Marco polo life in china. The first European in China: the life story of Marco Polo and a journey to China

(1254 - 1324)

A hereditary Venetian merchant was among the first travelers who passed along the Great Silk Road.

His father Nikolo, who led extensive trade with the countries of the Middle East and Central Asia, and Uncle Maffeo in the middle of the 13th century had already made a trip to the court of the Mongol Khan Khubilai, which in those days when normal people tried not to leave the fortress walls of their native city without need, was a Great Adventure. Unfortunately, the merchants, busy with trading affairs and lacking literary abilities, did not keep records of the journey, and the only evidence of their stay at the Khan's court was a letter from Khubilai to the Pope, which they brought with them.

By a happy coincidence, going on a trip a second time, they took with them the son of Nikolo - Marco. By that time, the young man, who, according to various versions, was born either in the Venetian Republic, or on the sharp Korcula (Dalmatian Islands, now in Croatia), was seventeen years old, and he was eager to see the world.

The expedition set off in 1271. From Venice, the travelers proceeded to Laiazzo (now Ceyhan) in Turkey, and from there by land to the Christian kingdom of Armenia, located at the headwaters of the Euphrates (not to be confused with Great Armenia in the Caucasus!). Then, descending to the mouth of the Euphrates, they boarded a ship and headed for the Persian port of Hormuz, which, like all of Persia, was under the rule of the Mongols.

From Hormuz, brave travelers on oxen and horses set off into the depths of Asia through Khorasan, located between present-day Iran and Afghanistan. At an altitude of 3000 meters, the travelers crossed the Pamir and reached the city of Kashgar in Turkestan (now Western China).

The next section of the path was extremely difficult: it was necessary to cross the Takla-Makan desert, the years of Nyanshan and go through the edge of the Gobi desert. From there, along the Yellow River, the expedition reached Beijing.

Clever and dexterous Marco Polo immediately introduced himself to the khan and, having met a benevolent attitude from his side, offered his services to the ruler. Kublai, given the need to maintain relations with Europe, accepted the offer young man, and the cunning Venetian became a Mongol official. This allowed him to make many trips around China and get to know the country closely. Marco Polo spent seventeen years at the court of the Khan, and three years, according to him, acting as governor of Yangzhou.

Leaving Beijing, Marco Polo and his comrades received rich gifts from the Khan and a letter to the Pope. This document eloquently testifies to the author's lack of a sense of political realism. Khubilai offered the pope to submit and recognize him as the ruler of the world!

Marco Polo left for Europe from the port of Zaisun (now Xiamen or Amoy in the province of Hujian). Travelers on the ship bypassed the Malay Peninsula, on the way having visited the island of Sumatra, along the Bay of Bengal they rounded the Indian subcontinent from the south and, walking along the coast of India, reached the port of Hormuz. From here, through Hamadan and Tabriz, they made the last land crossing to Trebizond (Trabzon) on the Black Sea coast, from where, without any interference, they returned to Venice through Constantinople.

The Marco Polo family, in addition to fame, brought big capital from this trip. At home, the great compatriot was nicknamed “Il millione”, although, of course, this amount is somewhat exaggerated.

In 1298, Marco Polo did not do much big Adventure on your own ship. At that time, there was a war between Genoa and Venice, and Marco Polo was captured by the Genoese, however, given the glory that he enjoyed famous traveler, they treated him very gently.

While in captivity, Marco Polo dictated a story about his travels to a resident of the city of Pisa - a certain Rusticano, who published these notes on French under the heading "Description of the World".

After being released from captivity, Marco Polo returned to Venice and no longer left for a long time hometown. In 1324 Marco died and was buried in the church of San Lorenzo, now in ruins.

Marco Polo is believed to be the first European to travel across South-East Asia and gave a description of the places he saw, although it is known that the ancient Romans were engaged in trade with China. But be that as it may, his messages are a very valuable source of knowledge about medieval Asia, although Polo, along with accurate and reliable data, cited - however, without malicious intent - various guesses and even legends. However, in describing his own observations, Marco Polo tried to be accurate.

