Marco Polo's Influence In Europe

Primary documents are the most reliable way to truly comprehend what occurred during the period of time when the document was created. The stories about the great explorers from Europe are all based upon the hard evidence laid out in letters, oral histories, paintings, maps and treaties. Marco Polo: The Glories of Kinsay, part of the book detailing the adventures of Marco Polo, and the letter Columbus Reports on his First Voyage are two noteworthy representations of early exploration of the world from Europe and the cultural differences between the separate continents being explored. The oral history of Marco Polo’s travels in Asia focused mainly on the time he spent in the city of Kinsay while working under the Mongol Emperor at the time, Kublai Khan. The letter from Columbus to his monarchs in Spain was during the first voyage he made to the Caribbean, while continuously believing that he had arrived in Asia.

Europeans didn’t know about the people of the Americas, across the oceans, or even where they lived. When they looked towards the west, they only knew of-- “infinite” water-- an ocean.

He may not have been the first European to reach China but he was the first one to have a written account of his journey. This writings may have influenced Christopher Columbus and other explorers, which may have been one of the sparks to light the flames of exploration and colonization.

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

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

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.

The crusades resulted in the advancement of European knowledge about Asian world, bringing a more cosmopolitan influence to Europe.

“I have not told half of what I saw” were the final words of the great Venetian explorer Marco Polo; however, in recent times, Marco Polo’s exploits have been doubted more and more. (Pedriali, 161) Most often cited as evidence that Marco Polo’s travels may not have been as truthful as reported is the 1998 book Did Marco Polo go to china? by Dr. Frances Wood. Through new research done by Dr. Hans Ulrich Vogel of University of Tübingen in Germany, it has been shown that Marco Polo was mostly truthful in his memoirs, but it has also proven that some things were exaggerated thanks to his ghostwriter Rustichello da Pisa, Marco Polo himself, or later copyists.

Nowadays the wide array of transportation means and infrastructures at our disposal has made it relatively easy for us to travel from one country to another; even when those countries are thousands of miles away from each other. However, during the 13th and 14th centuries, travelling was not that easy. Yet, two men, the Italian tradesman Marco Polo and the Moroccan Jurist Ibn Battuta became famous for having managed to perform extremely long distance journeys away from their home country. At the end of their long travels, both men shared their experiences with the world via the books, The Travels of Marco Polo and The Travels of Ibn Battuta. An analysis of those two texts reveals two things. On one hand, Marco Polo remained a cultural

People inhabited towns and cities along the Silk Road because of the trade and steady resources. The soil was ideal for their agriculture products, cotton being a popular product. The inhabitants would sell their products to travelers. People also sold temporary housing for

One major effect of Mongol expansion on Eurasia was the Mongols’ Facilitation of Trade. This effect is similar to how the Mongols collected tribute from foreign travelers with the introduction of Kublai Khans decree that was issued in 1278. The Mongol Empire always favored trade and this was a very fortunate thing for the worlds nations, especially for the West. When the Mongols began to conquer land and rise to power, they opened themselves up to trade and reopened the Great Silk Road Trade Network. This was possible because the Mongols and the “Golden Horde” cleared out bandits during their conquests that had made merchants and travelers afraid to go on with their business. The Mongols also created rest stops and had fortified outposts along the GSR and helped caravans across the network. Because of this, trade contacts increased exponentially starting around 1250. This also had to do with ‘Pax Mongolica’ which was the peace that the Mongols had created around Eurasia since they began to unify it. The Mongols facilitation of trade and their openings of trade all around Eurasia is what shifted trade to the west and began the diffusion of different technologies. According to the information from Marco Polo in Document 1, the Mongols were smart and wealthy people who lived by their skills and trade. Marco Polo goes on to explain how even the merchants had the spirits of soldiers and the people in general had what it took to conquer the whole world.

The Chinese were greatly influenced because of trade. Marco Polo was a political influence because of trade. He left Venice, and crossed Persia and Central Asia to reach China. He then spent seventeen years in the emperor's service. Finally Marco Polo returned home and wrote an account of the splendor and wealth of China, which would not become popular until the printing press invention.

The Mongol Empire, an infamous empire in due to its oppressively powerful army, had an unavoidable influence on Eurasia including both positive effects, such as advancing trade and production of goods in less advanced societies (doc 5) as well as laying a powerful and protective influence on a number of societies (doc 2), and negative effects, being savagely murderous towards those societies in their path (doc 1), destroying important structures and cities of other societies (doc 7), and aggressively demanding a tribute be paid to them from Christian societies and others (doc 9), as well as effects that are considered neither negative nor positive effects, examples being that the Khan leader did not convert to Christianity when confronted

Marco Polo and Charlemagne have a few similarities and many differences on their expertise and achievements during the medieval period. Both figures have different perspectives of life because of their role in society because Marco is a traveler from Venice, Italy that has had journeys everywhere throughout Europe to Asia. Whereas, Charlemagne (Charles the Great) is a conqueror that established the Carolingian empire and attempted to rebuild the “Roman” empire. Even though both figures had different perspectives because of their role in society they both spread their ideas to others that they met either in their journeys or when they were conquering the land. Charlemagne tried to convert people to the idea of Christianity when he conquered

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.