Why not avoid Africa, and get there by sailing due west, over the vast ocean that seemed to separate Europe from China? That was Columbus’s big idea, which he sold to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. It seemed as if the East was there for the taking.
Now Marco’s book, once only in script, was in print, and part of Europe’s mental climate. But there was another way, suggested by a world map that showed China, and many of the rich cities named by Marco. Portugal seized the route round southern Africa. Then, at last, a shift: sailors began to explore ways to reach the East’s fabulous wealth. In Europe, Kublai’s China was cut off by the rise of Islam and became the stuff of fables. In China itself, none at all, for Kublai’s heirs were kicked out by the Ming in 1368. Until well after Marco’s death in 1324, it had little effect. The “Description of the World,” or “ Travels” as it is usually known, was at first a curiosity. How did Marco’s accounts influence travel between East and West? As history, it fits with other accounts in Chinese and Persian. But at heart Marco was truthful, recording names, Mongolian words and court details, which could only have come from experience. The result has been a happy hunting ground for scholars. Later, the original text was lost, leaving 150 unreliable copies in a dozen languages. Marco wanted facts, while his ghost was keen for hype. A fellow prisoner was a hack writer named Rustichello, who suggested ghosting Marco’s memoirs. Marco was captured, and held in Genoa pending release. After the Polos finally returned home in 1296, Venice fought a rival, Genoa. Marco Polo became famous for his stories, though no one knew how much to believe. Some scholars, at the time and since, have debated whether Marco fabricated the journey. His palace has been replaced by the Forbidden City, which faces south, as Mongolians’ tents still do. He describes Yunnan, Tibet, the old south China capital of Hangzhou, and Beijing itself (Dadu, ‘Great Capital,’ as it was then), where Kublai governed. Marco traveled extensively - five great journeys across China, covering 9,000 miles, relying on the official horse-stations that spanned the empire. It’s a five-hour run from Beijing, but nearby Duolun has reasonable hotels. On a fine summer’s day, it is a glory - rolling grass, meadow flowers, distant hills, ruined walls encircling the foundations of the palace where Marco met Kublai. For me, as for Marco, Xanadu is the place, or Shangdu (Upper Capital). But his trip only comes into sharp focus when he met Kublai. Niccolò, perhaps to offset his failure to bring priests back, placed Marco - charming, 21, with reasonable Mongolian - in Kublai’s service.Ĭan the places Marco Polo described still be seen?Īlmost all the places he mentions exist today. On their second mission, the Polos could not take their former route, and it took four grim years to arrive in Xanadu. But it was precarious, torn by rival Mongol realms. At its height, Kublai’s empire would take in 10 of today’s nations and bits of 13 others. How expansive was Kublai Khan’s empire at the time, compared with the modern boundaries?Ī.
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