Descriptive Essay : I Am A Venetian Merchant And Explorer

Marco Polo was a renowned explorer in the medieval era and he wrote the work in which most of our past understanding of the regions is remembered today. He was born in 1252 in Venice and later deceased in Venice at the age of 70 in 1352. The reason he so is so famous and remembered today is because he reached the farthest on his 24 year journey down the silk road reaching extents of China and Mongolian empire. To begin with Marco Polo was born into a wealthy family who was known for their travels and spread of merchantability already and a young Marco Polo would begin his journey as early as 14-16 Years old. Though his date of birth is unknown and the exact location his family was a big name in the Venice community making it only seem fitting. This paper is going to correlate to the book found in the franciscan library at Saint Bonaventure, “Did Marco Polo Really Go to China” by Dr. Wood; she does a scholarly review questioning whether or not Mr. Polo really carried out the things he said to have done and has he actually visited the regions in which he said he's went too. Before we begin though we cannot fully disprove the veracity of the journey in which Mr. polo took because other explorers have also left out important historical happenings when discovering new regions and cultures. Born in 1254 in Venetian Republic, Marco Polo headed to Asia with his merchant father (weapons trader supposedly as we will later touch on) . He would spend the next 24 years exploring

The author also mentions that China-based their economy on the exchange of silver. Another important thing in this chapter was the role of the Chinese voyages in the history of China and the entire world. The voyages that were created around the 1400s were used for three reasons,

Marco Polo- A sailor who told his tales of success in Asia, finding gold, silks, and spices which encouraged people to sail overseas in search for wealth.

In 1271, Marco Polo’s father and uncle, both merchants from Europe, were requested to return to China for the second time by the Mongol Emperor, Kublai Khan. The purpose of the request made by the Great Khan (Kublai) was to bring back to the Mongol court some holy oil from Jerusalem and “a hundred men of learning, thoroughly acquainted with the principles of the Christian religion” (Polo 7) to convince the Mongols to convert to Christianity. Marco Polo joined his father and uncle for this second journey to the East. As part of this journey, Polo traveled throughout regions of the Middle East and Central Asia before reaching the final destination. Further, while working for Kublai Khan in China, he was sent on many inspection tours which allowed him to explore most of the provinces of China. In all the regions that were visited along the way, and more so in the case of the Mongol Empire, there was a distinct disparity in the culture as compared to Polo’s native land. Moreover, Marco Polo’s religious disposition towards Christianity set him apart from the people of the region –the Tartars—who , according to the Kublai Khan, where worshippers of “evil spirits” (Polo 7). These factors placed Marco Polo in the position of an “outsider” as defined by Hage, i.e. “someone who does not experience either socio-cultural or political belonging. It is someone whose mental and bodily dispositions have evolved somewhere else and thus feels culturally ‘out of place’.

1. Marco Polo- A Venetian merchant and adventurer who traveled from Europe to Asia from 1271 to 1295. He traveled from Europe to Asia from 1271 to 1295 and remained in China for 17 years until he left to guide a Mongol princess to Persia. These travels are recorded in Il Milione, known in English as The Travels of Marco Polo that has influenced later merchants and travelers.

Next is the evidence provided by the works from their methodology. For The Travels of Marco Polo, the evidence for Polo’s conclusions are his own experiences while in China. Therefore, Polo’s work provided Europe a more unfiltered and objective view of China in all its extravagance to Polo and later the Europeans. This unfiltered view point meant that Polo was inaccurate in some of his information. When describing Kublai Khan’s palace, Polo remarked how large the walls are and how extravagant and magnificent it was. The palace itself was in fact just an enclosed royal park used as an encampment. Polo’s observations and vocabulary used to describe the palace showed that European’s viewed China and what they did in awe, even when the Chinese were acting similar to the Europeans in many aspects.

Kublai Khan sprung the Mongol Empire’s dominance because he established a steady civilization. A strong transportation system was built which lead to the increase of trade. Yuan (Kublai Khan) constructed roads that connected with the nerve center, which allowed traders to walk through the whole empire. “Kublai Khan had enormous ships built to improve the trade across the seas,” (Foreign Trade, The Mongol Empire). Kublai Khan also made an efficient postal system which transmitted messages between Tatu and the provinces.

Although Marco Polo started out as a humble merchant from Venice, he eventually developed a reputation as one of the world’s greatest explorers (“Marco Polo”). He was much more than just a trader however, providing the Western world with detailed accounts of the foreign society that was Medieval China under the Mongol conquest. These accounts would later become invaluable to historians for centuries to come.

