What was the life of Marco Polo like?

The Travels of Marco Polo was the first travelogue written by a European to depict Chinese history, culture, and art in detail. In the 16th century, the Italian collector and geographer Ramusio said that Marco Polo had written his Travels in 1299, and "within a few months it was already available everywhere in Italy" (Note: Lach, ).

By the time of Marco Polo's death in 1324, Marco Polo's Travels had been translated into many European languages and widely circulated. The extant version of Marco Polo's Travels is available in 119 editions in various languages. In terms of spreading Chinese culture and art to Europe, "The Travels of Marco Polo" is of great significance.

Maurice Collis, a Western scholar of Marco Polo, believes that Marco Polo's travelogue "is not a simple travelogue, but an enlightenment work, which for the closed Europeans is tantamount to deafening, showing Europeans a whole new field of knowledge and vision." The significance of this book lies in the fact that it led to a broad revival of the European humanities.

When Marco Polo was a child, his father and uncle went to the East to do business, and came to the capital of the Yuan Dynasty (Beijing in 1949), where they met Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire and brought back a letter from the Great Khan to the Pope. When they returned home, Marco Polo pestered them every day to tell them stories about his travels in the East, which aroused Marco Polo's great interest and made him decide to go to China with his father and uncle. In 1271, when Marco Polo was 17 years old, his father and uncle took the Pope's reply and gifts and led Marco Polo on a journey to the East with a dozen traveling companions.

They entered the Mediterranean from Venice, then crossed the Black Sea, and crossed the valley of the two rivers to the ancient city of Baghdad in the Middle East, from where they could sail directly to China at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, Hormuz. However, an unexpected event occurred. When they were shelling out money to buy something in a town, they were targeted by robbers.

The gang of robbers seized them while they were sleeping at night and held them separately. In the middle of the night, Marco Polo and his father escaped. By the time they called for help, the robbers had long since left, and their companions were nowhere to be found, except for their uncle.

Marco Polo was a great traveler, the first person in the world to give a detailed introduction to China to Europeans, and was praised as "the great traveler of the Middle Ages", and was a friendly envoy between China and Europe. Marco Polo introduced the comprehensive situation of China to Westerners for the first time, so that Westerners began to realize that there was a strong and rich country called China in the far east, so they began to interact with the Chinese. For the first time, the Chinese also realized that there is such a place in the world as Europe, where there are many countries, and they also learned about their living conditions, which broadened people's horizons.

Marco Polo was a 13th-century Italian traveler and merchant whose book is The Travels of Marco Polo.

Marco Polo had traveled to China with his father and uncle via the Silk Road and served as the Yuan Dynasty. After returning to Venice, he was captured in a naval battle between Venice and Genoa, and his travels were dictated in prison, and Rustician wrote "The Travels of Marco Polo". His travelogues allowed Europeans to learn about Central Asia and China, and made great contributions to the development of the East and the West.

In 1298, Marco Polo took part in the war between Venice and Recoco, and was captured. In prison, he met the writer Rustiche, and thus had the "Travels of Marco Polo" dictated by Marco Polo and recorded by Rustiqian. The book was widely circulated in Europe, arousing the admiration of Europeans for Chinese civilization and wealth, and eventually led to the discovery of new shipping routes and new continents.

Major works of Marco Polo

Marco Polo's Travels recounted his experiences in China, the richest country in the East, which aroused the enthusiasm of Europeans for the Orient and had a great impact on the opening of new shipping routes in the future. At the same time, it is also an important historical book for the study of the history and geography of the Yuan Dynasty in China.

Although there are some loopholes and fallacies in Marco Polo's travels, so that some people hastily think that his dictated "Marco Polo's Travels" is purely apocryphal, and that "Marco Polo's Travels" will not reach China at all, it cannot be denied that this legendary figure and his works have produced positive significance in the historiography, literature, and cultural exchanges between China and the West.