[109] It has also been noted by other scholars that many of the things not mentioned by Marco Polo such as tea and chopsticks were not mentioned by other travellers as well. According to David Morgan no Chinese source mentions him as either a friend of the Emperor or as the governor of Yangzhou – indeed no Chinese source mentions Marco Polo at all. "Marco Polo in China—Or Not" 221–225 from, J. Jensen, "The World's most diligent observer." Biblioteca Marciana, the institute that holds Polo's original copy of his testament. [152], The airport in Venice is named Venice Marco Polo Airport. For example, the opening introduction in The Book of Marvels to "emperors and kings, dukes and marquises" was lifted straight out of an Arthurian romance Rustichello had written several years earlier, and the account of the second meeting between Polo and Kublai Khan at the latter's court is almost the same as that of the arrival of Tristan at the court of King Arthur at Camelot in that same book. Asiatische Studien 51.3 (1997): 719-728, Igor de Rachewiltz, "Marco Polo Went to China,". The book of Marco Polo: Prologue ; books 1-2 -- II. "[121], Some scholars believe that Marco Polo exaggerated his importance in China. on March 23, 2009, "List of mss. After leaving the princess, they travelled overland to Constantinople and then to Venice, returning home after 24 years. See what's new with book lending at the Internet Archive. [60][61], Polo related his memoirs orally to Rustichello da Pisa while both were prisoners of the Genova Republic. [70] In 1266, they reached the seat of Kublai Khan at Dadu, present-day Beijing, China. [105], Sceptics have long wondered whether Marco Polo wrote his book based on hearsay, with some pointing to omissions about noteworthy practices and structures of China as well as the lack of details on some places in his book. At the council, Pope Gregory X promulgated a new Crusade to start in 1278 in liaison with the Mongols. For other uses, see, Italian explorer and merchant noted for travel to central and eastern Asia, Notable foreigners who visited pre-Qing China, CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (, sfn error: no target: CITEREFNoule&Pelliot1938 (, Zorzi, Alvise, Vita di Marco Polo veneziano, Rusconi Editore, 1982. Peter D'Abano kept the drawing in his volume "Conciliator Differentiarum, quæ inter Philosophos et Medicos Versantur". [31] Their decision to leave Constantinople proved timely. [72] After the brothers answered the questions he tasked them with delivering a letter to the Pope, requesting 100 Christians acquainted with the Seven Arts (grammar, rhetoric, logic, geometry, arithmetic, music and astronomy). [28], Marco knew four languages, and the family had accumulated a great deal of knowledge and experience that was useful to Kublai. [76] They were highly respected and sought after in the Mongolian court, and so Kublai Khan decided to decline the Polos' requests to leave China. [136] Rachewiltz argued that Marco Polo's account, in fact, allows the Persian and Chinese sources to be reconciled – by relaying the information that two of the three envoys sent (mentioned in the Chinese source and whose names accord with those given by Polo) had died during the voyage, it explains why only the third who survived, Coja/Khoja, was mentioned by Rashìd al-Dìn. [48] Sometime before 1300, his father Niccolò died. Polo, The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, 29. [29] The exact date of their arrival is unknown, but scholars estimate it to be between 1271 and 1275. [28] His father later married Floradise Polo (née Trevisan). Polo, The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, 27. ", Le Moyen Age, vol. [84], Apparently, from the very beginning, Marco's story aroused contrasting reactions, as it was received by some with a certain disbelief. We find in the Ku kung i lu: 'The basement of the Ta-ming tien is raised about 10 ch'i above the soil.' During this meeting, Marco gave to Pietro details of the astronomical observations he had made on his journey. Many problems were caused by the oral transmission of the original text and the proliferation of significantly different hand-copied manuscripts. Original title in Franco-Italian : Livres des Merveilles du Monde). Polo traveled extensively with his family, journeying from Europe to Asia from 1271 to 1295 and remaining in China for 17 of those years. [40] Polo armed a galley equipped with a trebuchet[41] to join the war. The Travels of Marco Polo Book Review: It was perhaps the first book to achieve best-seller status before the invention of the printing press-it was certainly the most controversial. CHAPTER X. Marco Polo is most often mentioned in the archives of the Republic of Venice as Marco Paulo de confinio Sancti Iohannis Grisostomi,[19] which means Marco Polo of the contrada of St John Chrysostom Church. freres et lor filz meser Marc. Marco told him that during his return trip to the South China Sea, he had spotted what he describes in a drawing as a star "shaped like a sack" (in Latin: ut sacco) with a big tail (magna habens caudam), most likely a comet. (1971). A total of about 150 copies in various languages are