Although the Mongols conquered most of the known world, they also helped to improve the lives of those they conquered making significant contributions to the political institutions, economic development, and cultural diversity of many lands. In China the (Mongol) Yuan emperors built canals to improve transportation and communication.(Doc J) Barbarians are frowned upon as uneducated people. It is unjust to describe the Mongols as barbaric because they made Asia more civilized and advanced . The Great Khan also developed the system of relay stations which aquired 200,000 horses stabled at posts for the special use of the messangers.(Doc L) This stupendous organization made is easier for the Great Khan to receive immediate news. Over the course, Mongol leaders often converted to the region's dominant religions- Christianity, Islam, or Buddhism.(Doc M) This clearly shows that the Mongols accepted all religions. The city of Karacorum had two districts: the Moslem's quarter where the markets are and the other district of the Chinese who were all craftsmen.(Doc G) The Mongol cities were highly organized into districts and had some kind of social hierarchy. They also traded for centuries

The classical civilizations of the 600 BCE-600 CE period were characterized by large empires rising out of the earlier city states. Rulers/military officials extended their influence through conquered new and nearby lands, expanding of land and increasing availability and variability of resources as they added more people and wealth; China, under the Han dynasty, was no exception to this trend. To illustrate, the Silk Road, a trading route interconnecting Europe, Asia, and North Africa/Middle East was named after China’s main cash crop, silk, which was prized for its soft smoothness and durability, in Rome, the Middle East, and other civilizations. This meant that merchants had a large impact in and outside China. The big silk trade also led

McNeil is also critical of Landes’ preoccupation in the happenings of Europe alone, while remaining dismissive of all economic and technological accomplishments of China after 1 000 A.D. While Landes dismisses the economic demise of China as a “weird pattern of isolated initiatives and Sisyphean discontinuities,” McNeil instead portrays the rapid innovations of the Sung era, and how they were damaged and disrupted by Mongol conquests and contained within the Ming dynasty, thereby showing that Europe did not surpass Europe in achievement due to their own pre-eminence.

2. Albert M. Craig, William A. Graham, Donald Kagan, Steven Ozment, Frank M. Turner. “China‘s First Empire”. The Heritage of World Civilizations. 1: 1152 (2007, 2005, 2002) Pearson Education, Inc. New

Jack Weatherford’s Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World provides a refreshing and insightful perspective on the Mongol Empire and their impact on history. Weatherford ardently dispels stereotypes often associated with Genghis Khan and the Mongols while highlighting their significant achievements that immensely induced them and the modern world. As Weatherford explained the history of Temujin, I found myself admiring how he overcame various hardships and created a destiny for himself. He not only created an empire, “he built a new and unique system based on individual merit, loyalty, and achievement.” (Weatherford xix)

After about a three and a half year journey, Marco noted that the Polos arrived in the court of Kublai Khan, the conqueror of China. The Great Khan ruled a vast empire of prosperous cities that had richer goods, services, and technology than any place in Europe that Marco had ever seen (Freedman 6). Kublai Khan was the grandson of the infamous Genghis Khan, the fearless Mongol who swept across Asia and the Middle East generations earlier. When the Polos arrived in Shangdu (the capitol of Kublai Khan’s empire), the Mongol empire stretched from China, to Russia and Iraq; the empire was at the pinnacle of its existence (Polo 26). Marco stated that he soon rose to a position of power in Kublai Khan’s court, because Mublai Khan was pleased by Marco’s knowledge and logic. Marco endeavored on confidential missions to “learn about all kinds of different matters in the countries he visited, in order to satisfy the curiosity of the Great Khan” (Hart 35). The Polos accumulated great wealth in jewels and gold, thanks to the generosity of Kublai Khan; however, they eventually grew homesick and began their

Marco Polo was a 13th century Venetian merchant explorer who is said to have traveled with his father and uncle to the Far East lands of China, Mongolia, India, and others. During this time the Mongols, known as the Golden Horde, were in control of much of Asia. Although this power was beginning to dissolve by the time the Polos’ set off on this journey, it was seen clearly that the Mongols still held power in the region. The Mongol leader, Khubilai Kahn, was a glistening example of this power (Jackson, 1998). Polo is said to have served under him as an envoy for a time before his return to Venice. While in Venice, after being captured by the Genoese during a small conflict between the Genoese and the Venetians, Polo and his Ghostwriter, Rustichello da Pisa, wrote his memoirs, The Travels of Marco Polo. This manuscript is a