Tag: Marco Polo

Marco Polo (1254–1324) was a Venetian merchant who travelled to the court of the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan and came home to Venice in 1295. His book, dictated in a Genoese prison and known as The Travels of Marco Polo or Il Milione, became one of the most influential travel books ever written. Here are five facts about his life that I found most interesting.

I first wrote this when I was back in Marco Polo The Musical in a different role. His book is still debated, but there is no denying it inspired the later age of exploration. He was a merchant, not a conquistador. So what else is there to know about him?

1. Marco Polo reached the empire of Kublai Khan

Notice I said “the empire of Kublai Khan” and not just China. People are sceptical about his story of reaching Cathay, the old European name for northern China, but the emperor he described meeting was Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, whose realm stretched well beyond China. So you can see the confusion. Today a statue of Marco Polo, unveiled in 2011, stands in central Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.

2. He became a successful merchant with little or no Latin

Growing up in a Venetian merchant family, Marco learned trade skills like foreign currency, appraising goods and handling cargo ships, but little or no Latin. It didn’t hold him back. Appraising is the most interesting skill to me: putting an estimated price on an item based on your own assessment. Nowadays a lot of the people with that skill work in banks.

3. His book may have been meant as a handbook for merchants

Marco told his stories to Rustichello da Pisa, a writer he shared a prison with, and Rustichello wrote them down. The original was not written in Italian but in Franco-Venetian, a form of Old French with Italian touches, which was widely read in Europe at the time. Its early titles include Il Milione and Le Devisement du monde. Many scholars think it was meant partly as a practical guide, full of distances, goods and customs, for the traders who would follow him east.

4. His book shaped European maps

Cartography is the art of making maps, not drawing sketches of wanted persons. So the next time you hear “cartographic sketch” on the local news, check if they mean a map or a person. Polo’s place names found their way onto later European maps, such as the Fra Mauro world map of around 1450, and Christopher Columbus owned and annotated a copy of the book.

5. He was imprisoned a few years after coming home

Venice was at war with the Republic of Genoa. Marco reportedly armed a galley with a trebuchet, and he was captured by the Genoese, most likely in a skirmish in 1296. In prison he met Rustichello da Pisa, and that’s where the book was born. He was released in August 1299, went back to life as a Venetian merchant, died in 1324 and was buried in the church of San Lorenzo.

Curious about the emperor he served? Read my Kublai Khan facts I learned playing him.

Marco Polo on stage

Many details of his life are still debated, and that gap is creative fuel for writers. No wonder a possible love story inspired Rogelio “Roger” Saldo Chua to write and compose Marco Polo The Musical. I reviewed its world premiere in Marco Polo: An Untold Love Story, a new musical, and wrote about going back to the show to play Kublai Khan after playing Baron Tegan.

Marco Polo FAQ

When did Marco Polo live?

He was born in Venice around 1254 and died there in 1324.

Did Marco Polo really go to China?

Some people still doubt parts of his story, but most historians accept that he reached Kublai Khan’s empire, including China, and returned to Venice in 1295.

Who wrote The Travels of Marco Polo?

Marco Polo told his story to Rustichello da Pisa while they were in prison in Genoa, and Rustichello wrote it down in Franco-Venetian.

Where is Marco Polo buried?

He was buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Venice.