Based on the book by Jan Miller "Great Travelers"

Marco Polo came from merchant family. His father and uncle carried on extensive trade, in particular with Persia. In 1271, when they went on a long journey, they took with them Marco, who from childhood was noted for his keen powers of observation and intelligence. For 17 years, the Marco Polo family was engaged in trade in the Celestial Empire. Marco very quickly learned languages ​​and won the favor of the Chinese emperor, moreover, to such an extent that his family was given the most important assignment - to accompany the Chinese princess to Asia, and in the spring of 1292 a flotilla of 14 ships sailed from the port. Polo had to make a great sea voyage, the first in the history of navigation, in which Europeans took part.

The path ran along the eastern and southern coasts of Asia. The phenomenal memory of Marco Polo captured the smallest details of the journey: what he saw with his own eyes, he never forgot.

Only in 1295 did the Polo family return to Venice, bringing with them great wealth.

After some time, war breaks out between Venice and Genoa. These two prosperous port city-states have long fought for supremacy in commerce. At his own expense, Marco Polo equips the ship, but in one of the battles he fails: the ship was captured, and Polo ended up in a Genoese prison. In order not to become discouraged, he begins to talk about his travels to his cellmates. His story aroused keen interest not only among the prisoners, but also among the guards, who began to carry them around the city. And now the inhabitants of Genoa begin to visit the prison in order to hear for themselves what Marco Polo tells. In the end, he comes to the idea that he needs to capture his memories on paper. Rusticiano, a cellmate, became the "chronicler". Day after day, under his pen, a work is born, which to this day is read like a fascinating novel. Polo himself never gave a name to this work. It went down in history as "The Book of Marco Polo". The draft book was completed by the end of 1298. Perhaps this played a role in the fact that Marco Polo was soon released, and, moreover, without a ransom. Returning to Venice, he continues to work on his narrative, significantly supplementing it.

It was still far from the invention of printing, but the "Book of Marco Polo" began to diverge throughout Europe, translated into many languages. Shortly before his death, Polo said: "I did not write even half of what I happened to see." But what he wrote cannot be overestimated, since the "Book" significantly expanded the horizons of Europeans, for the first time gave them information about countries that they knew only by hearsay.

One of the chapters of the book is devoted to the description of our country. "Great" he calls her. In it, Marco Polo gave a fairly reliable description of Rus'.

... Marco Polo died in 1344. For the last ten years of his life he was engaged in trade and never returned to his book. He never had to learn that his geographical observations and discoveries were long ahead of their time.

So who is Marco Polo? This is the most famous medieval Italian traveler (if you follow the path of Marco Polo on the map, it turns out that he traveled half the world) and a writer. The book "On the Diversity of the World" became a bestseller and sold out in huge numbers throughout Europe.

Despite the fact that the accuracy of the facts presented in it is doubtful, this work is still considered the most valuable source containing the most important information on the history, ethnography and geography of the Middle East and Asian regions.

In contact with

Attention! It is known that he used the book during his sea travels. In particular, with the help of her, the Italian tried to find the shortest route to India. This book has survived to this day. It is known that Columbus made more than 70 notes on its margins.

Brief biography of the Venetian traveler

There are a lot of white spots in the biography of the famous merchant. Historians do not question the fact of its existence, but some points not fully explored.

Family

In particular, it is not known where and when the traveler was born. There are several versions of the origin:

1. The father was a merchant Niccolo Polo. The son was born between 1254–1261. in Venice (official years of life: 1254–1324) and was only child in the family, since at the time of birth the father had already left for China, and the mother died without waiting for her husband to return.
2. Father was from Dolmatia (Croatia) and moved to Venice only in mid-nineteenth century. Perhaps by that time the future traveler had already been born, since there is no information about the birth in the Republic in the archives of Venice. If you follow this version, it turns out that Niccolo was a Dalmatian, and not a Venetian merchant. In Venice, he and his brothers had only a trading post.

Journey of a father and his brothers

By the 13th century, Venetian merchants had taken a leading position in the Mediterranean. They were the main importers of valuable goods from Africa. But this was not enough.

The eyes of the heads of the largest trading houses in Venice turned to the East. Their beckoned mysterious and richest Asia, which could offer European businessmen a lot of very different, elite and incredibly expensive goods.

Niccolo was the head of one of the most successful trading houses in Venice and, of course, wanted to conquer the eastern markets. Together with his brother Matteo, he went to the Crimea, to the city of Sudak. There was a trading post, which was led by another of their brothers - Marco. This trip took place somewhere between 1253-1260.

