Persia, sent representatives to China in search of a potential wife, and they asked the Polos to accompany them, so they were permitted to return to Persia with the wedding party — which left that same year from
Zaitun in southern China on a fleet of 14
junks. The party sailed to the port of
Singapore, travelled north to
Sumatra and around the southern tip of
India, eventually crossing the
Arabian Sea to
Hormuz. The two-years voyage was a perilous one - of the six hundred people (not including the crew) in the convoy only eighteen had survived (including all three Polos). The Polos left the wedding party after reaching Hormuz and travelled overland to the port of Trebizond on the
Black Sea, the present day
Trabzon.
Legacy
Further exploration
Other less well-known European explorers had already travelled to China, such as
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, but Polo's book meant that their journey was the first to be widely known.
Christopher Columbus was inspired enough by Polo's description of the
Far East to visit those lands for himself; a copy of the book was among his belongings, with handwritten annotations.
Bento de Góis, inspired by Polo's writings of a Christian kingdom in the east, travelled in three years across Central Asia. He never found the kingdom, but ended his travels at the
Great Wall of China in 1605, proving that Cathay was what
Matteo Ricci called "China".
Commemoration
The
Marco Polo sheep, a subspecies of
Ovis aries, is named after the explorer, who described it during his crossing of
Pamir (ancient
Mount Imeon) in 1271.
[ states, "Then there are sheep here as big as asses; and their tails are so large and fat, that one tail shall weigh some 30 lb. They are fine fat beasts, and afford capital mutton."] In 1851, a three-masted
Clipper built in Saint John, New Brunswick also took his name;
the Marco Polo was the first ship to sail around the world in under six months. The airport in
Venice is named
Venice Marco Polo Airport, and the
frequent flyer program of Hong Kong
flag carrier Cathay Pacific is known as the "Marco Polo Club". The Travels of Marco Polo are fictionalised in
Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne's
Messer Marco Polo and
Gary Jennings' 1984 novel
The Journeyer. Polo also appears as the pivotal character in
Italo Calvino's novel
Invisible Cities. The 1982 television miniseries,
Marco Polo, directed by
Giuliano Montaldo and depicting Polo's travels, won two
Emmy Awards and was nominated for six more.
[ (Searching for "Marco Polo", and year 1982)] Marco Polo also appears as a Great Explorer in the 2008 strategy
video game Civilization Revolution.
Cartography
Marco Polo's travels may have had some influence on the development of European cartography, ultimately leading to the
European voyages of exploration a century later.
The 1453
Fra Mauro map was said by
Giovanni Battista Ramusio to have been an improved copy of the one brought from
Cathay by Marco Polo:
See also
