Biography give marco polo wikipedia

A Genoese-Venetian peace treaty in allowed Marco Polo to return home. He probably never left Venetian territory again. The following year, he married Donata Badoer, with whom he would have three daughters. Not much is known about his golden years except that he continued trading and litigated against a cousin. Marco Polo died in January , having helped to inspire a later generation of explorers.

Everything we know about him comes from his own text and a few Venetian documents; Asian sources never mentioned him. This lack of hard evidence has caused a small number of skeptics to question whether Marco Polo actually made it to China. You can opt out at any time. The data he provides on salt production and revenues show a meticulous familiarity on the subject.

Many of the place names he gives in the narrative have now been identified. His description of the Grand Canal of China is highly accurate. Indeed, the premise that he didn't visit China creates more questions than it answers. The information in his book proved vital to European geographic understanding and inspired countless explorers — including Christopher Columbus, who, it is said, took a copy of Polo's book with him in Marco Polo did not introduce pasta to Italy.

The dish had already existed in Europe for centuries, according to History. The claim that he brought ice cream to Europe is also disputed. According to the International Dairy Foods Association, Polo returned with a recipe that resembled modern-day sherbet , and this recipe may have evolved into ice cream in the 16th century. Some scholars think that Polo was born on the island of Korcula on the Adriatic coast, in what is today Croatia, according to a article in the Telegraph.

According to this theory, his father was a merchant from Dalmatia named Maffeo Pilic, who changed his last name to Polo when he relocated to Venice. In , Italy objected when a museum dedicated to Polo in the Chinese city of Yangzhou was opened not by Italian diplomats but by a former president of Croatia, Stjepan Mesic. Mesic described Polo as a "world explorer, born in Croatia, who opened up China to Europe.

Prior to writing for Live Science, she was an editor at Living Social. Trending Auroras predicted for weekend New form of magnetism Neanderthals' blood type China's 'artificial sun' Diagnostic dilemma. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors. Jessie Szalay.

Social Links Navigation. More about human behavior. Most Popular. Why do bats hang upside down to sleep? Neanderthal quiz: How much do you know about our closest relatives? Crossing the Gobi desert, meanwhile, proved long and, at times, arduous. It consists entirely of mountains and sands and valleys. There is nothing at all to eat. Finally, after four years of travel, the Polos reached China and Kublai Khan, who was staying at his summer palace known as Xanadu, a grand marble architectural wonder that dazzled young Polo.

The Polos had originally planned to be gone for only a few years. However, they were away from Venice for more than 23 years. Debate has swirled among historians as to whether Polo ever really made it to China. There is no evidence outside his famous book that he traveled so far east. Yet his knowledge of the culture and its customs are hard to dismiss.

His later account told of Khan's extensive communication system, which served as the foundation for his rule. Polo's book, in fact, devotes five pages to the elaborate structure, describing how the empire's information highway efficiently and economically covered millions of square miles. Khan's acceptance of the Polos offered the foreigners unparalleled access to his empire.

Niccolo and Maffeo were granted important positions in the leader's Court. Polo, too, impressed Khan, who thought highly of the young man's abilities as a merchant. Polo's immersion into the Chinese culture resulted in him mastering four languages. Kublai Khan eventually employed Polo as a special envoy he sent to far-flung areas of Asia never before explored by Europeans, including Burma, India and Tibet.

With Polo, as always, was a stamped metal packet from Khan himself that served as his official credentials from the powerful leader. As the years wore on, Polo was promoted for his work. He served as governor of a Chinese city. Later, Khan appointed him as an official of the Privy Council. At one point, he was the tax inspector in the city of Yanzhou.

From his travels, Polo amassed not only great knowledge about the Mongol empire but incredible wonder. He marveled at the empire's use of paper money, an idea that had failed to reach Europe, and was in awe of its economy and scale of production.

Biography give marco polo wikipedia

He learned about writing, reading, and arithmetic, and how to do business. Polo went on a year trip to China with his father and uncle during the Mongol Dynasty. He left Venice at the age of 17 on a boat that went through the Mediterranean Sea, to Acre , and later to Tabriz and Kerman. Then he travelled across Asia getting as far as Beijing.

On the way there he went over mountains and through deserts, across scorching hot lands and places where the cold was unbearable. Arriving in Cathay at age 21, he served in Kublai Khan 's court for 17 years. He left the Far East and returned to Venice by sea. There was sickness on board and passengers and crew died. Nevertheless, Marco Polo survived the journey.

He brought noodles back from China and the Italians invented different sizes and shapes and called it pasta. Polo returned to Venice with treasures like ivory, jade , jewels, porcelain and silk.