From Sudak, the brothers went to Sarai-Batu, the capital of the Golden Horde. There they spent a year, and then went further to Bukhara, where they stayed for another 3 years (at this moment, there was actually a war between Batu and Berke, the Mongol khans from the Genghisid clan, who were rivals). From Bukhara with a Persian caravan they moved to Khanbalyk (Beijing), where at that time another Genghisid ruled - Khubilai (Kublai). By the time Khubilai arrived, he had completely conquered China and became the Great Khan.

In Beijing, the brothers stayed for a year, were received by the khan, received from him a golden paizu, which made it possible to freely travel through the territory of the Mongol Empire, and they were also given an assignment - convey a message from Kublai to the Pope. The Great Khan wanted Catholic missionaries from China to be sent to China.

The brothers returned to Venice only in 1271. At the same time, Niccolo found out that his wife had died, and that he had a fully grown 16-year-old son.

Journey to China and life at the court of the Great Khan

In 1271 the whole family (father, son and father's brothers) traveled to Jerusalem. From there, the merchants set off on their way back to China. In 1275, Marco arrived in Shangdu with his father and uncle. It can be said that the young Venetian did brilliant career at the Khan's court. He writes that he was a military adviser to the Khan, as well as the governor of one of the Chinese provinces.

Attention! The traveler wrote that he spent about 17 years in China. The chronology in the book is not always accurate, but the geographical and ethnographic descriptions, descriptions of the mores that existed in the Celestial Empire at that time, are as detailed as possible.

The family managed to return to their homeland, to Venice, only in the 90s of the XIII century. Merchants took advantage of the marriage of one of the Mongol princesses, volunteering to accompany her by sea to her fiance in Persia.

Book

In Venice, no one doubted the reality of the journey made by the family(The path of Marco Polo on the map of the Republic of that time is shown very clearly).

On his return, the merchant managed to make war with the Genoese and even spent some time in a Genoese prison.

It was in prison that the book was written. More precisely, it was not the traveler who wrote, but his cellmate Rusticiano.

Marco dictated his notes and thoughts to him.

Attention! The authentic handwritten text has not been preserved. Some researchers believe that a mixture of Old French and Italian, others - that a little-known Venetian dialect. One way or another, only lists from the original manuscript have survived to our time.

The book originally consisted of four parts:

• the first part is about the journey to China through the countries visited by Marco;
• the second part - the customs of the Celestial Empire and the court of the Great Khan;
• the third part is a description of the countries of Southeast Asia, Japan and India;
• the fourth part is a story about the wars waged by the Mongols.

Path of Marco Polo on the map(according to his book) looks like this:

• there: Venice - Jerusalem - Akka - Baghdad - Ormuz - Kerman - Kashkar - Karakorum - Beijing - Chengdu - Pagan - Beijing;
• back: Beijing - across the entire South East Asia, Hindustan and the Middle East by sea - Ormuz - Tabriz - Constantinople - Venice.

The book was translated into many languages. It is clear that at the time of rewriting and translations, errors were made, inaccuracies, perhaps whole fragments of the authentic text were thrown out or fantastic additions were made, as a result, the path of Marco Polo on the map was partially changed.

last years of life

ABOUT recent years Not much is known about the life of the Venetian traveler, but all the data are documented. The merchant was married to a noble Venetian, had several houses and offices in Venice, was engaged in business, participated in litigation.

In marriage, the couple had three children, all girls. Two married merchants from Dolmatia (perhaps version of the Croatian origin of the family and is correct).

Died in 1324. Buried in the church of San Lorenzo.

Fake trip version

Some modern researchers doubt that the famous merchant really made such a journey and for a long time lived in China. They argue their point of view by saying that there are chronological inaccuracies in the book, there are no mentions of:

• hieroglyphs;
• typography;
• porcelain;
• gunpowder;
• the Great Wall;
• traditions of tea drinking and bandaging of women's feet.

Skeptics also refer to the fact that in the Chinese source there is not a word about the stay of the Venetians at the court of the Great Khan.

