Marco Polo
Marco Polo was born in c.1254 in Venice. He was a Venetian explorer and merchant whose account of his travels in Asia was the primary source for the European image of the Far East until the late 19th century. Marco’s father, Niccolo, and his uncle Maffeo had traveled to China in 1260 - 1269 as merchants. Despite Marco’s enduring fame very little was known about the personal life of Marco Polo. It is known that he was born into a leading Venetian family of merchants. He also lived during a propitious time in world history, when the height of Venice’s as a city-state coincided with the greatest extent of Mongol conquest of Asia. (http://darter.ocps.k12.fl.us/classroom/who/darter1/polo.htm )
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Marco and his party encountered such hazards as wild beasts and brigands. They also met with beautiful women, in whom young Marco took a special interest. Under the Khan’s protection the Polo’s were able to observe a large portion of the Islamic world at close range. By the time they reached the Khan’s court in Khanbalik, Marco had become a hardened traveler. He had also received a unique education and had been initiated into manhood.
Kublai Khan greeted the Polo’s warmly and invited them to stay in his court. The Polo’s became great favorites of the Khan, and Kublai eventually made Marco one of his most trusted emissaries. On these points Marco has been accused of gross exaggeration, and the actual status of the Polo’s at the court of Khan’s is much disputed. For political reasons the Khan was in the habit of appointing foreigners to administer conquered lands, particularly China, where the tenacity of the Chinese bureaucracy was legendary. The Khan could also observe for himself that young Marco was a good Candidate. Finally, Marco reported back so successfully from his first mission, informing the Khan not only on business details but also on colorful customs and other interesting trivia. (Marco Polo in China)
The Polo’s stayed on the court for seventeen years. Apparently, the elder Polo’s carried on their trading while
Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in fourteen-hundred-ninty-two. He came over from Spain in three ships, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria and discovered America, or at least that was what I was taught in elementary school. Since then there has been much controversy going on over the issue of weather or not Christopher Columbus really “discovered” America because when he landed in San Salvador he was not alone. Native Americans already inhabited the land and they had been there long before Columbus, but this doesn’t mean that he should be atacked stripped of his dignity.
He traveled along the Silk Road which led him to China. The Mongol ruler, Khubilai Khan, then took Polo into his court. Khubilai assigned one last task to Marco Polo before he could be free from his services at court, Marco was to escort a princess safely to her potential husband the Persian ruler Arghun. With the task at hand, they had to travel from Zaitun to Sumatra to Persia. When they arrived in Persia, they found out that Arghun was dead; so the princess was now appointed to marry Arghun’s son. Marco continued on his travels which led him to Greece, Constantinople, and Venice. Soon after arriving back in Venice, he was captured by the Genoans. During his imprisonment, Marco Polo met Rustichello and together they wrote “The Travels of Marco
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’.
A weakness in Polo’s work is his natural bias in seeing these events and seeing Chinese culture. As previously stated, Polo had no prior experience of China and therefore used what he knew to understand China. For example, when Polo described the harem of Kublai, he wrote “the eldest born of any one of these succeeds to the empire…They bear equally the time of empress, and have their separate courts.” Then later wrote, “It may be asked whether the people of the province do not feel themselves aggrieved in having their daughters thus forcibly taken from them by the sovereign? Certainly not.” The people Polo was responding to were Europeans back home who likely saw this practice as barbaric. Polo wrote his entire work from a European view
Napoleon was one of the most important figures in European history. As one of the greatest military leaders, Napoleon did many things to modernize the European nations he ruled.
Christopher Columbus set out on his voyage in 1942 on the West Indian islands, to find a new world for the Europeans. When he landed on the Caribbean Island the Indian Natives that lived there were at first scared but greeted him in a friendly manner. The conquest and settlement of the Western Hemisphere opened new opportunities for other Europeans such as the French, Dutch, English and Spanish to come to the island and colonize the Indian's land. For the Europeans to colonize and move in on Native land they had to find a way to interact with the Indians. Through their interaction they found cultural understandings and confusions that were documented by both the Europeans and the Indians. In the book, "Major Problems in American Colonial
Source: Marco Polo, The Travels of Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant who may have worked for the Yuan dynasty, the Mongol rulers of China, late 13th century. This excerpt is a description of Hangzhou, a southern city that was part of the Yuan empire.
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.
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 is a very important person in our country's history. He found the "New World," the one we live in today. He started the society that makes us who we are today, the society that allowed our ancestors to come to America and start the life that we live now. This whole world owes their lives to him. Columbus should always be remembered as a very important and very good person in history.
He explored places, but wasn't mean or rude at all. Marco Polo was born in Venice, Italy. He had a brother, Maffeo, named after his Uncle Maffeo, and also a father named Nicolo. When Polo was 17, he took his first trip to China. He went with his father and Uncle Maffeo. They thought he would be help to them. The reason they went was to tell the king news about the Pope, who had not yet been elected. When they got to China they went to the great Kublai Khanś palace.When they got to the palace, the king seemed to take great interest in Polo and offered him an important job. The job was to go to different places around the king's empire and find out what was going on there. Polo accepted gradly.
Although Louis XIV, also known as Louis the Great, brought death and destruction through his wars, there are many positive aspects of his reign, such as the creation of Versailles and the building of France’s national army. He did what had never been done before. He changed the lifestyle and the attitude of France by creating one of the most powerful monarchies ever to be built and at the same time, reassured all the nobility and other wealthy groups of their political and social standings. He made it clear that he was the final decision maker yet he still needed the help of the nobility and other authorities.
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.
Even though Marco Polo was the khans’ prisoner I still thought for about the first 30 minutes that this show would be a dry story about the building of a relationship between Marco and his Father. However, the lack of a rescue attempt just means Marcos’ dads a dick and is probably out of the picture for good. So now I think that this show will be more interesting and about Marcos personal struggles as a captive/toy of the khan. I