Marco Polo’s book, The Travels of Marco Polo, is one of the most influential books ever written. It details his journey through parts of Asia previously uncharted by the West and served as the primary basis for Europe’s knowledge of Asian geography, culture, and resources until the 19th century. However, the book’s influence spans far beyond its inception. It inspired the journeys of many prominent explorations such as those of Christopher Columbus and the European Age of Exploration. Marco Polo was born in Venice in the late 13th century and lived during a pivotal period in history. The Dark Ages were coming to a close and international trade was becoming more stable under the Mongols. Additionally, thanks to his merchant father’s frequent …show more content…
Marco Polo, because of his exploration and reports, created a lasting impact on global trade, and inter collaboration between the East and West, making him a turning point in history. Marco Polo’s exploration and recording of the Silk Road and Indian Ocean Maritime System inspired a new age of Western involvement with the East. Marco’s exploration in the East resulted in expensive ports such as the port of Alexandria. Most Asian goods traveled through this Egyptian port which was expensive, heavily taxed, and predominantly used by Muslim merchants. This was troublesome as Muslim merchants were often reluctant to trade with Christians as a result of the Crusades. The route Marco took was an attempt around these expensive Mediterranean ports and was one of many routes that would become known as the Silk Road. This discovery turned out to be quite the turning point, as his journey dawned a greater direct European participation in Eastern trade and an increased cosmopolitanism with the …show more content…
This, Marco would soon learn, was false when he became an emissary in the court of Kublai Khan and would help to correct it. As far-fetched as it may seem to have a young Marco be an emissary in a foreign court, this was a rather common occurrence as the Khan often had foreigners rule over conquered land in an attempt to appease its people. This combined with Marco’s eagerness and knowledge of 4 languages made him a very suitable candidate for the position. This position also aided in his book's influence as he was sent on many expeditions under Kublai with orders to report on the customs, cultures, and trade of the area. This allowed for his book to contain notes of the riches that unheard of lands contained and as a result inspired subsequent journeys and trade. His reporting on the Khan and his many riches and advancements changed the European perspective on him. Marco Polo’s record of foreign riches in his book increased European trade with Asia. As a result of the condescending European view on foreign and non-Christian ideas, before Marco Polo the West would often turn a blind eye to the riches of the
When comparing the Chinese and Western historical development, the similar key events would have very different outcomes due to their different backgrounds. During the fifteenth century, Zheng He was commissioned to lead the “treasure ships” for seven voyages down the Western Seas. And, Prince Henry sent expeditions to explore the western coast of Africa. China and Portugal, the both ends of the Eurasian continent, almost simultaneously began marine navigations. They have shared some similar features, but there are actually major differences between the two. This paper will compare and contrast these two remarkable explorers. The focus will be on the ideas and circumstances that influenced their actions, and their importance in shaping history.
As new ideas traveled main trade routes, such as the Silk Road and the Mediterranean, the effects of such were felt through an influx of contact between countries due to increased desire for new information and countries gaining a larger presence on the world stage. This phenomenon can also be seen through the lens of cultural exchange that took place during this same time period in Eurasia. A major component of the Eurasian trade networks, such as the Silk Road and Indian Ocean, was that they fostered interregional contacts that had ceased to previously exist. When a country had a desire for study or technology, they earned more respect on the global stage. This can be further examined by looking at Marco Polo’s voyage into Asia.
Explorers Marco Polo and Zheng He came from two different worlds with differences for the motivation for their explorations, but both created successful works of writing about
Marco attained many eastern technologies and introduced these innovations to Europeans. Marco Polo brought back a navigation device that was developed by the Chinese called a compass. This allowed the European to go navigate the world and explore in a more efficient way. Marco Polo also brought back “paper, paper currency, porcelain, raw silk, ivory, jade, spices, and noodles” (Historpedia). The most progressive innovation Marco Polo brought back was paper. With this technology, the Europeans developed a printing press. With paper money, people did not have to bring a large amount of coins with them.
Primary Source Analysis 2 / Chapter 7: Travelers’ Tales and Observations (Sources 7.1 / 7.2)
The Age of Exploration in Europe developed along with the Renaissance. In Western history, both periods served as transitional movements between the early modern and Middle Ages periods. The evolution as well as advancement of abroad exploration was fueled by competition between growing European empires like England and Spain. The size as well as the influence of European empires expanded greatly during this time as it was motivated by profit, religion and power. The exploration’s effects were felt both abroad as well as in the geographical boundaries of Europe itself. The political, cultural and economical influences of Europe’s early stages of international exploration affected the continuing development of European society as well as the whole world.
Age of Explorations was a time of discovery of the new world during the 15th through 17th century. Many Explorers were in search for new passage ways, new trading ports, new land, new spices, and riches. The three explorers discussed in this paper is Henry Hudson, Jacques Cartier, and Francisco Pizarro. Henry Hudson was an explorer whose main purpose was to find a route to Asia from Europe, he had a series of three voyages trying to achieve this. Jacques Cartier was sent to find riches and a route to Asia as well. Francisco Pizarro served on an expedition, which he discovered the Pacific Ocean.