Arguments in defense of the traveler

Many historians believe that Polo really traveled, and did not learn from the lips of Persian merchants. Proponents of this version say that

• he spoke excellent Mongolian and Persian, he did not need to know the Chinese language (especially writing), since Mongolian was the official language of the court;
• knew little about the traditions of China and the Chinese, as he lived rather apart, and the Chinese themselves did not favor European barbarians;
• did not describe the great Chinese wall, since it was only fully completed during the Ming Dynasty;
• wrote from memory, so topographical, geographical and historical inaccuracies are quite acceptable.

As for the Chinese chronicles, Europeans were rarely mentioned there at all. But in the annals of Yuan-Shi there is a mention of a certain Po-Lo, who lived and worked at the court of the Great Khan.

Attention! The book of the Venetian contains many interesting facts about the life of the court of Kublai Khan. An outsider could hardly be so aware of the smallest details life and court intrigues.

What did Marco Polo discover?

It cannot be said that the Marco Polo family has become trade route pioneer To China. Nor can it be said that this was the first contact between Europeans and Chinese.

Historians know that even the Roman emperors managed to establish contact with the Chinese Han dynasty, that in Chinese chronicles there are references to certain merchants from the countries of the “midnight sun”

(perhaps, it was about the Scandinavians or Slavs from Novgorod the Great, who made long expeditions even before the Tatar-Mongol invasion), that shortly before the trip of his father and uncles, an envoy of the French king Louis IX visited China.

However, the journey of Marco Polo and his subsequent detailed description gave an opportunity for Europeans to learn a lot about China and the Chinese. In Europe, they started talking about paper money, coal, sago palms. Detailed description growing spices and places of trade in them made it possible for European merchants to eliminate the Arab monopoly on this type of trade.

Marco Polo, travel map, biography

Brief biography of the traveler Mark Polo

Conclusion

In general, the travels of this family did something incredible - they brought Europe and Asia as close as possible. Marco Polo and his relatives visited many countries, thus the Venetian merchants proved that an overland journey through the Mongol Empire could be relatively safe, and therefore profitable. The question of who is Marco Polo and what did he do for rapprochement between Europe and Asia, can be considered sufficiently studied.

Marco Polo was born around 1254, in Venice or on the island of Korcula (the territory of modern Croatia).

Marco Polo's father, Nikolo, and uncle Maffeo are considered by supporters of the version of the Croatian origin of the family to come from Eastern Slavs. Nicolo and Maffeo were merchants who traded with the countries of the East for many years, visited the Volga and Bukhara. In 1269 they returned to Venice from another journey, from

possessions of Khan Kublai (Khubilai).

1271 - Father and uncle take seventeen-year-old Marco Polo on their next journey. Pope Gregory X sent Polo to Asia. The ultimate goal of their route was China - the city of Kambala (Beijing), the starting point - Venice. Path descriptions vary. Some researchers claim

that the Polos were moving through Akka, Erzurum, Hormuz and Pamir to Kashgar and from there to Beijing. Others believe that the main points of the route were Akka, the southern coast of Asia, the Armenian Highlands, Basra, Kerman, the southern foothills of the Hindu Kush, the Pamirs, the Takla-Makan desert, the city of Zhangye (this is already China, and travelers

lived here for about a year), Karakorum.

1275 - one way or another, the merchants arrived in Beijing. For many years they traded in China, and Marco Polo was in the service of the great Khan Kublai and was in great favor with the ruler.

While holding his position, Marco Polo traveled almost all of China. Later he was on

appointed ruler of Jiangnan Province. In total, Marco, Nicolo and Maffeo Polo stayed in China for about seventeen years.

1292 Polos leave China. Now they are heading to Persia, as they are instructed to accompany the Mongol princess, married to the Persian ruler.

1294 - in

The Polos of Persia receive news of the death of the great Khan Kublai, after which they set off for their homeland.

1295 Polos return to Venice.

1297 - Marco Polo participates in a naval battle between Venice and Genoa. Gets captured.

dictates to another prisoner, Pisan Rustichan, "The Book" - his memories of a distant journey.

This work at that time was hardly the only source of Western knowledge about Central, South and East Asia. Marco Polo was not a geographer, so the distances in his description turned out to be

are much overestimated, as a result of which the cartographers made not entirely accurate maps. But descriptions of life Eastern peoples, artfully presented observations were invaluable. Thanks to Polo, Europe learned not only about paper money and cities with a million people (however, not everyone believed in this), but

about and about the islands of Java and Sumatra, about the country of Chipingu (Japan), about Ceylon and Madagascar, about Indonesia. It was from Marco Polo that Europe learned about spices, which were later valued in the same way as gold.

