A Timeline of Marco Polo s Life Marco Polo 1254 Marco Polo is born Marco Polo was born in Venice. His father and uncle were very rich, and often traveled the world. 1260 Marco's mother dies Marco's mother died sometime in his childhood and he was raised by an aunt and uncle. They were wealthy and he learned many important things like foreign currency and appraising. 1262 Marco's father meets the ruler of China Marco's father and uncle traveled to China for the first time, where they met Kublai Khan, the ruler of China. 1271 Marco travels Marco Polo went with his father and uncle on his first journey to Cathay, or what is now called China. 1274 Marco arrives in China Marco's journey took three years, but he finally arrived in China. He met Kublai Khan, the ruler of China, and he studied the Chinese language and learned to speak it well. 1275 Marco Polo's first mission Kublai Khan sent Marco on a mission for him. Marco Polo traveled across China, and he did his mission so well that Kublai Khan decided Marco would work for him. 1280 Marco Polo works for Kublai Khan Marco Polo rose in favor with the ruler of China, and he even became the ruler of one of Kublai Khan's cities. 1295 Marco Polo returns home to Venice After celebrating Kublai Khan's daughter's wedding in Persia, Marco Polo and his family returned to Venice. They found it was at war with Genoa. 1298 Marco the Prisoner of War
Marco joined the Venetian forces, but he was captured and became a prisoner of war. In prison he met a writer, and he told the writer about his travels; the writer wrote Marco's stories down. 1299 Free! Marco Polo was released from prison, but was still a prisoner of war. 1300 Marco gets married At the age of 46 Marco Polo got married and began having children. He had three daughters. 1307 Marco becomes famous When a book of his stories reached people around Europe, the fame of Marco Polo's travels spread quickly. People were fascinated with the world of the Chinese. 1324 Marco Polo dies Marco Polo died in Venice at the age of 74. His travels and explorations inspired other explorers like Christopher Columbus, and the tales he brought back from China got the people interested in other cultures. 1453 Marco's journey is copied More than a hundred years after Marco Polo's journey to China, other explorers traveled the same path. Their maps were based on those brought back from China by Marco Polo. 1851 Marco Polo's name is honored In 1851 Marco Polo had a ship named after him. It was the first ship to sail around the world in under 6 months. Source: http://www.softschools.com/timelines/marco_polo_timeline/23/
Source : http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/gifs/polo.gif
Source : http://www.inspiration.com/sites/default/files/images/marcopolodv%20big.gif Sorting Out the Facts from the Myths No. 1: Marco Polo was only 15 years old when he left Venice on the great adventure that took him to the court of Kublai Khan. His father Niccolò and his uncle Maffeo Polo had made the journey previously. Marco barely knew his father, who had spent Marco's childhood as a traveling merchant when they left on their quest. But the death of Marco's mother convinced Niccolò that Marco should accompany him on the return trip, which lasted 24 years (1271-
1295). The Polos weren't the first wayfarers Marco's word to make it to Asia, but Marco is the one who became most famous for it. Mosaic representing Marco Polo at Villa Hanbury, Ventimiglia, Italy. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) No. 2: Marco Polo did not bring pasta back to Venice from China. It is one of the most famous legends out there about the adventurer, but truth be told, pasta had made its way into the cuisine of Italy prior to Marco's birth. He did, however, introduce the concept of paper money, which was used in Mongolia in the 13th century, but not in Europe. No. 3: The Travels of Marco Polo [the English title] was not written by Marco, but rather by the 13th-century romantic author Rustichello of Pisa. The two
met while in prison, where Marco dictated the stories of his travels and his adventures at the court of Kublai Khan. [Marco was a prisoner of war, having been captured in a battle between Venice and its rival city-state Genoa in 1298.] There are no longer any original copies remaining of the manuscript, initially titled Il Milione (The Million) and released in Italian, French and Latin. The earliest remaining copies of the travelogue are not always consistent in details, but do remain true to the stories. Keep in mind the printing press wasn't invented until 1439, so the books were handwritten and mistakes were made. No. 4: While Marco Polo didn't actually discover America, he was influential inchristopher Columbus's decision to strike out for unknown territory. Columbus is said to have been inspired by Marco's adventures, and took a copy of The Travels of Marco Polo on his Westward sail two centuries after Marco's journey to China.
Marco Polo traveling, from the book The Travels of Marco Polo (Il milione), originally published during Polos lifetime (September 15, 1254 - January 8, 1324), but frequently reprinted and translated. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) No. 5: Many of us have spent a summer's afternoon in a swimming pool playing the tag game of Marco Polo, but did you know that the Venetian merchant also has a species of sheep named after him? In The Travels of Marco Polo, he mentions observing the mountain sheep on the Pamir Plateau in Badakhshan [now northeastern Afghanistan]. Of course, the sheep weren't named after him in his lifetime. The first scientific mention of Ovis ammon polii was in 1841 by zoologist Edward Blyth. No. 6: In addition to his native tongue, Marco wrote that he knew four languages. He never elaborated on which four they were, but from his writings, historians have surmised they were Mongolian, Persian, Arabic, and Turkish not Chinese.
No. 7: Marco served as a special envoy for the great Kublai Khan, providing the leader with useful reports from the various trips he took on his behalf all around Asia. This included three years during which he served as the governor of the city of Yangchow. No. 8: The Polos finally grew homesick, but Kublai Khan valued their services so much, he refused to let them go. They were finally able to return home when they convinced him that they should be the escorts for Princess Kokachin, who was to marry his great nephew, the Il-Khan, who ruled Persia. The journey to Persia was a perilous one, and many died, but the Polos arrived safely. Kublai Khan, too, died while they were on this mission, so they were able to return to Venice following the wedding. No. 9: Not a lot is known about Marco Polo after his return to Venice in 1295. It is posited that he returned to the family merchant business, but it is known that he married and had three daughters: Moretta, Fantina, and Bellela. He lived to be 70 years old. No. 10: There are those who believe that Marco Polo never took the journey down the Silk Road to China and in fact, made it no further than the Black Sea. They believe that the adventures described in his book were made up from stories he heard from others along the road he did travel. It doesn't help his case that there were many exaggerations in The Travels of Marco Polo, plus there were also interesting exclusions, such as the fact that he failed to mention the use of chopsticks for eating, or that he had seen the Great Wall. It also helps these naysayers that no mention of Marco Polo has been found in any historic Chinese records. On the other hand, the majority of historians are prone to believe the Marco did indeed make it to China and work in the service of Kublai Kahn, especially because of the preponderance of cultural
information in the book. Plus, there are those who have used his journal to retrace his footsteps, and they declare the geography to be so accurate, they believe the trip happened. On his deathbed, Marco was encouraged to admit that The Travels of Marco Polo was a work of fiction, but to his dying breath he declared, "I did not tell half of what I saw. Source: http://www.biography.com/news/marco-polo-facts-netflix-series Click this link to see a slideshow from National Geogrphic about Marco Polo : http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/data/2001/07/01/sights_n_sounds/ media.2.2.html Click on this link to see an interactive map of Marco Polo s journey: http://www.eduplace.com/kids/socsci/books/applications/imaps/ maps/g2_u5/index.html Click this link to see a short video about Marco Polo: http://www.cleanvideosearch.com/media/action/yt/watch?videoi d=wtsp03h7bmg Click this link to read the Khan Academy segment on Marco Polo: https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/big-historyproject/expansion-interconnection/explorationinterconnection/a/marco-polo