Map Monday, Why do we remember Marco Polo?

The first time I heard the name Marco Polo was as a kid at the community swimming pool.  As part of a then popular game the person who was ‘it’ would keep their eyes closed and call out ‘Marco,’ which elicited the response of ‘Polo’ from the other players.  Using sound only the ‘It’ person tries to tag the other players.  I found many theories about the origin of the game and its association with the thirteenth century traveler.  I was unable to verify any of them.

Suffice it to say if Marco Polo had anything to do with the game (I’ve found nothing to suggest he did), that would be the least of his achievements.  In 1271 Marco Polo joined his father and uncle on their return trip to China and the court of Kublai Khan.  Over the next 24 years they traveled more than 15,000 miles (~24,000 Km for readers outside the US, Myanmar (Burma), and Liberia) through more than twenty modern countries.  Their odyssey included service in the court of the emperor.  On their return trip they served as escorts for a Mongol princess on her way to a diplomatic wedding in Persia.

They weren’t the first Europeans to travel to China.  The two cultures had been at least indirectly aware of each other for more than a thousand years.  In the century prior to the Polos’ trip several prominent trade expeditions and religious missions reached China.  As with their later admirer, Columbus, the Polos didn’t achieve fame by being the first to reach China; they did it with superior marketing.

In 1298, three years after his return, Marco was captured in the Battle of Curzola and imprisoned in Genoa.  As luck would have it, one of Marco’s fellow inmates was Rustichello da Pisa, who’d been captured by the Genoese more than a decade earlier.  War was quite common in Italy at the time.  Rustichello was a renowned romance author who’d previously published Roman de Roi Artus (Romance of King Arthur).  Marco dictated the tale of his trip to Rustichello.  Roughly a year after his release in 1299, the book was published.  Originally released in old French as Il Milione, we know it as The Travels of Marco Polo.  The work includes a good bit of exaggeration.  A few scholars even doubt Marco made the trip at all.  Regardless,  its popularity cemented Marco’s reputation as a great trader, traveler, and statesman.

If you want to learn more about Marco Polo’s fascinating life and journey here are a few invaluable links.

11 Things you may not know about Marco Polo

Silk Road History

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As always, thanks for reading.

Armen

Note to Pay the Bills: While they don’t include specific references to Marco Polo, the books in the Misaligned Series do integrate numerous cultural characteristics and figures from ancient to early American history.  How does that fit into a Young Adult fantasy series?  Learn more by reading a summary of the series here or find links to purchase books here.

Father’s Day Thought

If you can’t find the time to join your father on a cross-continental journey for Father’s Day, Map Monday has a suggestion. How about augmenting an old Father’s Day stand-by gift, the necktie, with a map theme.  Zazzle Map ties claims to have more than 6,000 map themed ties.  I have no connection to Zazzle and receive no benefits of any kind if you purchase something from them.  I just like their inventory.