Little is known about Marco Polo's family - he was married and had three daughters, as well as several close relatives.

relatives. In the Polo family, not everything was smooth, sometimes it came to litigation.

January 8, 1324 - Marco Polo dies in Venice. According to the researchers, last period During his life he was a very rich man. It is also known that before his death, Polo gave freedom to one of his slaves and

An Italian merchant and traveler who presented the story of his journey through Asia in the famous Book of the Diversity of the World.

Despite doubts about the reliability of the facts presented in this book, expressed from the moment of its appearance to the present time, it serves as a valuable source on geography, ethnography, history of Armenia, Iran, China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, India, Indonesia and other countries in the Middle Ages. . This book had a significant impact on navigators, cartographers, and writers of the 14th-16th centuries. In particular, she was on the ship of Christopher Columbus during his search for a route to India; According to researchers, Columbus made 70 marks on it.

Marco Polo was born around 1254 in Venice or on the island of Korcula (the territory of modern Croatia). Polo's ancestors came to Venice from Dalmatia and were never among the noble Venetian merchant families. When Marco was six years old, his father Niccolò and uncle Maffeo set out on a nine-year journey to the East. During this time, the boy's mother died and he was raised by his paternal aunt. Marco received a quite tolerable education for that time - he read the Bible and some ancient authors, he knew how to count and write. A free time spent on the Venetian canals or in the port, where they came and from where went to all corners of the world merchant ships loaded with goods.

Marco was 15 years old when his father Nicolò and uncle Mateo, rich merchants, returned to Venice from a long and distant journey. This was in 1269. They visited the Crimea, the Middle Volga, Samarkand and Bukhara, and Mongolia. According to them, Mongol Empire stretched from the Danube to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Even China was under the rule of the Mongol Khan Kublai.

Khan hospitably received the Polo brothers and, when they got ready for their return journey, instructed them to deliver a letter to the Pope, in which he expressed his readiness to establish diplomatic relations.

Only two years later (1271) did the Polo brothers receive a letter from the pope and gifts for Khan Kublai. This time, Nicolò took his 17-year-old son Marco with him. Thus began the famous 24-year journey of Marco Polo. The way to China was long, it took about 4 years (1271-1275).

The first Chinese city that the Polo family reached in 1275 was Shazha (modern Dunhuang). In the same year, they reached Kublai's summer residence in Shangdu (in modern China's Gansu province). According to Marco Polo, the khan was delighted with him, gave various instructions, did not allow him to return to Venice, and even during three years held him governor of the city of Yangzhou (Chapter CXLIV, Book 2). In addition, the Polo family (according to the book) participated in the development of the Khan's army and taught him how to use catapults during the siege of fortresses.

In the spring of 1292, a fleet of fourteen four-masted ships set sail from the port of Zaitong (Quanzhou). While traveling around the eastern and southern coasts of Asia, Marco Polo learned about Japan, about the islands of Indonesia (“the labyrinth of 7448 islands”), about the country of Chambo on the eastern coast of Indochina. From the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean, the ships passed through the Strait of Malacca, made a three-month stop on the coast of the island of Sumatra. After stopping in Ceylon and sailing along the western shores of India, the ships entered the Persian Gulf and anchored at Ormuz, where the Polos had been 22 years earlier. While sailing on Indian Ocean Marco Polo managed to get some information about the African coast, Ethiopia, the islands of Madagascar, Zanzibar and Socotra. Having delivered the princesses to Persia, the Polo family returned to Venice in 1295. All Venice was amazed to learn how much wealth - precious stones- brought from the East by three travelers.

Soon a war broke out between Venice and Genoa for supremacy in trade in the Mediterranean. Marco Polo outfitted the ship at his own expense and took part in the battle himself. Together with his team, he was taken prisoner and imprisoned in a Genoese prison. There, Marco Polo told the prisoners about his travels in distant lands. One of the captives, the Italian writer Rusticiano, wrote down the stories of the Venetian about everything he saw and heard during his interesting and long journey.

