Marco Polo Marco Polo, a 13 th century Italian from the city of Venice, was one of the first Europeans after the fall of the Roman Empire to journey across Asia to China. Beginning in 1271, Marco accompanied his father and uncle, diamond merchants who had traveled to China before, on a 3-year trip from Palestine to Shang Du in China. In China, Marco Polo found a civilization more advanced than Europe. At one of the large cities, Marco discovered that there were 300 baths for public use, with hot and cold water. He saw grand palaces, tree- shaded highways, paved roads, parks, and fine bridges.

Marco in China Impressed with Marco’s integrity and intelligence, Kublai Khan, who had befriended Marco’s father and uncle on their first journey to China, appointed Marco as commissioner to the imperial council in Later Marco was appointed governor of the Chinese city of Hangzhou. These positions allowed him to travel to such faraway places at Tibet, India, Burma, and eastern China, where he saw other wondrous sights, such as cloth that would not burn (asbestos), black stones that would burn (coal), and paper money.

Marco returns home Homesick, Marco Polo returned to Venice in 1295 and found the city at war with Genoa. Polo acted as the commander of a Venetian galley until he was captured by the Genoese and put in prison. In prison, among the prisoners, jailers, and visitors he found an audience for his stories of fantastic travels. One of the inmates copied the narrative from Marco’s dictation. This resulted in the book…A Description of the World (now called The Travels of Marco Polo). People thought his claims about Asia were exaggerated. On his deathbed in 1324, a priest begged Marco to admit that much of his book was false otherwise he would die a liar. Marco allegedly replied, “I never told half of what I saw!” It was not until the 20 th century scholars confirmed much of what appeared in his book that it was recognized that Polo had accurately describe the culture of Yuan China.