known to exist. [150] Steingarten also mentioned that Jane Grigson believed the Marco Polo story to have originated in the 1920s or 30s in an advertisement for a Canadian spaghetti company. Engraving from 'The Book of Ser Marco Polo', c. 1299. [126][127][125] In fact, it is a well-documented fact that Kublai Khan trusted foreigners more than Chinese subjects in internal affairs. Marco Polo was born in 1254 in Venice, capital of the Venetian Republic. Video. [92] Later scholars such as John W. Haeger argued that Marco Polo might not have visited Southern China due to the lack of details in his description of southern Chinese cities compared to northern ones, while Herbert Franke also raised the possibility that Marco Polo might not have been to China at all, and wondered if he might have based his accounts on Persian sources due to his use of Persian expressions. E. Pref. In 1292, Kublai's great-nephew, then ruler of Persia, sent representatives to China in search of a potential wife, and they asked the Polos to accompany them, so they were permitted to return to Persia with the wedding party—which left that same year from Zaitun in southern China on a fleet of 14 junks. Book Summary: In the major lead essay, recently released by the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment, Robert D. Kaplan lays out a blueprint of the world's changing power politics that recalls Marco Polo's decades-long trek from Venice to China in the late thirteenth century. [38] However, around 1291, he finally granted permission, entrusting the Polos with his last duty: accompany the Mongol princess Kököchin, who was to become the consort of Arghun Khan, in Persia (see Narrative section). (2003) "Iranian Settlement East of the Pamirs", in Ehsan Yarshater, Morgan, D.O. [5][6] As part of this appointment, Marco also traveled extensively inside China, living in the emperor's lands for 17 years and seeing many things that had previously been unknown to Europeans. Reviewing Haw's book, Peter Jackson (author of The Mongols and the West) has said that Haw "must surely now have settled the controversy surrounding the historicity of Polo's visit to China". In fact, pasta had already been invented in Italy long time before Marco Polo's travels to Asia. Divisata con cinque cronologie. A Critical Appraisal by I. de Rachewiltz", "Jensen, Jørgen. [109], Haw also argued that footbinding was not common even among Chinese during Polo's time and almost unknown among the Mongols. Marco and his uncle Maffeo financed other expeditions, but likely never left Venetian provinces, nor returned to the Silk Road and Asia. [94][107] This is taken further by Dr. Frances Wood who claimed in her 1995 book Did Marco Polo Go to China? sfn error: no target: CITEREFKellogg2001 (, Maria Bellonci, "Nota introduttiva", Il Milione di Marco Polo, Milano, Oscar Mondadori, 2003, p. XI. 34-92, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Chronology of European exploration of Asia, National Macaroni Manufacturers Association, Chinese expeditions to the Sinhala Kingdom, "Marco Polo | Biography, Travels, & Influence", "Un nuovo tassello della vita di Marco Polo: inedito ritrovato all'Archivio", Giovan Battista Ramusion, Delle navigationi et viaggi Vol. [95], Modern studies have further shown that details given in Marco Polo's book, such as the currencies used, salt productions and revenues, are accurate and unique. During the trip, however, they received news that after 33 months of vacation, finally, the Conclave had elected the new Pope and that he was exactly the archdeacon of Acre. "[129] He points out that Polo never claimed to hold high rank, such as a darughachi, who led a tumen – a unit that was normally 10,000 strong. [35], They sailed to Acre and later rode on their camels to the Persian port Hormuz. [56], He divided up the rest of his assets, including several properties, among individuals, religious institutions, and every guild and fraternity to which he belonged. The Book of Ser Marco Polo the Venetian concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East [excerpts] Marco Polo, c. 1310-1320 Translated by Henry Yule. [79] Eventually Polo crossed the Arabian Sea to Hormuz. It is possible that he became a government official;[29] he wrote about many imperial visits to China's southern and eastern provinces, the far south and Burma. C. Calendar of documents relating to Marco Polo and his family. This claim has raised some controversy. A couple hundred years after Marco Polo wrote his book, Christopher Columbus read it. [59] Biblioteca Marciana, which holds the original copy of his testament, dates the testament on January 9, 1323, and gives the date of his death at some time in June 1324. More precisely, he was nicknamed Messer Marco Milioni (Mr Marco Millions). The three of them hurried to return to the Holy Land, where the new Pope entrusted them with letters for the "Great Khan", inviting him to send his emissaries to Rome. "[143], Other lesser-known European explorers had already travelled to China, such as Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, but Polo's book meant that his journey was the first to be widely known. His travels are recorded in The Travels of Marco Polo (also known as Book of the Marvels of the World and Il Milione, c. 1300), a book that described to Europeans the then mysterious culture and inner workings of the Eastern world, including the wealth and great size of the Mongol Empire and China in the Yuan Dynasty, giving their first comprehensive look into China, Persia, India, Japan and other Asian cities and countries.