| Marco Polo (1254-1324): Venetian merchant, adventurer and storyteller who spent 17 years in China at the court of Kublai Khan. With his father and uncle, Marco Polo traveled overland by the Great Silk Road. It took him almost four years on foot to reach what is not Beijing and four more years to return to Venice. He became a favorite of Kublai Khan, who used him for many missions. Marco Polo described all the exotic splendors of the court in The Travels of Marco Polo. So dubious were some contemporaries of a vast and grandiose empire to the East that they published Polo's account as Il Milione, meaning "The Million Lies." Some modern scholars, suspicious of what isn't in the book -- any mention of tea, or foot-binding, or the Great Wall -- also wonder how reliable the Travels is, or if it is based on first-hand observation.** A Marco Polo is the ultimate traveler. He not only ventures forth into strange territory and observes with wonder and appreciation, but he also sets down the record of his experiences for others. We have had several glamorous Marco Polos since the 13th century; for example, TE Lawrence of Arabia, Sir Richard Burton in Africa and Richard Byrd and Roald Amundsen in Antartica. **Did Marco Polo go to China? Wonderful Links: In the footsteps of Marco Polo Annotated directory of sites about the explorer. |
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