#Marcopolo 21 series

They arrived home in 1295, the year after Kublai’s death sent the Mongol Empire into an irrevocable decline. The Polos, meanwhile, stayed on with Arghun’s brother for nine months before heading to Venice via Trebizond (now Trabzon, Turkey), Constantinople and Negrepont (now Euboea, Greece). The princess was made to marry Arghun’s son. In 1292 the Polos joined a flotilla of 14 boats that set out from Zaitun (now Quanzhou, China), stopped briefly in Sumatra and then landed in Persia 18 months later, only to find out that Arghun was dead. Finally, around 1275, they arrived at Kublai Khan’s opulent summer palace at Shangdu, or Xanadu, located about 200 miles northwest of his winter quarters in modern Beijing.Īfter many years of seeking a release from service, the Polos finally secured permission from Kublai to escort a young princess to her intended husband Arghun, the Mongol ruler of Persia. Over the next three years they slowly trekked through deserts, high mountain passes and other rough terrain, meeting people of various religions and cultures along the way.

#Marcopolo 21 series

Failing to find any boats to their liking, they instead took a series of overland traders’ routes that, in the 19th century, would become known as the Silk Road. The friars quickly abandoned the expedition, but the Polos continued on, possibly by camel, to the Persian port city of Hormuz. At the request of Kublai Khan, they secured some holy oil from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and then backtracked to Acre to pick up gifts, papal documents and two friars from newly elected Pope Gregory X.

Two years later, Niccolò and Maffeo sailed to Acre in present-day Israel, this time with Marco at their side. Why the War of 1812 Was a Turning Point for Native Americans Marco Polo’s Travels Along the Silk Road The two brothers then went to the port city of Soldaia (now Sudak, Ukraine), where they owned a house.

Niccolò and Maffeo first spent about six years in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey), which had been under Latin control since the Fourth Crusade of 1204. As a result, he was raised by extended relatives following his mother’s death at a young age. His father, Niccolò, and his uncle Maffeo had left the year before on a long-term trading expedition. Marco Polo was born around 1254 into a prosperous merchant family in the Italian city-state of Venice. Though not the first European to explore China-his father and uncle, among others, had already been there-he became famous for his travels thanks to a popular book he co-authored while languishing in a Genoese prison. Upon reaching China, Marco Polo entered the court of powerful Mongol ruler Kublai Khan, who dispatched him on trips to help administer the realm. He first set out at age 17 with his father and uncle, traveling overland along what later became known as the Silk Road. Marco Polo (1254-1324) was a Venetian merchant believed to have journeyed across Asia at the height of the Mongol Empire.

Marco Polo’s Travels Along the Silk Road.