[4]. Benedetto, The Travels of Marco Polo, 11. [85] ... Full text of "Ser Marco Polo; notes and addenda to Sir Henry Yule's edition, containing the results of recent research and discovery" 7–20 from, [Rinaldo Fulin, Archivio Veneto, 1924, p. 255], "1274: Promulgation of a Crusade, in liaison with the Mongols", Jean Richard, "Histoire des Croisades", p.502/French, p. 487/English. Polo traveled extensively with his family, journeying from Europe to Asia from 1271 to 1295 and remaining in China for 17 of those years. [101][16][102] The lack of evidence makes the Curzola/Korčula theory (probably under Ramusio influence)[103] as a specific birthplace strongly disputed. However, neither of these accounts mentions Polo or indeed any European as part of the bridal party,[98] and Wood used the lack of mention of Polo in these works as an example of Polo's "retelling of a well-known tale". By this time, Marco was 21 years old. Another Old French Polo manuscript, dating to around 1350, is held by the National Library of Sweden. [39] Haw also pointed out that despite the few omissions, Marco Polo's account is more extensive, more accurate and more detailed than those of other foreign travellers to China in this period. None of the manuscripts which have come down to us represent the original form of Marco Polo's narrative, but it is clear that certain texts are closer to the lost original than others. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Here Marco speaks of the remarkable population of the Andaman Islands--Oriental negroes in the lowest state of barbarism--who have remained in their isolated and degraded condition, so near the shores of great civilised countries, for so many ages. [10][11][12] His father, Niccolò Polo, had his household in Venice and left Marco's mother pregnant in order to travel to Asia with his brother Maffeo Polo. As part of this appointment, Marco travelled extensively inside China, living in the emperor's lands for 17 years. [74], In 1271, Niccolò, Maffeo and Marco Polo embarked on their voyage to fulfil Kublai's request. London and New York: Routledge, 2006. Prologue. According to Haw, this is a reasonable claim if Polo was, for example, a keshig – a member of the imperial guard by the same name, which included as many as 14,000 individuals at the time. In fact, the Italian title of his book was Il libro di Marco Polo detto il Milione, which means "The Book of Marco Polo, nicknamed 'Milione'". [8] His travel book inspired Christopher Columbus[9] and many other travellers. [37], They returned to Venice in 1295, after 24 years, with many riches and treasures. He was probably caught by Genoans in a skirmish in 1296, off the Anatolian coast between Adana and the Gulf of Alexandretta[42] (and not during the battle of Curzola (September 1298), off the Dalmatian coast,[43] a claim which is due to a later tradition (16th century) recorded by Giovanni Battista Ramusio. The book soon spread throughout Europe in manuscript form, and became known as The Travels of Marco Polo (Italian title: Il Milione, lit. According to de Rachewiltz, the concordance of Polo's detailed account of the princess with other independent sources that gave only incomplete information is proof of the veracity of Polo's story and his presence in China. [80] The Polos left the wedding party after reaching Hormuz and travelled overland to the port of Trebizond on the Black Sea, the present-day Trabzon. POLO, MARCO, Venetian merchant and traveler (b.Venice or Curzola, 1254; d. Venice, 8 January 1324), whose travel accounts gained worldwide fame and whose description of the countries he visited between 1271 and 1298 represents a primary geographical and historical source concerning Asia during the Mongol domination. According to sources, Saman died shortly after the incident, while Xiangwei was transferred to Yangzhou in 1282–1283. [93] Many have questioned whether he had visited the places he mentioned in his itinerary, whether he had appropriated the accounts of his father and uncle or other travelers, and some doubted whether he even reached China, or that if he did, perhaps never went beyond Khanbaliq (Beijing). The Polo family, on that occasion, had expressed their regret at the long lack of a pope, because on their previous trip to China they had received a letter from Kublai Khan to the Pope, and had thus had to leave for China disappointed. [54] The church was entitled by law to a portion of his estate; he approved of this and ordered that a further sum be paid to the convent of San Lorenzo, the place where he wished to be buried. [92][94], It has, however, been pointed out that Polo's accounts of China are more accurate and detailed than other travellers' accounts of the periods. 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