Marco Polo (born c. 1254, Venice [Italy]—died January 8, 1324, Venice) was a Venetian merchant and adventurer who traveled fromEurope toAsia in 1271–95, remaining inChina for 17 of those years. HisIl milione (“The Million”), known in English as theTravels of Marco Polo, is a classic of travelliterature.

Travels of the Polo family

Polo’s way was paved by the pioneering efforts of his ancestors, especially his father, Niccolò, and his uncle, Maffeo. The family hadtraded with theMiddle East for a long time, acquiring considerable wealth andprestige. Although it is uncertain if the Polos were of the nobility, the matter was of little importance inVenice, a city of republican and mercantile traditions.

The family appears to have been shrewd, alert, and courageous; about 1260 they foresaw a political change inConstantinople (e.g., the overthrow of theCrusaders who had ruled since 1204 byMichael VIII Palaeologus in 1261), liquidated their property there, invested their capital in jewels, and set off for theVolga River, whereBerke Khan,sovereign of the western territories in theMongol Empire, held court at Sarai orBulgar. The Polos apparently managed their affairs well at Berke’s court, where they doubled their assets. When political events prevented their return to Venice, they traveled eastward toBukhara (Bokhara) and ended their journey in 1265, probably at the grand khan’s summer residence,Shangdu (immortalized asXanadu by English poetSamuel Taylor Coleridge). Establishing friendly relations with the greatKublai Khan, they eventually returned to Europe as his ambassadors, carrying letters asking the pope to send Kublai 100 intelligent men “acquainted with the Seven Arts”; they alsobore gifts and were asked to bring back oil from the lamp burning at theHoly Sepulchre inJerusalem.

Polo’s journey to Asia

Little is known about Marco’s early years except that he probably grew up inVenice. He was age 15 or 16 when his father and uncle returned to meet him and learned that the pope,Clement IV, had recently died.Niccolò andMaffeo remained in Venice anticipating the election of a new pope, but in 1271, after two years of waiting, they departed with Marco for the Mongol court. InAcre (now in Israel) thepapal legate, Teobaldo of Piacenza, gave them letters for the Mongol emperor. The Polos had been on the road for only a few days when they heard that their friend Teobaldo had been elected pope asGregory X. Returning to Acre, they were given propercredentials, and two friars were assigned to accompany them, though they abandoned the Polos shortly after the expedition resumed.

From Acre the travelers proceeded to Ayas (“Laiazzo” in Marco’s writings, now Yumurtalik, on the Gulf of İskenderun, also called the Gulf of Alexandretta, in southeastern Turkey). During the early part of 1272, they probably passed throughErzurum, in what is now eastern Turkey, andTabrīz, in what is now northernIran, later crossing inhospitable deserts infested with brigands before reachingHormuz on thePersian Gulf. There the Polos decided not to risk a sea passage to India and beyond but to proceed overland to the Mongol capital.

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They next traveled through deserts of “surpassing aridity” toward theKhorasan region in what is now eastern Iran. Turning gradually to the northeast, they reached more hospitable lands; Badakhshān (“Balascian”), inAfghanistan, in particular, pleased the travelers. Marco suggests that they remained there for a year; detained, perhaps, by illness (possiblymalaria) that was cured by thebenign climate of the district. It is also believed that Marco visited territories to the south (other parts of Afghanistan,Kafiristan in theHindu Kush,Chitralin what is now Pakistan, and perhapsKashmir) during this period. It is, however, difficult to establish which districts hetraversed and which he may have described from information gathered en route.

Leaving Badakhshān, the Polos proceeded toward thePamirs, but the route they followed to cross these Central Asian highlands remains uncertain. Descending on the northeastern side of the chain, they reached Kashi (“Cascar”) in what is now theUygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, China. By this point the Polos were on the mainSilk Road, and they probably followed along the oases to the south and east of theTakla Makan Desert—Yarkant (“Yarcan”),Hotan (“Cotan”), Che’erchen (“Ciarcian”), andLop Nur (Lop Lake). These stepping-stones led to Shazhou (“Saciu”) on the borders of China, a place now calledDunhuang.

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Before reaching Shazhou, the Polos had traveled primarily among Muslim peoples, though they alsoencounteredNestorian Christians,Buddhists,Manichaeans, andZoroastrians. In the vast province ofGansu (called “Tangut” by Marco), an entirely different civilization—mainly Buddhist in religion but partly Chinese in culture—prevailed. The travelers probably stopped inSuzhou (“Sukchu”; now Jiuquan) andGanzhou (“Campiciu”; now Zhangye) before entering theNingxia area. It is not clear whether they reached the Mongol summer capital of Shangdu (“Ciandu”) directly or after a detour; in any event, sometime in 1275 (1274, according to the research of Japanese scholar Matsuo Otagi) the Polos were again at the Mongol court, presenting the sacred oil from Jerusalem and the papal letters to theirpatron, Kublai Khan.