Some time later, Marco Polo was released from prison, returned to Venice and continued to record his travels. He died in 1324 a noble, respected man. His book interested contemporaries. In the beginning, she walked in many handwritten lists. It was first published in 1477 and then translated into many languages. This book introduced Europeans to the distant countries of the East, with their nature, inhabitants, and culture. True, not everything in it was reliable. But the huge amount of valuable information about the East that Marco Polo collected during his travels made this work a favorite book of such prominent navigators as Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Fernando Magellan. The book of Marco Polo played an important role in the discovery of America and the sea route to India.

"To the book of wonders of the world"

Also known as The Travels of Mark Polo, The Book of the Diversity of the World, The Book of Marco Polo (Old French Livres des merveilles du monde).

Despite doubts about the reliability of the facts presented in this book, expressed from the moment of its appearance to the present time, it serves as a valuable source on geography, ethnography, history different peoples peace.

A description of Marco Polo's travels in Asia and Africa, made between 1276 and 1291, which Rusticelli da Pisa, who was with him in a Genoese prison, recorded from his words in Old French.

"Journey" consists of four parts. The first describes the territories of the Middle East and Central Asia that Marco Polo visited on his way to China. The second describes China and the court of Kublai Khan. The third part deals with the coastal countries: Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and the east coast of Africa. The fourth describes some of the wars between the Mongols and their northern neighbors.

Descriptions of Marco Polo are full of inaccuracies. This applies to the names of individual cities and provinces, their mutual location, as well as descriptions of objects in these cities. A famous example is the description of the bridge near Beijing (now named after Marco Polo), which actually has half as many arches as described in the book.

Marco Polo visited

Armenia

According to Marco Polo, Armenia was divided into Great (most of modern Armenia) and Lesser (most likely he meant Cilicia).

"This great country. It starts in a city called Arzinga (Erzincan), where the best fabrics and linens in the world are woven. It also has the best natural spring baths found throughout the city. The people of the country are Armenians. There are many towns and villages in the country, but significant city is Arzinga, where the Throne of the Archbishop, Arziron (Erzrum) and Arzizi (Arzhish) are located. Passing from Trebizond to Tauris, there is one castle - Paypurt (Bayburt), it stands on a hill of the peninsula and here you can see silver mines, ”the traveler wrote.

Marco Polo was perhaps the first European to discover to the West the indescribable and majestic beauty of the biblical Mount Ararat. In his notes, he described everything. Marco Polo, wanted to convey that important fact that it is in Armenia, on the top of the Holy Mountain, that Noah's Ark is located.

Russia

Russia is a large country in the north. Greek Christians live here. There are many kings and their own language; the people are simple-hearted and very beautiful; men and women are white and blond. There are many difficult passages and fortresses on the border. They pay tribute to no one, only a little to the king of the West; and he is a Tatar and is called Taktaktay, they pay tribute to him, and no one else. This country is not commercial, but they have many expensive furs of high value; they have sables, and ermines, and squirrels, and ercolins, and many glorious foxes, the best in the world. They have many silver ores; they mine a lot of silver.

There is nothing else to talk about here, and therefore we will go from Russia and tell you about the Great Sea, which is around these regions, and the inhabitants there, let's start first of all with Constantinople.

But I will tell you first of all about the region that is to the north and northwest. In this country, I will tell you, there is the Lak region, it borders on Russia, there is a king, and the inhabitants are Christians and Saracens. There are many good furs here; merchants take them out in different directions. The inhabitants are engaged in trade and crafts. There is nothing else to say about anything else, so let's go from here and talk about something else.

I want to say something about Russia that I forgot. Know by true truth, the strongest cold in the world in Russia; it's hard to hide from him. The country is large, to the very sea-ocean; in this sea they have several islands, where gyrfalcons and pilgrim falcons are found, all this is exported by different countries Sveta. From Russia, I tell you, the way is not long to Norway, and if it weren't for the cold, we could get there soon, but because of the great cold, it's not easy to go there.

to italy

In 1260, Nicolò (Marco's father), with his brother Maffeo, undertook a trading expedition to East Asia. Marco was also among the travelers. The route ran from Venice (Northern Italy) to Palestinian Akka, then to the port of Ayas on the southern coast of Asia. The merchants crossed the Armenian Highlands and descended the Tigris to the port of Basra. The purpose of this enterprise was to reach the shores of China by sea. But afraid of difficulties sea ​​travel and not trusting unreliable (according to merchants) ships, they abandoned the sea route and continued their journey to China by land.

