Marco Polo Book Report

People are famous for many reasons. Today, it can be started just by sharing one picture and having it spread like wildfire. Back then, it was about traveling and the adventure. Man has been traveling since the dawn of time mainly for getting food and other resources. Meanwhile, they are recording the experiences one encounters along the way. A prime example of this would be a man by the name of Marco Polo. Marco, often mistaken for being the first European to make it to China, was the first person to leave a book based on his experiences. Without him, he would not have inspired people like Christopher Columbus. Although it has been said that Marco Polo reached China, this has been a subject of debate of whether or not this is true. Historians have argued whether or not he ever made it to China for many years. As new evidence emerges, it can be proven that Marco Polo has reached China.

In the year 1254, Marco

Polo was born in Italy. Marco was raised by his aunt and uncle. The reasons for this was because his mother died when he was very young and his father, along with his uncle, were in Asia for most of his childhood. His father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo Polo spent six years in Constantinople. Niccolò and Maffeo owned a home in Soldaia. In 1261, there was a political change in Constantinople which liquidated their home. They both decided to turn east to trade various items. They later went to China and completed various missions to the court known as Kublai Khan. It was during this time period when Marco became very skilled with merchant trading in Venice. In 1269, the two brothers made their way back to Venice. They immediately made plans to go back to the court. After getting the proper credentials, in 1271 his father and uncle took Marco on his first journey to China.
The Polos passed through Ayas (now known as Yumurtalik located in southern Turkey), Erzurum (eastern Turkey), and Tabriz (northern part of Iran). They had to travel through the desert filled with robbers, known as briglands. Eventually, they reached more friendly parts of the desert located in Afghanistan. According to Marco, they remained in Afghanistan for about a year. It was not known why they stayed there for a year. Historians believed it was a illness that caused them to be detained for that amount of time. Along the way, the Polos have gotten to meet many different kinds of people such as Buddhists and Zoroastrians.
Marco had to wait about 4 years until he eventually reached the land of China. When they arrived, they were greeted by Emperor Kublai Khan, who was the ruler of China at the time. For about the next 20 years, the Polos were under the control of the emperor. They lived in places like Cathay and Mangi (north and south China). Marco was only 20 years old when he reached China. Marco was later chosen to be the representative of the Emperor and completed many missions. These missions caused him to travel all over China.
Over the years, Marco has gotten to learn how to speak Chinese, Turkish, and Mongol. Not only that, but many places that missions took Marco to not only China, but India and Burma. Marco traveled to the capital, Cambaluc, which would later be a part of Beijing. When he was not on missions, Marco held various administrative responsibilities. These include inspecting revenues that were collected from the trade in commodities and inspection of the customs and duties. He also governed the city of Yangzhou between 1282 and 1287. While working, his father and uncle were part of a assault of a town known as Siang Yang. 5 years later, a Mongol princess was on her way to Persia to marry Arghun Khan and the Polos accompanied her. The Polos wanted to leave as soon as possible. With 14 ships, along with the princess and 600 passengers, they sailed down south. They reached a place known as Khorasan, only to find out that Arghun died. The princess was then given to his son Maḥmūd. Afterwards, the Polos left and stayed in Tabriz for a few months and continued to what is now Turkey. As soon as they reached Turkey, they were robbed of their earnings. The Polos reached their homeland in 1295.
Afterwards, Marco was in a battle in the Mediterranean sea and taken prisoner. He was taken to Genoa where he met a writer. They both worked together to make a manuscript called “Descriptions of the World” also known today as “The Travels of Marco Polo”. He described all of things he did in China with the help of the notes he took. Marco was then allowed to go back home in 1299 following the Genoese-Venetian Treaty. He would then released his book. At first, many of the readers took it to be a work of fiction. People when started calling it Il Milione, which translates to The Million Lies. He married a girl named Donata a year later and had 3 daughters together. Marco would continue the family business until his death in 1324. Readers of his book wanted him to say that the book is fiction. Marco refused and said “I have not told half of what I saw,”¹ Marco Polo died on January 8 ,1324.
Marco’s reputation, today, is mixed.

while novelists consider him as a man with a brilliant mind, historians still argue over him. For many years, historians have argued that Marco Polo never went to China. All of his accounts of his exploration can be found in his book “Description of the World”. As previously mentioned, many people who read his book at the time claimed it to be a work of fiction. Even though the book is considered nonfiction, the book he wrote fails to account any information about China and the Chinese society. A good example would be about the Great Wall of China. The book did not mention the Great Wall of China. Contemporary Chinese records show no evidence of Polo. Very little evidence can be found in his book and it is often overlooked.

A professor named Hans Vogel explained that "The original wall had long since disintegrated, while the present structure — a product of the Ming Dynasty — was yet to be erected,"* The Great Wall of China we know today was constructed during the 14th century and that the original wall was long

gone.
One piece of evidence can be found in a large neglected part of his book. It was discovered by a professor named Hans Vogel. It reads “He causes the bark to be stripped from those mulberry-trees the leaves of which are used for feeding silk-worms, and takes from it that thin inner rind which lies between the coarser bark and the wood of the tree. This being steeped, and afterwards pounded in a mortar, until reduced to a pulp, is made into paper”(Polo, page 202). This was describing the process of how the money was being made. The process mentioned is very similar to the process of how China made their paper currency.
Another piece of evidence can also be found in explaining salt production. It reads “This vast produce is occasioned by the vicinity of the province to the sea, and the number of salt lakes or marshes, in which, during the heat of summer, the water becomes crystallized, and from whence a quantity of salt is taken, sufficient for the supply of five of the other divisions of the province.” (Polo, page 310) Discovered again by Hans Vogel, the book also explains the methods of how salt was being made. The description of salt production was accurate to how China produces salt. Not to mention, that salt was also part of the many currencies in parts of China.
Marco also talks about public revenues in his book. He says “I will now tell you of the large revenue which the khan draws from this city, and the territory under its jurisdiction, which is the ninth part of the province of Manji. The salt of that country yields to him in the year eighty tomans of gold, and each toman is 70,000 saiks, which amount to 5,600,000, and each saik is worth more than a gold florin” (Polo, page 175) In this part of the book, he discusses public revenue and how much it is.
From everything that has been said, Marco Polo’s adventure is often considered to be purely nonfiction but people were taking it as a work of fiction To me, maybe it was because people did not seem it was possible. People saw adventure as a fantasy. People did not move too often because there was not a point if everything needed was in walking distance. Sometimes people are forced to move because of a war or some other kind of conflict. People left adventures to the people who were willing to risk their lives and lose what seemed like everything and those people who set out on adventures were able to inspire others to have their own adventures. Those are the type of people who set out of discovering new things and learning new things that they never thought of before. Marco Polo is a man just that. He had his own adventures. He risk his life for knowledge. He did inspire others to have their own adventures. A good example would be Christopher Columbus which debatably is of more importance than Marco Polo.
Marco Polo was a very important traveler for many reasons. He has inspired many other people to travel and have their own adventures. Historians, however, like to break down history only to find out knowledge that has been common for many years is suddenly false. Whether or not this is true, these pieces of evidence can conclude that Marco Polo did reach China. He chose to go to China for 2 reasons: knowledge and exploration. He got a chance to explore the great land of China and got to know so much about it. Marco Polo made it to China and inspired other people to travel.