Nowadays the wide array of transportation means and infrastructures at our disposal has made it relatively easy for us to travel from one country to another; even when those countries are thousands of miles away from each other. However, during the 13th and 14th centuries, travelling was not that easy. Yet, two men, the Italian tradesman Marco Polo and the Moroccan Jurist Ibn Battuta became famous for having managed to perform extremely long distance journeys away from their home country. At the end of their long travels, both men shared their experiences with the world via the books, The Travels of Marco Polo and The Travels of Ibn Battuta. An analysis of those two texts reveals two things. On one hand, Marco Polo remained a cultural outsider to the people he met during his travels, thus enhancing his power of observation and stimulating his curiosity. On the other hand, Ibn Battuta travelled as an insider, and consequently he judged the people he met only in light of his Muslim background.
Many children, including myself, have once played the game Marco Polo. Although, I have always been curious, who exactly is Marco Polo? My fascination of Marco Polo warped into a fixation of his travels. Marco Polo was born in Venice in the year 1254. His father, Nicolo, and his uncle, Maffeo, were merchants who had seats in the great nobleman council of Venice (Polo IV). According to his records, he had traveled thousands of miles with his father and uncle.
An ocean route was sought to the countries that were believed to contain riches beyond European comprehension, thus avoiding having to pay hundreds of miscellaneous middlemen involved with trade, also making for a shorter journey. These motivations were accompanied by the desire to convert the heathen to Christianity, which had been declining since the rise of Islam. By uniting some of the Western Asian countries with Christianity, Europeans hoped to form a formidable team against the Turks and recover the valuable Holy Land (Morison, p.55).
Around the time of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Europe was a place in need of inspiration. Marco Polo, a merchant, and still a simple man, was this source of inspiration. He was an ordinary boy during his childhood, living a similar life to the other boys his age. Although his intentions might not have been as significant as his impact, he was very influential. Marco Polo served as an influence to many later explorers. Whether it was through his book, The Travels of Marco Polo, which focused mainly on descriptions of spices and commercial goods and many other interesting trade items he encountered in his travels, he sparked an interest and desire of not only Europe, but later explorers as well . Marco Polo was viewed to have had definite charm and also having much capability. He has also proven that he was a tough man. This is evident because of the many voyages he survived, which included occurrences of bandit ambushes, disease, and not to mention the fatigue of the travel. There have been many who believe that Marco Polo was not intellectually equipped, meaning that he was not a very educated man, as no European probably was at the time . But as always, there is of course some speculation on the many aspects of the life of Marco Polo. Many people have their own beliefs of whom the real Marco Polo was and what he accomplished. There will be mention on some of the alleged negative, yet also positive aspects of his life. Despite all the accusations or assumptions of Marco Polo, history was affected as a result of his existence. He still remains an important figure in history.
Reaching towards the peak of trade, Europe faced difficulties in trading with Asia due to sections of multiple trade routes being dominated by Muslims. This meant that men were lost and it took a great amount of time to be able to give and receive the products being traded. This was when Christopher Columbus proposed a solution, believing that a route which sailed west through the Atlantic Ocean, would be a much safer and faster way of trading with Asia.
The haiku titled The Unnecessarily Long Title for My Super Awesome Amazing Poem of Super Great Instructions for Online English Discussion Boards by Thomas Talasco is an interesting poem which highlights the vulnerabilities of freedom when it is given to students. The issue is that when students are given too much freedom they tend to abuse the power. It becomes easy to see that the main theme of The Unnecessarily Long Title for My Super Awesome Amazing Poem of Super Great Instructions for Online English Discussion Boards which can be derived from this haiku is that the instructions of assignments should be worded very carefully, and should not allow students to choose a poem from anywhere, or written by anyone otherwise poems such as these
In conclusion, the Silk Road was an important landmark as it connected the west and the east which created an international trade system. Even after its disappearance due to the fall of Constantinople, its success was so huge that its existence in history still inspired and encouraged others to find ways to repeat its achievement. Although Christopher Columbus eventually failed to discover another path that links the east and the west, his endeavors that were inspired by the Silk Road led to the rise of maritime exploration, and even more importantly the discovery of the New World. Therefore, the Silk Road has demonstrated itself to be a significant aspect of the human experience, as from it, we are able to experience globalization, record the rise of some of the greatest civilizations, and also oversee the rise of maritime exploration.
Marco Polo, is probably the most famous Westerner who ever traveled on the Silk Road. He excelled all the other travelers in his determination, his writing, and his influence. His journey through Asia lasted 24 years with the help of his father, Niccolò and Maffeo. He became a confidant of Kublai Khan, and traveled the whole of China and returned to tell the tale, which became the greatest travelogue. Marco Polo was a great explorer, who wrote a book written about his travels which gave Europeans some of their earliest information about China and inspired many explorers including Christopher Columbus.