In China, Marco Polo lived for about 15 years as a trader. Serving with Khan Marko crossed Eastern China many times. Only two routes can be known with certainty from the traveler's stories. The first path runs along the coastline south to the cities of Kinsai and Zeytun. The second route leads to eastern Tibet, Yunnan and further north into Indochina.

Kazakhstan

In the history of the penetration of information about the Kazakh land into Europe, the name of the Venetian Marco Polo, “the greatest traveler of all times and peoples”, as the Russian scientist, Asian explorer I. Mushketov, deservedly called him. The paths of the Polo brothers crossed both the territory of Central Asia and the Kazakh land (Otrar, the Syrdarya and Ili valleys).

The six chapters of Marco Polo's book deal in detail with the disagreements and struggle between some courageous people named Alau and Berke. The name Alau-batyr is also found in folklore works published by V. V. Radlov in his work “Samples folk literature northern Turkic tribes”, and in “The Song of Forty Crimean Bogatyrs” (“Tsyrymnyts kytryk, batyrs turaly zhyr”).

Mongolia

Marco Polo served for 17 years at the court of the Mongol Khan Kublai, who founded the Yuan Empire. Fulfilling the instructions of the emperor, he traveled through almost all the provinces of today's China. The subsequently written book “On the Diversity of the World” became a real asset medieval literature. It tells in detail about the life, life, traditions, history and culture of the Mongols of the 14th century.

In 1292, the khan released three travelers with rich gifts; they went to the ocean and through Cochinchina, Sumatra, Ceylon, Trebizond and Constantinople returned to Venice in 1295.

In Venice, Marco Polo, thanks to his wealth, achieved high position and received the nickname Masser Millioni.

India

The trip to India was the last of Marco Polo's big missions. This is stated in his book as follows: “Marco returned from India, because of many seas, and told a lot of new things about that country”

In the book of Marco Polo there is a mention of the city of Myang. It is believed that Myan is Pagan on the Irrawaddy River. Accordingly, Mian Marco Polo is Burma.
In the book of Marco Polo it is said that the city of Mian is “big, noble, the most important in the kingdom; people here are idolaters, they speak in a special, their own language, they are subject to the great khan.

and indonesia

It is believed that the traveler Marco Polo (1254-1324) was the first European to visit the Indonesian archipelago. He allegedly wandered there by chance, looking for various spices, which were extremely highly valued at that time.

In the introduction, Marco describes Indonesia as eight kingdoms, six of which he visited, "namely ... the kingdom of Ferlek, Basman, Sumatra, Dagroyan, Lambri and Fansur." Perhaps the most primitive of them was Basman, whose inhabitants "have no law, like animals." He remarks: "The Great Khan considers them his subjects, but they do not pay tribute to him, because they are so far away that the people of the Great Khan do not get here."

Museum of Marco Polo

The House Museum of Marco Polo is located in Korcula, Croatia.

The Marco Polo Museum is located very close to cathedral St. Mark in one of the old houses, where, according to one version, he was born. So, no one really knows.

At the entrance to the museum, you will be greeted by a wax figure of Marco Polo himself, dressed in a costume similar to what merchants and travelers wore then. A wide stone staircase leads to the building, along which you can climb to a narrow door made of boards. Here are scenes from the life of the young Marco Polo in Korcula, his travels through the Egyptian sands and China, the scene of the meeting with Khan Kublai in Mongolia, as well as scenes imprisonment Marco Polo - it was there that he took up the description of his travels.

Marco Polo (TV series)

American historical television series that tells the story of the journey of the legendary Venetian merchant Marco Polo. Starring Lorenzo Riquelmi (Marco Polo) and Benedict Wong (Kublai Khan). Since December 12, 2014.

Plot of the film

1273. The young Venetian Marco Polo, along with his father, as part of a group of European merchants, arrives in China, which is under the rule of the Mongols, and ends up at the court of the ruler, Kublai Khan. Marco's father offers the khan to give his son into his service in exchange for the right to trade for Silk Road. Marco is learning local traditions and culture, becomes close to the khan and involuntarily becomes involved in political intrigues at court.

Source - Internet