Perhaps the time itself gave birth to Marco Polo – the explorer. It was historically, a transitional period when religious awakening coupled with inventions and discoveries enlightened the society at large. Expansion in trade and area of rule gave birth to a calculative mind – with curiosity and new ideas. Europe was brimming with vanity about its achievements; unaware of the developments in the other parts of the world.
Contrary to European views, Asia and especially China forged ahead technologically, culturally and economically. China made steady progress way ahead of the Europeans on the basis of silk trade and paper money. The all round progress lead to a wealthy nation and overall prosperity.
A clear picture about China did not exist up until now. Only whimsical stories and concocted versions on China were available which misled the world away from facts.
Dates and Destinations
The Polo family traded with the Middle East which led them to prosperity and fame. Call it fate or an innate urge, traveling was a blessing in disguise because it gave them recognition and riches.
1254 – Marco Polo is born (the date is a Supposition).
1260 – The Polo’s left Constantinople for the Volga river. Berke Khan, sovereign of the western territories in the Mongol Empire held court at Sarai. The Polo’s had cordial relations with Berke Khan. So, they settled with him for sometime thus, doubling their assets.
1265 – After their stay at Sarai for a couple of years, they wanted to return back to Venice but political upheavals made them move eastward to Bukhara (Bokhara). After four years, they reached Shang-tu, the residence of the grand Khan.
1269 – At the age of 15, Marco Polo meets his father on his return from the East.
Marco Polo joins his father Niccolo Polo and uncle Maffeo as they moved out of Venice. They reached Palestine where Teobaldo, their friend is elected Pope. So, they return back to Acre (a town in Palestine). They are given two friars to support their expedition to the Mongol Empire. Ayas was their next destination. The place in also known as the Gulf of Alexandretta in southeastern Turkey.
IRAN 1272 They passed through Erzurum (Eastern Turkey and Tabriz which is now Eastern Iran). The deserts in the eastern part of Iran posed many hardships to the expedition. They crossed the Khorasan region, which is well known as the "lifeless" land of Iran.
Afghanistan – The friendly people of Afghanistan helped Marco’s expedition greatly. After the arduous travel leading up to Balascian (a part of Afghanistan) the travelers camped for a year. The party was ill with malaria for sometime. During this period, Marco Polo visited the southern territories and other parts of Afghanistan like Kafiristan in the Hindu Bush, Chitral in what is now Pakistan and parts of Kashmir.
Marco Polo lived in a very intriguing mosaic of historical events. He grew up listening to the stories told by his parents and Kin who traveled east and on the seas. At a very early age he was told of the wonders and riches of China. Venice, being one of the mercantile capitals of Europe was a buzzing city engrossed in trade and voyages. Parallelly, religious awakening and new findings regarding distant lands made him dream about reaching those places. Amidst the speedy turn of events, little Marco matured quickly and was clear about his goals in life.
The Polo family was busy travelling from one place to the other because of constant political and religious upheavals. Trade was another reason for the travels. It was in Venice in 1254 that Marco Polo took birth in a family of nobles. His father, Niccolo and Uncle Maffeo had established a trading outpost on the island of Curzola off the coast of Dalmatia. It is still not clear as to the exact place of birth of Marco Polo (Dalmatia or Venice ?) Macro got the normal kind of education of that time. He studied theology and this was very much attached with the Church. He was conversant in French and Italian. He was especially good in the observation of people, animals, plants and strange places.
Marco was 15 years old when his father returned after years of trading in Asia. He was surprised and mystified at the strange tales from the Far East. He jumped with joy when he came to know that he would join his father and uncle on their next journey. They began their journey in the summer of 1271. Marco was unaware of the fact that he will be returning only after 24 years of exploration of the East. As they sailed off, the homesick face of Marco can be visualized even now as he was closely attached with his family. Moving along the eastern side of the Adriatic Sea – which was the route often taken by the Venetian merchants.
Marco stopped at Kurzola to meet some of his relatives. As they progressed, the abominable tales told by travelers turned to be a fallacy. The pirates, mermaids, strange sea-monsters and angels; everything that Marco dreamt of never appeared. He was getting used to the atmosphere at sea. Their next halt was at Acra, a Palestinian city where Marco was amazed looking at the palaces and the protecting wall of the city. He saw the riches and the posh lifestyle of the people at Acra. He came across the well-dressed warriors and knights, thus fulfilling his long staying wish.
Even if we take his book as a work of fiction, the quality of the content was so good that he mesmerized readers through the centuries. The book was compiled from more than 80 manuscript copies in various languages and from different cultures of the world, which helped him in mixing with people and understand their feelings. Using primitive modes of travel like horses his travels were always at the mercy of fate. The book was one of the most exhaustive studies on the Silk Road ever written in a European Language.
His exploration of the eastern part of Asia is now taken as a subject of research. Although most, of his work was termed as controversial, dubious and unauthentic, his works speak for themselves, portraying their authenticity when deeper studies were done in the 18th and 19th centuries. It would be wrong to say that only the Europeans were enlightened because of his work. The Chinese historians were guided in the proper direction regarding Kublai Khan and his predecessors.
Marco Polo critically dealt with the turning points in the history of China, such as the siege of Hsiong Yang, the massacre of Changchon, and the attempted conquests of Japan. It was so lucid and descriptive that even some of the Chinese books on history fell short for details.
Apart from history, Marco Polo elucidated religions, geographical details, anthropological studies, strange places, tribes, different animals and a number of exotic plants found all across Asia. His accuracy in map making is even now admired by cartographers keeping in mind the primitive techniques employed in making them. His routes were followed by Hary the navigator and by Columbus ! He helped the generations of explorers by giving techniques to measure distances by days Journey. His knowledge about the geographical yardsticks has made scientists of the modern era applaud him. The great geographer Henry Yule said, "He was the first traveler to trace a route across the whole longitude of Asia, describing the region in its entirety and describing kingdom after kingdom…"
No doubt, Marco Polo’s contribution was immense. His magnum opus, "The Travels of Marco Polo describes his achievements and philosophy in fitting words –
"I believe it was God’s will that we should come back, so that men might know the things that are in the world, since, as we have said in the first chapter of this book, no other man, Christian or Saracen, Mongol or Pagan, has explored so much of the world as Messer Marco, son of Messer Niccolo Polo, great and noble citizen of the city of Venice."
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