Marco Polo Chapter 1 Summary

Christopher Columbus is famously known for the discovery of America. And who is famously known for the following saying" Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492". Christopher Columbus was born in the city of Genoa, Italy. Christopher was supposed to follow his father's footsteps and become a wool weaver. But instead, Columbus became interested in the sea. According to the book by Bonnie Bader, the Genoa port was a busy port on the Mediterranean Sea. Christopher grew up and became a strong and very skilled man, and who also became a map maker along with his brother Bartolome. one day while in the map store Christopher heard about finding new routes from Europe to Easter lands known as the indies. Their goal was to find spices such as pepper, ginger, cloves, cinnamon as well as precious metals such as gold. With this in mind finding a new route to India became his number one goal. But this goal became very hard to achieve due to the fact that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were not very convinced about Christopher's plan and

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

Christopher Columbus came thinking he found Asia when in fact all he found was the Americas. The ship they were in was called Saint Maria. The first place they landed was Cuba. They were in search for gold mostly, which Columbus promised the king and queen in Spain. He took the Arawaks Indians as slaves when it was hard for him to find gold. When he arrived in Haiti he created the first military base called Navidad which means charismas. Columbus then traveled to the Hispaniola and his thoughts was he arrived in China. He described the Indians as naive and willing to share. Indians did not believe in marriage. To them people may choose who are their mates and if

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.

Columbus gained a lot from the ancient Greek geographers like Ptolemy and Marinus and medieval Muslim Geographer alFarghani. In source three which is a biography from Columbus son, describes what Columbus was actually reading and hearing, it states that “Turning to the reasons which persuaded the admiral to undertake the discovery of the Indies, I say there were three, namely, natural reasons, the authority of writers, and the testimony of sailors.” ( Ferdinand, 281 ). Which states that that there were three things that influenced Christopher Columbus to discovery the Indies, and one of those tings were the authority of writers, or in other words the inspiration of writers. Columbus learned the names of Cathay ( North china) and Cipango ( Japan) From Marco Polo.

Marco Polo's Travels formulated in Europe of the fourteenth and fifteenth century a new perception of the Eastern world, a world just as advanced and sophisticated as that of the West. Yet, another two centuries were needed for a significant change to take place; this was Christopher Columbus' voyage. For Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo's travelogue was a valuable and solid resource that contained the necessary details of the East. The geographical descriptions in his writing generated a basis for Columbus' scientific calculations for his expedition and the explicit depictions of the luxury of Cipangu and Cathay, flawed though they were, created a strong motivation for Columbus. In the 12th of May 1492, Christopher Columbus, accompanied

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.

Among the more notorious dimensions of the age of exploration and colonization is the impact which this massive wave of maritime transmigration would have on the indigenous populations of those locations where European settlers made landfall. And perhaps no historical figure is as emblematic of this impact than Christopher Columbus, who in his ambition to bring gold, spices and cotton home from the lands he believed to be the West Indies, would help to set off one of the most complete genocides in human history. As the text by McKay et al (2003) demonstrates, Columbus approached the natives that he encountered in the Caribbean with a sense of European superiority that would come to define colonialism and to justify its attendant ethnic cleansing. Indeed, the perspective offered by Columbus is that of a conqueror establishing dominance over a people quite vulnerable to subordination.

Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant believed to have journeyed across Asia.He first left at age 17 with his dad and uncle.They were traveling upon the silk road.Marco Polo was born in 1254 in italy City-state. He traveled with his family. They journeyed to Europe to Asia 1271 to 1295.

Christopher Columbus made four trips across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain. He was determined to find a direct trade route west from Europe to Asia, but he never did. Instead, he accidentally stumbled upon the Americas. Columbus was so sure that America was what he set out to look for that he named the natives Indians.

In his voyage he came upon the Caribbean Islands, and a Native American tribe called the Taino. When Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) the Taino Indians were gentle and peaceful and traded with Columbus. Christopher Columbus took the Native Americans for

Europeans discovered the Americas or the new world unintendedly. ” Christopher Columbus did not intend to “discover” America when he went looking for Asia, his voyages convinced Europeans that there were still new territories to exploit and people to convert to Christianity” (Tignor, page 441). The discovery of the New World changed European world and the impacts have influenced not only their mental thinking but also their religion, economy, global competition, and politics.

1492 was a momentous year throughout the settled and unsettled world. When Columbus left Spain he was in search of a new route to Asia and India. There was no notion in his mind or any of his fellow Spaniards that he would discover a completely new continent. He landed in what is now known to be the Bahamas. There he met the local natives, which he deemed “Indians.”

Many children, including myself, have once played the game Marco Polo. Although, I have always been curious, who exactly is Marco Polo? My fascination of Marco Polo warped into a fixation of his travels. Marco Polo was born in Venice in the year 1254. His father, Nicolo, and his uncle, Maffeo, were merchants who had seats in the great nobleman council of Venice (Polo IV). According to his records, he had traveled thousands of miles with his father and uncle.