3/10/2023 0 Comments Marcopolo comThese included the chow chow dog breed, the musk deer, and the yak. Marco Polo encountered numerous animals on his journey that were then unknown in Europe. …AND TO ANIMALS LIKE CHOW CHOWS, YAKS, AND MUSK DEER. He wrote, in awe, about the way paper money was treated by Kublai Khan’s subjects as though it were as valuable as gold or silver-and described the systems in place to prevent counterfeiting the paper currency.Ħ. Marco Polo described the strange currency in his book, facetiously describing Kublai Khan as an alchemist who could transform mulberry trees into money, instead of base metals into gold. ![]() Long before Europe began printing its own bills, the Mongol empire was circulating paper money. HE INTRODUCED EUROPE TO THE CONCEPT OF PAPER MONEY … He began dictating his story to Rustichello, who produced the manuscript that would become The Travels of Marco Polo. There, he befriended another prisoner, Rustichello of Pisa, who just happened to be a writer of popular romances. After a sea skirmish in the late 13th century, Polo was captured by the Genoese and tossed in jail. He returned home to find Venice at war against the Republic of Genoa, and took up arms on behalf of his homeland. When Marco Polo returned to Europe in 1295, his adventures were far from over. HE DICTATED HIS LIFE STORY TO A ROMANCE WRITER DURING A STINT IN JAIL. Over the course of two decades, he travelled around 15,000 miles both on land along the Silk Road, and by sea, coming across parts of Asia and, if some highly controversial (and possibly forged) maps are to be believed, visited parts of the Alaskan coast hundreds of years before Vitus Bering. Marco Polo left home at age 17 and didn’t return to Venice for 24 years. HE TRAVELLED 15,000 MILES OVER THE COURSE OF 24 YEARS. Niccolo and Maffeo returned to Europe where they picked up the young Marco Polo and somehow procured the oil, but not the 100 Christians, requested by the emperor, before journeying East again. Curious about European religion, Kublai Khan apparently requested that the travelers bring him 100 Christian men from whom to learn more about the religion, as well as some holy oil of the lamp in Jerusalem. In some ways, Marco’s journey was a bit of a sequel to Niccolo and Maffeo’s original adventures: The two older travelers had befriended the great Mongol emperor and told him about Christianity, the Pope, and the Church in Rome. Before Marco embarked on his journey to Asia, Niccolo and Maffeo Polo had already travelled to China and met with Kublai Khan. In fact, he wasn’t even the first Polo to visit China. While his book, The Travels of Marco Polo, brought knowledge of the Far East to the European world, Marco Polo wasn’t actually the first European to visit China. HE WASN’T THE FIRST EUROPEAN TO EXPLORE CHINA. It was likely the first time the young Polo had left home as well as the first time he’d met his father and uncle, who had been traveling the world since Marco’s birth. In 1271, Polo left home with his father Niccolo and his uncle Maffeo, and set out for Asia, in hopes of reaching the court of Kublai Khan. Marco Polo wasn’t yet a seasoned traveling merchant when he embarked on his great journey east. Here are 15 things you might not know about Marco Polo. ![]() But as amazing as all that may sound, it only scratches the surface of the bizarre and exciting life of the traveling merchant. ![]() In the influential work, The Travels of Marco Polo, he outlined the geography of Asia, described the customs of its people, and told tales of life at the court of legendary Mongol emperor Kublai Khan. When he returned from his adventures, he brought back stories that helped introduce Europeans to Asia, and contributed to demystifying the largely unknown continent. Born in the Republic of Venice in 1254, Marco Polo was a trader, traveler, and adventurer, who (probably*) journeyed to Central Asia and China in an era when vast swaths of the world were still uncharted and just traveling to a neighboring town could take you days.
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