On the trail of Marco Polo
Photo: Lotho2, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Marco Polo was a Venetian traveler who went far to the East, following some of the many branches of the Silk Road. He left in 1271 and returned about 1295. His book about his travels was a best-seller then and is still well-known 700 years later.
William Dalrymple retraced the route in the 1980s and wrote a book, In Xanadu, about it.
The bookMarco Polo owes his fame to a book which he wrote after his return. At the time, there was an intense rivalry between the great trading cities of Venice, Pisa and Genoa.
BackgroundThe brothers Nicolo and Maffeo Polo were Venetian traders.
The first trip eastThe brothers set out from Constantinople (modern Istanbul) in 1260, and sailed across the Black Sea to Soldaia (now Sudak) in the Crimea.
The second tripThe brothers went back to Acre, this time with young Marco, and then up to Jerusalem to get some oil from the holy sepulchre which the Khan had requested.
Travels in ChinaThey reached the Khan's capitals and were warmly welcomed. The winter capital was then called Khánbálik or Canbulac, meaning the Khan's camp; it later grew into Beijing.
The return tripAfter a few years, the Polos were ready to go home. As Yule and Cordier put it:
See also
Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "On the trail of Marco Polo" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo: Lotho2, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons