Marco Polo famous journey information. Marco Polo - a real character or a secret travel hoax
Is Marco Polo a real character or a secret travel hoax?
", BGCOLOR, "#ffffff", FONTCOLOR, "#333333", BORDERCOLOR, "Silver", WIDTH, "100%", FADEIN, 100, FADEOUT, 100)"> Marco Polo is the first great traveler, whose name opens the list of great travelers of all times and peoples. Marco Polo was the first European to make such a long and long journey to the East at the end of the thirteenth century. for a long time stayed at the court of the Great Khan in Mongolia and China, visited Japan, Southeast Asia, and Persia. He published all his memories and impressions in written form under the title “Books about the diversity of the world.” This book was first circulated on lists, and then became one of the first most popular books in the history of printing.
It is known that the further a historical character is from us in time, the less reliable information there is about him. This directly relates to Marco Polo - the man whose exact date birth is unknown and the place of last refuge is also unknown. No portraits of him survived either. All that is known is what he told about himself.
A detailed biography of Marco Polo was written in the 16th century by John Baptist Ramusio (1485–1557). According to this biography, he was born in Venice around 1254.
How Marco Polo became a traveler
Marco Polo came from a family of Venetian merchants that traded with the East. In 1260, Nicolo, Marco's father, together with his brother Matteo, made another trip to Sudak (Crimea), where their third brother had his own trading house. Then they moved east with the goal of penetrating as far as possible and exploring as much as possible about the possibilities of trade with China and other countries of the East. We reached Bukhara, which is not surprising - after all, all merchants at all times went on long journeys and established connections with their trading partners. Having spent enough time in Bukhara long time the brothers joined a trade caravan traveling from Persia to Khanbalyk, the then name of modern Beijing.
", BGCOLOR, "#ffffff", FONTCOLOR, "#333333", BORDERCOLOR, "Silver", WIDTH, "100%", FADEIN, 100, FADEOUT, 100)"> In the winter of 1266, the caravan reached Beijing and the brothers were received by the Mongol Khan Kublai Khan, who by that time had seized power over the Middle Kingdom. Khan personally received merchants from Europe, showed interest in establishing contacts and asked them to convey their message to the Pope with a request to send him oils from the tomb of Christ in Jerusalem. This version has not been confirmed in any way, but given that the Mongols were quite tolerant of any religion, it is quite likely.
The brothers returned to Venice in 1269. A couple of years later they headed East again for another commercial venture. In addition to its own commercial interests, the Polo delegation also served as a diplomatic mission to establish contacts between Venice and China. The brothers paved their way through Jerusalem, in which they had to stock up on life-giving oil from the tomb of Christ in Jerusalem for their Far Eastern benefactor. Nicolo took his son Marco, who was 17 years old at that time, on a hike. This is how Marco Polo became a traveler.
Marco Polo in China
It is unknown how the Polo family got from Jerusalem to Beijing, but
", BGCOLOR, "#ffffff", FONTCOLOR, "#333333", BORDERCOLOR, "Silver", WIDTH, "100%", FADEIN, 100, FADEOUT, 100)" face="Georgia"> most likely these were well-trodden caravan routes of that time. In 1275 they reached the residence of Kublai Khan. (Why so long? Obviously, the Polo merchants traded along the way and stopped at different places.) If you believe the story of Marco Polo, the ruler of the Celestial Empire was fascinated by the young man, brought him closer to him, and entrusted him with certain matters and various important assignments of state importance.
To be honest, it’s hard to believe this, because the young man was only twenty years old. Although, on the other hand, he was, as it were, a member of the European embassy, an outsider, did not belong to any local clan - a rather convenient figure for carrying out the khan’s orders. A sort of Arab of Peter the Great. According to the memoirs of Marco, Hibulai even kept him as governor of the city of Yangzhou for three years. Here it is simply impossible to resist quoting our great classic:
Khlestakov:
… Once I even managed a department. And it’s strange: the director left, it’s unknown where he went. Well, naturally, rumors began: how, what, who should take the place? Many of the generals were hunters and took on, but it happened that they would approach - no, it was tricky. It seems easy to look at, but when you look at it, it’s just damn! After they see, there is nothing to do - come to me.
...What is the situation? - I'm asking. “Ivan Alexandrovich, go manage the department!” I admit, I was a little embarrassed, I came out in a dressing gown: I wanted to refuse, but I think: it will reach the sovereign, well, and the track record too... “If you please, gentlemen, I accept the position, I accept, I say, so be it, I say, I accept, only for me: no, no, no!.. I have an alert ear!
One way or another, the position of “a person close to the emperor” gave the Polo family the opportunity to visit many places in China with trade and other matters. In total they stayed there for 17 years. The Khan did not want to let them go, but then the opportunity came to marry the Khan’s daughter, and not to anyone, but to the Persian Shah, or Prince Arghun. It was unsafe to transport such a treasure by land, and the khan equipped a flotilla of 14 ships, which included the Polo family, apparently as special representatives.
", BGCOLOR, "#ffffff", FONTCOLOR, "#333333", BORDERCOLOR, "Silver", WIDTH, "100%", FADEIN, 100, FADEOUT, 100)"> On the way to Hormuz, the ships visited Japan, many other points in Southeast Asia, and visited Sumatra and Ceylon. Already in Persia, the Polos received information about the death of the Great Khan. As they say, there would be no happiness, but misfortune helped. The Polo family considered themselves free from obligations and moved back to their homeland. They returned to Venice in 1295.
If all this is true, then it becomes clear where Marco Polo got detailed descriptions of these territories far from China and
And then our adventurer is captured. In the ongoing war between Genoa and Venice in 1297, the warship, which he supposedly equipped at his own expense, along with the entire crew was captured by the Genoese, and Marco Polo himself was taken into a casemate.
Marco Polo. A book about the diversity of the world
And in a prison cell, a lucky chance brings him together with a man from Pisa named Rusticeanu, who made his living by writing novels about (or for) kings. And Marco Polo dictates to Rustici his memories of life in China and the East. The work was called “The Book about the Diversity of the World.”
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The fate of Marco Polo himself later turned out very well. He was, presumably, ransomed from captivity, and spent the rest of his life in Venice, in his house in ", BGCOLOR, "#ffffff", FONTCOLOR, "#333333", BORDERCOLOR, "Silver", WIDTH, "100%", FADEIN, 100, FADEOUT, 100)"> prosperity and prosperity. Moved to better world in 1324.
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The fate of his creation turned out even better. Few books could have been so in demand for several centuries and how reference material, and as a fascinating educational read. Many pioneers of the era of Great Geographical Discoveries, who were looking for the paths of “India,” relied on information from it. It was translated into many languages, published and reprinted as a book, and then became in demand as a historical value. What other work has been talked about, argued about and simply mentioned for 800 years!
Some covers of the "Book about the diversity of the world"
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N This is not the only thing that makes the book interesting. As a historical object, “The Book on the Diversity of the World” has aroused and continues to arouse keen interest among researchers. The fact is that there are a lot of inconsistencies and inexplicable moments in Marco Polo’s narrative. In 1995, Frances Wood, an employee of the Chinese department of the British Museum, published a book questioning the very fact of Marco Polo’s journey. It is very suspicious, she claims, that in the description of China of that time the author never mentioned the Great Wall of China, did not say anything about Chinese porcelain, did not describe not only the tea ceremony, but did not even mention tea at all.
There is also a version that Marco Polo himself did not go to any China, but compiled a kind of compilation of information about different countries and places in the East based on the stories of Persian, Bukhara and other merchants with whom the Polo trading house dealt. Well, even if this is so, Marco still did a huge job that no one had done before. As for the inaccuracies in the book, of which experts count quite a few, we must take into account that he dictated it from memory. He did not make any notes during his stay in the Middle Kingdom, because he had neither a pencil nor a notebook. Paper, which was already made in China back then, apparently was not yet as accessible and cheap as it is now.
What is Marco Polo's contribution to European civilization?
The merit of Marco Polo is also that his work aroused among Europeans a huge interest in China, India and Southeast Asia, the real, and not fabulous existence of which in medieval Europe, probably not everyone even believed it. This book not only aroused interest, but also pushed many to search for ways to the places described in it, and became a reference book for many pioneers. Suffice it to say that
Polo Marco
(c. 1254 - 1324)
Venetian traveler. Born on the island of Korcula (Dalmatian Islands, now in Croatia). In 1271-1275 he traveled to China, where he lived for about 17 years. In 1292-1295 he returned to Italy by sea. The “Book” written in his words (1298) is one of the first sources of European knowledge about the countries of Central, East and South Asia.
The book of the Venetian traveler to China Marco Polo is mainly compiled from personal observations, as well as from the stories of his father Niccolo, uncle Maffeo and people he met.
The older Polos crossed Asia not once, like Marco himself, but three times, twice from west to east and once in the opposite direction, during their first trip. Niccolò and Maffeo left Venice around 1254 and, after a six-year stay in Constantinople, left there for trading purposes in the Southern Crimea, then moved to the Volga in 1261. From the middle Volga, the Polo brothers moved southeast through the lands of the Golden Horde, crossed the Trans-Caspian steppes, and then crossed the Ustyurt plateau to Khorezm, to the city of Urgench. Their further route ran in the same south-eastern direction, up the Amu Darya valley to the lower reaches of Zarafshan and up along it to Bukhara. There they met with the ambassador of the conqueror of Iran, Ilkhan Hulagu, who was heading to the Great Khan Kublai, and the ambassador invited the Venetians to join his caravan. They walked with him "to the north and northeast" whole year.
They ascended along the Zarafshan valley to Samarkand, crossed into the Syr Darya valley and descended along it to the city of Otrar. From here their path lay along the foothills of the Western Tien Shan to the Ili River. Further east they walked either up the Ili valley, or through the Dzhungar Gate, past Lake Alakol (east of Balkhash). Then they moved along the foothills of the Eastern Tien Shan and reached the Hami oasis, important stage on the northern branch of the Great Silk Road from China to Central Asia. From Hami they turned south into the valley of the Sulekhe River. And further east, to the court of the Great Khan, they followed the same path that they took later with Marco. Their return route is not clear. They returned to Venice in 1269.
Marco Polo talks sparingly about his childhood, about the first steps of his life until the day he left Venice and went on a journey that brought him immortal fame.
Marco Polo's mother died early, and the boy's uncle - also Marco Polo - probably traded in Constantinople all these years, and the future traveler lived in Venice with his aunt Flora (on his father's side). He had several cousins and sisters. It is likely that until Marco’s father returned from Asia, the boy was raised by relatives.
Marco's life proceeded as it did for all boys at that time. Marco acquired knowledge on the canals and embankments, bridges and squares of the city. Very few people received formal education back then; however, contrary to the opinion of many publishers and commentators, it is quite possible that Marco could read and write his native language. In the introductory chapter to his book, Polo reports that "he only wrote a few notes in his notebook", because he did not know whether he would ever return from China to his homeland. In another chapter of the book, Polo states that during his journey to the Great Khan, he tried to be as attentive as possible, noting and writing down everything new and unusual that he heard or saw." Therefore, we can conclude that the boy who, as is known, Subsequently, while in Asia, he learned four languages and could read and write at least a little in Italian. It is possible that he also had some knowledge of French.
The arrival of Niccolò and Maffeo in Venice was a turning point in Marco's entire life. He listened greedily to the stories of his father and uncle about the mysterious countries they had visited, about the many peoples among whom they lived, about their appearance and clothing, their morals and customs - how they are similar and how they are not similar to the Venetian ones. Marco even began to learn some words and expressions in Tatar, Turkic and other strange languages - his father and uncle often explained themselves in them, and they often peppered their Venetian speech with foreign words. Marco learned what goods different tribes buy and sell, what kind of money they use, where which people are found along the great caravan routes, what they eat and drink where, what rituals they perform with newborns, how they get married, how they bury, what they believe in and what worship. Unconsciously, he accumulated practical knowledge, which in the future would serve him invaluable service.
Niccolo and his brother, after a fifteen-year journey, did not easily put up with a relatively monotonous existence in Venice. Fate persistently called them, and they obeyed its call.
In 1271, Nicollo, Maffeo and seventeen-year-old Marco set off on a journey.
Before this, they met with Pope Gregory X, who had just ascended the throne, who gave them two monks from the Order of Preachers as companions - Brother Piccolo of Vicenza and Brother William of Tripoli.
Three Venetians and two monks reached Layas and began to move east. But as soon as they reached Armenia, they learned that Baybars the Crossbowman, a former slave who had taken the throne of the Mamelukes, had invaded these places with his Saracen army, killing and destroying everything that came to hand. The travelers faced a very real danger, but they decided to move on. However, the frightened monks chose to return to Acre. They gave the Polo brothers papal letters and gifts intended for the Great Khan.
The desertion of the cowardly monks did not at all discourage the Venetians. They knew the road from their previous travels, they knew how to speak local languages, they carried letters and gifts from the highest spiritual shepherd of the West to the greatest monarch of the East, and - most importantly - they had a golden tablet with the personal seal of Kublai, which was a safe conduct and guarantee that they would be provided with food, shelter and hospitality throughout almost the entire territory through which they had to pass.
The first country they passed through was “Little Armenia” (Cilicia) with the port of Layas. There was a lively, widespread trade in cotton and spices here.
From Cilicia, travelers came to modern Anatolia, which Marco calls "Turkomania". He tells us that the Turkomans make the finest and most beautiful carpets in the world.
Having passed through Turkomania, the Venetians entered the borders of Greater Armenia. Here, Marco tells us, on the top of Mount Ararat, is Noah's Ark. The Armenian sovereign Hayton, who wrote the history of his homeland in 1307, when he was abbot of the monastery, says that " this mountain is higher than all the mountains in the world". Both Marco and Highton tell the same story - this mountain is inaccessible because of the snow that covers it in winter and summer, but something black appears in the snow (the ark), and this is visible at any time of the year.
The next city the Venetian traveler talks about was Mosul - “all silk and gold fabrics, which are called mosulins, are made here.” Mosul is located on the western bank of the Tigris, opposite ancient Nineveh, it was so famous for its wonderful woolen fabrics that a certain type of fine wool is still wool fabric we call it "muslin".
The travelers then stopped in Tabriz, the largest mall, where people came from all over the world, there was a thriving merchant colony of the Genoese.
In Tabriz, Marco first saw the world's greatest pearl market - pearls were brought here in large quantities from the shores of the Persian Gulf. In Tabriz it was cleaned, sorted, drilled and strung on threads, and from here it was distributed all over the world. Marco watched with curiosity as pearls were bought and sold. After the pearls were examined and assessed by experts, the seller and buyer squatted down opposite each other and carried on a silent conversation, shaking hands, covered with lowered sleeves, so that none of the witnesses knew on what terms they had bargained.
Leaving Tabriz, the travelers crossed Iran in a southeast direction and visited the city of Kerman.
After seven days of travel from Kerman, the travelers reached the top of a high mountain. It took two days to cross the mountain, and the travelers suffered from severe cold. Then they came out into a vast flowering valley: here Marco saw and described bulls with white humps and sheep with fat tails - “Their tails are thick and large; some weigh about thirty pounds.”
The Venetians now entered dangerous places, for in this part of Persia there were many robbers called Karaunas. Marco writes that they descended from Indian women, and their fathers were Tatars. Acquaintance with the Karaunas almost cost Polo his life and almost deprived the world of one of the most interesting books. Nogodar, the leader of the robbers, attacked the caravan with his gang, taking advantage of the fog that was frequent in this area (Marco attributes the fog to the witchcraft of the Karaunas). The robbers took the travelers by surprise, and they rushed in all directions. Marco, his father and uncle and some of their guides, seven people in all, escaped to a nearby village. All the rest were captured and killed by the robbers or sold into slavery.
Having re-formed the caravan, the undaunted Venetians moved towards their goal - to the Persian Gulf, to Hormuz. Here they were going to board a ship and sail to China - Hormuz was then the final point of maritime trade between Far East and Persia. The transition lasted seven days. At first, the road went along a steep descent from the Iranian plateau - a mountain path where many robbers ran amok. Then, closer to Hormuz, a beautiful, well-watered valley opened up - here they grew date palms, pomegranates, oranges and others fruit trees, countless flocks of birds were flying.
At the time of Polo, Hormuz was on the mainland. Later, as a result of raids by hostile tribes, it was destroyed, and "The inhabitants moved their city to an island five miles from the mainland."
Obviously, the Venetians came to the conclusion that a long voyage on the local unreliable ships, especially with horses, usually loaded on top of goods covered with leather, was too risky - they turned to the northeast, inland, towards the Pamirs.
For more than a week they rode through deserted places where the water is green like grass and very bitter, they reached Cobian, and then made a multi-day journey through the desert and arrived in Tonokain. Marco liked the people of these countries very much. Here he makes his conclusions about women - the first of many. The Tonokain women made a very strong impression on him, for when twenty-five years later, having already visited many countries, seen many women and, no doubt, experienced many hobbies, he wrote his book, he could still say that Muslim girls in Tonokaine are the most beautiful in the world.
For many days the Venetians traveled through hot deserts and fertile plains and ended up in the city of Sapurgan (Shibargan), where, to Marco’s pleasure, game was abundant and hunting was excellent. From Sapurgan the caravan headed towards Balkh, in northern Afghanistan. Balkh is one of the oldest cities in Asia, once the capital of Bactriana. Although the city surrendered to the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan without resistance, the conqueror sold all the youth into slavery and killed the rest of the city's population with incredible cruelty. Balkh was swept off the face of the earth. The Venetians saw sad ruins before them, although some of the inhabitants of the city who had survived the Tatar sword were already returning to their old place.
It was in this city, as legend says, that Alexander the Great married Roxana, the daughter of the Persian king Darius.
Leaving Balkh, the travelers spent many days moving through lands abounding in game, fruits, nuts, grapes, salt, and wheat. Having left these beautiful places, the Venetians again found themselves in the desert for several days and finally arrived in Badakhshan (Balashan), a Muslim region along the Oka River (Amu Darya). There they saw large mines of rubies, called "balashes", deposits of sapphires, lapis lazuli - Badakhshan was famous for all this for centuries.
The caravan stayed here for a whole year, either due to Marco’s illness, or because the Polo brothers decided to live in the wonderful climate of Badakhshan to ensure the young man’s complete recovery.
From Badakhshan, travelers, rising higher and higher, went towards the Pamirs - upstream of the Oka River; They also passed through the Kashmir Valley. Marco, who was undoubtedly deeply impressed by these places, claims that the local residents practice witchcraft and black magic. According to Marco, they can make idols speak, change the weather at will, turn darkness into sunlight and vice versa. Despite the popular perception of the people of Kashmir as swindlers and deceivers, Marco found that the women there "even though they are black, they are good". Indeed, Kashmiri women have been famous for their beauty throughout India for centuries; people everywhere sought to take them as wives and concubines.
From Kashmir the caravan went northeast and climbed to the Pamirs: Marco’s guides assured that this was the highest place in the world. Marco notes that during his stay there the air was so cold that not a single bird was visible anywhere. The stories of many ancient Chinese pilgrims who crossed the Pamirs confirm Marco’s message, and the latest researchers say the same. The Venetian had a keen eye, and the ascent to the roof of the world was so etched in his memory that when, almost thirty years later, he dictated his book in distant Genoa, he recalled how dimly the fire laid by the travelers burned at this height, how it glowed with others , unusual color, how much more difficult than usual it was to cook food there.
Descending from the Pamirs along the gorge of the Gyoz River (Gyozdarya is a southern tributary of the Kashgar River), the Polos entered the wide plains of Eastern Turkestan, now called Xinjiang. Here deserts alternated between rich oases, watered by many rivers flowing from the south and west.
Polo, first of all, visited Kashgar - the local climate seemed moderate to Marco, nature, in his opinion, gave here "everything you need for life". From Kashgar the caravan's route continued to the northeast. Although Niccolo and Maffeo probably lived in Samarkand during their first journey, we have no evidence that Marco visited here.
During his journey, Polo described ancient city Khotan, where emeralds have been mined for centuries. But much more important here was the trade in jade, which from century to century went from here to the Chinese market. Travelers could observe how workers dug up pieces of precious stone in the beds of dried up rivers - this is how it is done there to this day. From Khotan, jade was transported through the deserts to Beijing and Shazhou, where it was used for polished products of a sacred and non-sacred nature. The Chinese's thirst for jade is insatiable; there is nothing more valuable to them than jade; they consider it the quintessence, the material embodiment of the power of yang - the bright masculine principle of the universe.
Having left Khotan, Polo, stopping to rest at rare oases and wells, drove through a monotonous desert covered with dunes.
The caravan moved through vast desert spaces, occasionally bumping into oases - Tatar tribes and Muslims lived here. The transition from one oasis to another took several days; it was necessary to take with you more water and food. In Lon (modern Charklyk), travelers stood for a whole week to gain strength to overcome the Gobi Desert (“gobi” in Mongolian means “desert”). A large supply of food was loaded onto camels and donkeys.
On the thirtieth day of the journey, the caravan arrived in Shazhou (“Sand District”), located on the border of the desert. It was here that Marco first observed purely Chinese morals and customs. He was especially struck in Shazhou funeral rites- he describes in detail how coffins were made, how the dead person laid in the coffin was kept in the house, how offerings were made to the spirit of the deceased, how paper images were burned, and so on.
From Ganzhou our travelers headed to the city that is now called Lanzhou. On the way, Marco saw yaks: the size of these animals and their role in the economy made a vivid impression on him. Valuable small musk deer (musk deer) - this animal is found in large quantities there to this day - Marco Polo was so interested that, returning to his homeland, he took with him thousands of miles to Venice "the dried head and feet of this beast."
And now the long journey through the plains, mountains and deserts of Asia is coming to an end. It took three and a half years: during this time, Marco saw and experienced a lot, and learned a lot. But this endless journey, one must think, got tired of both Marco and his senior companions. One can imagine their joy when they saw on the horizon the cavalry detachment sent by the Great Khan to accompany the Venetians to the Khan's court. The squad leader told Polo that they needed to do more "forty day's march"- he meant the path to Shandu, the summer residence of the khan, - and that the convoy was sent so that the travelers would arrive in complete safety and come straight to Kublai. "Isn't it- said the head of the detachment, - "Are not the noble Messers Piccolo and Maffeo the plenipotentiary ambassadors of the Khan to the Apostle and should not be received according to their rank and position?"
The rest of the journey flew by unnoticed: at every stop there was a man waiting for them. best welcome, they had everything they needed at their service. On the fortieth day, Shandu appeared on the horizon, and soon the exhausted caravan of Venetians entered its high gates.
Surprisingly, Marco described the reception given to the travelers by Kublai Khan very simply and restrainedly. Usually, he does not hesitate to describe at length the pomp and splendor of the khan’s receptions and feasts, processions and celebrations. Venetians upon arrival in Xandu "we went to the main palace, where the great khan was, and with him a large gathering of barons". The Venetians knelt before the khan and bowed to the ground. Kublai mercifully ordered them to stand up and "received them with honor, with fun and feasts."
After the official reception, the Great Khan talked for a long time with the Polo brothers; he wanted to find out about all their adventures, starting from the day they left the Khan’s court many years ago. Then the Venetians presented him with gifts and letters entrusted to them by Pope Gregory (and two timid monks who turned back), and also handed over a vessel with holy oil, taken at the request of the khan from the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and carefully preserved through all the vicissitudes and dangers of the long journey with shores Mediterranean Sea. Marco was included in the list of courtiers.
The young Venetian very soon attracted the attention of Kublai Kublai - this happened thanks to Marco’s intelligence and ingenuity. He noticed how greedily Khubilai accepted all kinds of information about the lands under his control, about their population, customs, and wealth; the Venetian also saw that the khan did not tolerate it when the ambassador, having completed all the assigned tasks, returned without any additional information and observations obtained beyond the instructions. Cunningly deciding to take advantage of this, Marco began to collect information, making notes about every place he went to, and always sharing his observations with the khan.
According to Marco himself, the Great Khan decided to test him as an ambassador and sent him to the remote city of Karajan (in Yunnan province) - this city was so far from Khanbalik that Marco "barely turned around in six months". The young man coped with the task brilliantly and brought his master many very interesting information. Marco's stories fascinated the Great Khan: “In the eyes of the sovereign, this noble young man possessed a divine mind rather than a human one, and the sovereign’s love increased,<...>until the sovereign and the whole court spoke of nothing with such surprise as the wisdom of the noble young man.”
The Venetian remained in the service of the Great Khan for seventeen years. Marco never reveals to the reader exactly what kind of cases he was sent on as a confidant of Kublai Khan during for long years. It is impossible to accurately trace his travels in China.
Marco reports about the peoples and tribes of China and its neighboring countries, about the amazing views of the Tibetans on morality; he described the indigenous population of Yunnan and other provinces.
The chapter of Marco’s book is very interesting, in which he talks about the ancient custom of using cowrie shells as money, about crocodiles (Marco considered them snakes with two legs) and methods of catching them. He also talks about the custom of the Yunnanese: if a handsome or noble stranger or any person stayed in their house "with good fame, influence and weight", at night he was poisoned or killed in some other way. "They didn't kill him to rob him of his money, or out of hatred for him.", but so that his soul would remain in the house where he was killed and bring happiness. The more beautiful and noble the murdered person, the Yunnanese believed, the happier the house in which his soul remained.
As a reward for his loyalty and in recognition of his administrative abilities and knowledge of the country, Khubilai appointed Marco ruler of the city of Yangzhou, in the province of Jiangsu, on the Grand Canal, near its junction with the Yangtze.
Considering the commercial importance of Yangzhou and the fact that Marco lived there for a long time, one cannot help but be surprised that the traveler devoted one short chapter to it. Stating that "Mr. Marco Polo, the same one mentioned in this book, ruled this city for three years"(from approximately 1284 to 1287), the author sparingly notes that "The people here are commercial and industrial" that they make a lot of weapons and armor here.
The Venetians enjoyed the patronage and great favors of Kublai, and in his service they acquired wealth and power. But the khan's favor aroused envy and hatred towards them. The Venetians became more and more enemies at the court of Kublai Kublai. They feared the day when the khan would die. It cost their powerful patron "to ascend upward" on the dragon, as they would find themselves unarmed in the face of their enemies, and their wealth would almost inevitably doom them to death.
And they got ready to go. However, the khan at first did not want to let the Venetians go.
Khubilai called Marco to him along with his father and uncle, told them of his great love for them and asked them to promise, after visiting a Christian country and at home, to return to him. He ordered to give them a golden tablet with commands so that throughout his land there would be no delays and food would be given everywhere, he ordered them to be provided with guides for safety, and also authorized them to be his ambassadors to the pope, the French and Spanish kings and other Christian rulers .
The Great Khan ordered fourteen ships to be equipped for the voyage. The ships were probably stationed in Zaiton (Quanzhou), they had four masts and so many sails that Marco was amazed, as were all the medieval travelers who found themselves in the Far East.
After spending many years in the service of Kublai, the Venetians returned to their homeland by sea - around South Asia and through Iran. They accompanied, on behalf of the Great Khan, two princesses - a Chinese and a Mongolian, who were married to the Ilkhan (the Mongol ruler of Iran) and his heir, to the capital of the Ilkhans, Tabriz. In 1292, the Chinese flotilla moved from Zeitun to the southwest, through the Chip (South China) Sea. During this passage, Marco heard about Indonesia - about "7448 islands" scattered in the Chin Sea, but he only visited Sumatra, where the travelers lived for five months. From Sumatra the flotilla moved to the island of Sri Lanka past the Nicobar and Andaman Islands. Marco incorrectly classifies Sri Lanka (as well as Java) among "the biggest in the world" islands, but truthfully describes the life of Sri Lankans, deposits of precious stones and the famous pearl fishing in the Palk Strait. From Sri Lanka, ships passed along Western India and Southern Iran, through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf.
Marco also talks about African countries adjacent to the Indian Ocean, which he, apparently, did not visit: about the great country of Abasia (Abyssinia, i.e. Ethiopia), about the islands of "Zangibar" and "Zangibar" located near the equator and in the southern hemisphere. Madeigascar." But he confuses Zanzibar with Madagascar, and both islands with the coastal region of East Africa, and therefore gives a lot of incorrect information about them. Yet Marco was the first European to report on Madagascar. After a three-year voyage, the Venetians brought the princesses to Iran (about 1294), and in 1295 they arrived home. According to some reports, Marco took part in the war with Genoa and around 1297, during a naval battle, he was captured by the Genoese. In prison in 1298, he dictated the Book, and in 1299 he was released and returned to his homeland. Almost all the information given by biographers about his subsequent life in Venice is based on later sources, some of which even refer to XVI century. Very few documents from the 14th century about Marco himself and his family have survived to our time. It has been proven, however, that he lived out his life as a wealthy, but far from wealthy, Venetian citizen. He died in 1324.
The vast majority of biographers and commentators believe that Marco Polo actually made the journeys that he talks about in his Book. However, many mysteries still remain.
How could he, during his travels, “not notice” the most grandiose defensive structure in the world - the Great Wall of China? Why did Polo, who lived for so many years in the northern capital of China and visited many Chinese cities, and therefore saw many Chinese women, not say a word about the custom that was already widespread among Chinese women to disfigure their feet? Why does Polo never mention such an important and characteristic Chinese consumer product as tea? But it was precisely due to such gaps in the Book and the fact that Marco undoubtedly did not know either the Chinese language or Chinese geographical nomenclature (with minor exceptions), some of the most skeptical historians in the first half of the 19th century suggested that Marco Polo I've never been to China.
In the XIV-XV centuries, the “Book” of Marco Polo served as one of the guides for cartographers. The “Book” of Marco Polo played a very important role in the history of great discoveries. Not only that, the organizers and leaders of the Portuguese and first Spanish expeditions of the 15th-16th centuries used maps compiled under strong influence Polo, but his work itself was a reference book for outstanding cosmographers and navigators, including Columbus. The "Book" of Marco Polo is one of the rare medieval works - literary works and scientific works that are read and reread today. It has entered the golden fund of world literature, translated into many languages, published and republished in many countries around the world.
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So, who is Marco Polo? This is the most famous medieval Italian traveler (if you follow the path of Marco Polo on a map, it turns out that he traveled half the world) and writer. The book “On the Diversity of the World” became a bestseller and sold out in huge quantities throughout Europe.
Despite the fact that the accuracy of the facts presented in it is doubtful, this work is still considered a valuable source containing the most important information on the history, ethnography and geography of the Middle Eastern and Asian regions.
Attention! It is known that he used the book during his sea travels. In particular, with the help of it, the Italian tried to find the shortest route to India. This book has survived to this day. It is known that Columbus made more than 70 notes in its margins.
Brief biography of the Venetian traveler
There are a lot of blank spots in the biography of the famous merchant. Historians do not doubt the fact of its existence, but some points have not been fully studied yet.
Family
In particular, it is unknown where and when the traveler was born. There are several versions of the origin:
- The father was the merchant Niccolo Polo. The son was born between 1254–1261. in Venice (official years of life: 1254–1324) and was the only child in the family, since at the time of birth his father had already left for China, and his mother died before her husband returned.
- The father was originally from Dolmatia (Croatia) and moved to Venice only in the middle of the 19th century. Perhaps by that time the future traveler had already been born, since there is no information about birth in the Republic in the archives of Venice. If we follow this version, it turns out that Niccolò was a Dalmatian and not a Venetian merchant. In Venice, he and his brothers had only a trading post.
The journey of a father and his brothers
Venetian traders XIII century took a leading position in the Mediterranean Sea. They were the main importers of valuable goods from Africa. But this was not enough.
The heads of the largest trading houses in Venice turned their gaze to the East. Their mysterious and rich Asia beckoned, which could offer European businessmen a variety of different, elite and incredibly expensive goods.
Niccolo was the head of one of the most successful trading houses in Venice and, of course, wanted to conquer the eastern markets. Together with his brother Matteo, he went to the Crimea, to the city of Sudak. There was a trading post there, led by another brother of theirs, Marco. This trip took place sometime between 1253–1260.
From Sudak the brothers went to the capital of the Golden Horde, Sarai-Batu. There they spent a year, and then went on to Bukhara, where they stayed for another 3 years (at this moment there was actually a war between Batu and Berke, the Mongol khans from the Genghisid clan, who were rivals). From Bukhara with a Persian caravan they moved to Khanbalik (Beijing), where at that time another Genghisid ruled - Kublai (Kublay). By the time of his arrival, Kublai had completely conquered China and became the Great Khan.
In Beijing, the brothers stayed for a year, were received by the khan, received from him a golden paiza, which made it possible to freely travel through the territory of the Mongol Empire, and they were also given instructions - convey a message from Khubilai to the Pope. The Great Khan wanted Catholic missionaries from .
The brothers returned to Venice only in 1271. At the same time, Niccolo learned that his wife had died and that he had a fully grown 16-year-old son.
Travel to China and life at the court of the Great Khan
In 1271, the entire family (father, son and father's brothers) made a trip to Jerusalem. From there the merchants set off on their way back to China. In 1275, Marco with his father and uncle arrived in Shandu. It can be said that the young Venetian did a brilliant career at the Khan's court. He writes that he was a military adviser to the khan, as well as the governor of one of the Chinese provinces.
Attention! The traveler wrote that he spent about 17 years in China. The chronology in the book is not always accurate, but the geographical and ethnographic descriptions, descriptions of the customs that existed in the Middle Kingdom at that time are as detailed as possible.
The family managed to return to their homeland, Venice, only in the 90s of the 13th century. The merchants took advantage of the marriage of one of the Mongol princesses, volunteering to accompany her by sea to her groom in Persia.
Book
In Venice no one doubted the reality of the family's trip(Marco Polo’s path is shown very clearly on the map of the Republic at that time).
Upon his return, the merchant managed to fight with the Genoese and even spend some time in a Genoese prison.
It was in conclusion that the book was written. More precisely, it was not the traveler who wrote, but his cellmate Rusticiano.
Marco dictated his notes and thoughts to him.
Attention! No authentic handwritten text has survived. Some researchers believe that a mixture of Old French and Italian was used, while others believe that a little-known Venetian dialect was used. One way or another, only lists from the original manuscript have survived to our time.
The book originally consisted of four parts:
- the first part is about the journey to China through the countries that Marco visited;
- the second part is the customs of the Celestial Empire and the court of the Great Khan;
- the third part is a description of the countries of Southeast Asia, Japan and India;
- the fourth part is a story about the wars waged by the Mongols.
The Way of Marco Polo on the map(according to his book) looks like this:
- there: Venice - Jerusalem - Akka - Baghdad - Hormuz - Kerman - Kashkar - Karakorum - Beijing - Chengdu - Pagan - Beijing;
- back: Beijing - through all of Southeast Asia, Hindustan and the Middle East by sea - Hormuz - Tabriz - Constantinople - Venice.
The book was translated into many languages. It is clear that during the rewriting and translation, errors and inaccuracies were made; perhaps entire fragments of the authentic text were thrown out or fantastic additions were made; as a result, Marco Polo’s path on the map was partially changed.
last years of life
ABOUT recent years Not much is known about the life of the Venetian traveler, but all data is documented. The merchant was married to a noble Venetian woman, had several houses and offices in Venice, was involved in business, and participated in litigation.
The couple had three children, all girls. Two married merchants from Dolmatia (possibly version about the Croatian origin of the family and is correct).
Died in 1324. He was buried in the Church of San Lorenzo.
False Journey Version
Alone modern researchers they doubt that the famous merchant actually made such a journey and lived in China for a long time. They argue their point of view by the fact that the book contains chronological inaccuracies and there is no mention of:
- hieroglyphs;
- book printing;
- porcelain;
- gunpowder;
- Great Wall;
- traditions of tea drinking and foot binding for women.
Skeptics also point out that there is not a word in Chinese sources about the presence of the Venetians at the court of the Great Khan.
Arguments in defense of the traveler
Many historians believe that Polo actually made the journey, and did not glean information from the lips of Persian merchants. Proponents of this version say that
- spoke Mongolian and Persian perfectly, he did not need to know the Chinese language (especially writing), since Mongolian was the official language at court;
- he knew little about the traditions of China and the Chinese, since he lived rather separately, and the Chinese themselves did not favor European barbarians;
- did not describe the Great Wall of China, since it was completely completed only during the Ming Dynasty;
- I wrote from memory, so topographical, geographical and historical inaccuracies are quite acceptable.
As for Chinese chronicles, Europeans were rarely mentioned there at all. But in the chronicle of Yuan-Shi there is a mention of a certain Po-Lo, who lived and worked at the court of the Great Khan.
Attention! The Venetian's book contains a lot interesting facts about the life of the court of Kublai Khan. An outsider could hardly be so knowledgeable about the smallest details of everyday life and court intrigues.
What Marco Polo discovered
It cannot be said that Marco Polo's family became pioneer of the trade route To China. It also cannot be said that this was the first contact between Europeans and Chinese.
Historians know that the Roman emperors managed to establish contact with the Chinese Han dynasty, that in Chinese chronicles there are references to certain merchants from the countries of the “midnight sun”
(perhaps we were talking about Scandinavians or Slavs from Novgorod the Great, who made long expeditions even before the Tatar-Mongol invasion), that shortly before the journey of his father and uncles, an envoy visited China French king Louis IX.
However, the journey of Marco Polo and his subsequent detailed description provided an opportunity for Europeans to learn a lot about China and the Chinese. In Europe they started talking about paper money, coal, and sago palms. Detailed description the cultivation of spices and places of trade in them made it possible for European merchants to eliminate the Arab monopoly on this type of trade.
Marco Polo, travel map, biography
Brief biography of the traveler Mark Polo
Conclusion
In general, the travels of this family did an incredible thing - they brought Europe and Asia as close as possible. Marco Polo and his relatives visited many countries, thereby the Venetian merchants proved that overland travel through the Mongol Empire could be relatively safe, and therefore profitable. The question of who is Marco Polo and what did he do for rapprochement between Europe and Asia, can be considered sufficiently studied.
An Italian merchant and traveler who presented the story of his travels through Asia in the famous “Book of the Diversity of the World.”
Despite doubts about the reliability of the facts presented in this book, expressed from the moment of its appearance to the present time, it serves as a valuable source on the geography, ethnography, history of Armenia, Iran, China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, India, Indonesia and other countries in the Middle Ages . This book had a significant influence on sailors, cartographers, and writers of the 14th-16th centuries. In particular, she was on the ship of Christopher Columbus during his search for a route to India; According to researchers, Columbus made 70 marks on it.
Marco Polo was born around 1254 in Venice or on the island of Korcula (the territory of modern Croatia). Polo's ancestors came to Venice from Dalmatia and were never among the noble Venetian merchant families. When Marco was six years old, his father Niccolo and uncle Maffeo set off on a nine-year journey to the East. During this time, the boy's mother died, and he was raised by his paternal aunt. Marco received a quite passable education for that time - he read the Bible and some ancient authors, and knew how to count and write. And he spent his free time on the Venetian canals or in the port, where merchant ships loaded with goods arrived and departed to all corners of the world.
Marco was 15 years old when his father Nicolo and uncle Mateo, rich merchants, returned to Venice from a long and distant journey. This was in 1269. They visited the Crimea, the Middle Volga, Samarkand and Bukhara, and Mongolia. According to them, Mongol Empire stretches from the Danube to the banks Pacific Ocean. Even China was under the rule of the Mongol Khan Kublai Khan.
Khan hospitably received the Polo brothers and, when they were preparing to return, instructed them to deliver a letter to the Pope, in which he expressed his readiness to establish diplomatic relations.
Only two years later (1271) the Polo brothers received a response letter from the pope and gifts for Kublai Khan. This time Nicolo took his 17-year-old son Marco with him. Thus began the famous 24-year journey of Marco Polo. The journey to China was long, it took about 4 years (1271-1275).
The first Chinese city to which the Polo family reached in 1275 was Shazha (modern Dunhuang). That same year they reached Kublai Kublai's summer residence in Shangdu (in modern Gansu province of China). According to Marco Polo, the khan admired him, gave him various instructions, did not allow him to return to Venice, and even kept him governor of the city of Yangzhou for three years (Chapter CXLIV, Book 2). In addition, the Polo family (according to the book) participated in the development of the Khan's army and taught him to use catapults in the siege of fortresses.
In the spring of 1292, a fleet of fourteen four-masted ships sailed from the port of Zaitun (Quanzhou). While traveling around the eastern and southern coasts of Asia, Marco Polo learned about Japan, the islands of Indonesia (“the labyrinth of 7448 islands”), and the country of Chambo on the eastern coast of Indochina. From the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean, the ships passed through the Strait of Malacca and made a three-month stop on the shores of the island of Sumatra. After stopping in Ceylon and sailing along the western coast of India, the ships entered the Persian Gulf and anchored in Hormuz, where the Polos had visited 22 years earlier. While sailing across the Indian Ocean, Marco Polo managed to obtain some information about the African coast, Ethiopia, and the islands of Madagascar, Zanzibar and Socotra. Having delivered the princesses to Persia, the Polo family returned to Venice in 1295. All of Venice was amazed to learn how much wealth - precious stones - the three travelers brought from the East.
Soon a war broke out between Venice and Genoa for supremacy in trade in the Mediterranean. Marco Polo equipped the ship at his own expense and took part in the battle himself. Together with his team, he was captured and imprisoned in a Genoese prison. There, Marco Polo told prisoners about his travels to distant countries. One of the captives, the Italian writer Rusticiano, wrote down the Venetian's stories about everything he saw and heard during his interesting and long journey.
Some time later, Marco Polo was released from prison, returned to Venice and continued writing about his travels. He died in 1324 as a noble, respected man. His book interested his contemporaries. At first it circulated in many handwritten lists. It was first published in 1477 and then translated into many languages. This book introduced Europeans to the distant countries of the East, their nature, inhabitants, and culture. True, not everything in it was reliable. But the huge amount of valuable information about the East that Marco Polo collected during his travels made this work a favorite book of such outstanding navigators as Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan. Marco Polo's book played an important role in the discovery of America and sea route to India.
"The Book of Wonders of the World"
Also known as “The Travels of Marco Polo”, “The Book of the Diversity of the World”, “The Book of Marco Polo” (old French: Livres des merveilles du monde).
Despite doubts about the reliability of the facts presented in this book, expressed from the moment of its appearance to the present time, it serves as a valuable source on geography, ethnography, history different nations peace.
A description of Marco Polo's travels across Asia and Africa, made between 1276 and 1291, which were written down from his words in Old French by Rustichelli da Pisa, who was with him in a Genoese prison.
“Journeys” consists of four parts. The first describes the territories of the Middle East and Central Asia which Marco Polo visited on his way to China. The second describes China and the court of Kublai Khan. The third part talks about coastal countries: Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and the east coast of Africa. The fourth describes some of the wars between the Mongols and their northern neighbors.
Descriptions of Marco Polo are full of inaccuracies. This applies to the names of individual cities and provinces, their relative locations, as well as descriptions of objects in these cities. A famous example is the description of the bridge near Beijing (now named after Marco Polo), which actually has half as many arches as described in the book.
Marco Polo visited
And Armenia
According to Marco Polo, Armenia was divided into Greater (most of modern Armenia) and Lesser (most likely he meant Cilicia).
"This great country. It begins in a city called Arzinga (Erzincan), where the best fabrics and linens in the world are woven. He also has the best baths from natural springs that are found throughout the city. The people of the country are Armenians. There are many cities and villages in the country, but significant city is Arzinga, where the Archbishop's See is located, Arziron (Erzrum) and Arzizi (Arzhish). Passing from Trebizond to Tauris, there is one castle - Paipurt (Baiburt), it stands on a hill of the peninsula and here you can see silver mines,” the traveler wrote.
Marco Polo was perhaps the first European to reveal to the West the indescribable and majestic beauty of the biblical Mount Ararat. He described everything in his notes. Marco Polo, I wanted to convey that important fact, that it is in Armenia, on the top of the Holy Mountain, that Noah’s Ark is located.
Russia
Russia is a large country in the north. Christians of the Greek confession live here. There are many kings and its own language; the people are simple-minded and very beautiful; men and women are white and blond. There are many difficult passes and fortresses on the border. They pay tribute to no one, only a little to the king of the West; and he is a Tatar and is called Taktaktai, they pay tribute to him, and to no one else. This is not a trading country, but they have a lot of expensive furs of high value; they have sables, and ermines, and squirrels, and ercolines, and many glorious foxes, the best in the world. They have a lot of silver ores; They mine a lot of silver.
There is nothing else to talk about here, and therefore we will go from Russia and tell you about the Great Sea that is around these regions, and the inhabitants there, starting first of all with Constantinople.
But I’ll tell you first of all about the region to the north and northwest. In this country, I’ll tell you, there is a region called Lac, it borders on Russia, there is a king, and the inhabitants are Christians and Saracens. There are a lot of good furs here; merchants take them in different directions. Residents are engaged in trade and crafts. There’s nothing else to talk about here, so let’s go from here and talk about something else.
I want to say something about Russia that I forgot. Know, in truth, the most severe cold in the world is in Russia; it's hard to hide from him. The country is large, right up to the sea-ocean; on this sea they have several islands where gyrfalcons and pilgrim falcons live, all of which is exported to different countries of the world. From Russia, I’ll tell you, the way to Norway is not long, and if it weren’t for the cold, you could get there soon, but because of the great cold it’s not easy to go there.
To China
In 1260, Nicolo (Marco's father), and his brother Maffeo, undertook a trading expedition to East Asia. Marco was also among the travelers. The route ran from Venice (Northern Italy) to the Palestinian Akka, then to the port of Ayas on the southern coast of Asia. The merchants crossed the Armenian Highlands and descended the Tigris to the port of Basra. The goal of this enterprise was to reach the shores of China by sea. But fearing the difficulties of sea travel and not trusting unreliable (according to the merchants) ships, they abandoned the sea route and continued their journey to China by land.
Marco Polo lived in China for about 15 years as a trader. While serving under Khan, Marco crossed Eastern China many times. From the traveler's stories, only two routes can be known with certainty. The first route follows the coastline south to the cities of Quinsay and Zeitoun. The second route leads to eastern Tibet, Yunnan and further to northern Indochina.
Kazakhstan
In the history of the penetration of information about the Kazakh land into Europe, the name of the Venetian Marco Polo cannot fail to be mentioned, “ greatest traveler of all times and peoples,” as it was deservedly called by the Russian scientist, explorer of Asia I. Mushketov. The paths of the Polo brothers crossed both the territory of Central Asia and the Kazakh land (Otrar, the Syr Darya and Ili valleys).
The six chapters of Marco Polo's book detail the disagreements and struggles between certain courageous men named Alau and Berke. The name Alau-batyr is found in folklore works published by V.V. Radlov in his work “Samples of Folk Literature of Northern Turkic Tribes” and in “Song of Forty Crimean Heroes” (“Tsyrymnyts ktryk, batyrs turaly zhyr”).
Mongolia
Marco Polo served for 17 years at the court of the Mongol Khan Kublai Khan, who founded the Yuan Empire. Carrying out orders from the emperor, he traveled through almost all the provinces of today's China. The subsequently written book “On the Diversity of the World” became a real treasure of medieval literature. It tells in detail about the life, way of life, traditions, history and culture of the Mongols of the 14th century.
In 1292, the khan released three travelers with rich gifts; They went to the ocean and through Cochin China, Sumatra, Ceylon, Trebizond and Constantinople returned to Venice in 1295.
In Venice, Marco Polo, thanks to his wealth, achieved a high position and received the nickname Masser Millioni.
And India
The trip to India was the last of Marco Polo's great missions. His book says this: “Marco returned from India, across many seas, and told a lot of new things about that country.”
In the book of Marco Polo there is a mention of the city of Mian. It is believed that Myan is Pagan on the Irrawaddy River. Accordingly, Myan Marco Polo is Burma.
In the book of Marco Polo it is said that the city of Mian is “large, noble, the most important in the kingdom; the people here are idolaters, they speak in a special language, in their own language, and are subservient to the great khan.”
And Indonesia
It is believed that the explorer Marco Polo (1254-1324) was the first European to visit the Indonesian archipelago. He supposedly wandered there by accident, while searching for various spices, which were extremely highly valued at that time.
In the introduction, Marco describes Indonesia as eight kingdoms, six of which he visited, “namely... the kingdoms of Ferlek, Basman, Sumatra, Dagroyan, Lambri and Fansur.” Perhaps the most primitive of them was Basman, whose inhabitants “have no law, like animals.” He notes: “The Great Khan considers them his subjects, but they do not pay him tribute because they are so far away that the Great Khan’s people do not get here.”
Museum of Marco Polo
The Marco Polo House Museum is located in Korcula, Croatia.
The Marco Polo Museum is located very close to cathedral St. Mark in one of the old houses, where, according to one version, he was born. Nobody really knows if this is true.
You will be greeted at the entrance to the museum wax figure Marco Polo himself, dressed in a costume similar to what merchants and travelers wore then. A wide stone staircase leads into the building, leading up to a narrow door made of planks. Here are scenes from the life of the young Marco Polo in Korcula, his travels through the Egyptian sands and China, the scene of his meeting with Kublai Khan in Mongolia, as well as scenes from Marco Polo's imprisonment - it was there that he began to describe his travels.
Marco Polo (TV series)
American historical television series telling the story of the journey of the legendary Venetian merchant Marco Polo. The main roles were played by Lorenzo Riquelmi (Marco Polo) and Benedict Wong (Khubilai Khan). Since December 12, 2014.
Plot of the film
1273 The young Venetian Marco Polo, along with his father, as part of a group of European merchants, arrives in China, which is under Mongol rule, and ends up at the court of the ruler, Kublai Khan. Marco's father offers the khan to give his son into his service in exchange for the right to trade in Silk Road. Marco learns local traditions and culture, becomes close to the khan and inevitably becomes involved in political intrigues at court.
Source – Internet
Marco Polo- Italian merchant and traveler who presented the story of his travels through Asia in the famous “Book of the Diversity of the World.” Despite doubts about the reliability of the facts presented in this book, expressed from the moment of its appearance to the present time, it serves as a valuable source on geography, ethnography, history of Iran, China, Mongolia, India, Indonesia and other countries in the Middle Ages. This book had a significant influence on sailors, cartographers, and writers of the 14th-16th centuries. In particular, she was on the ship of Christopher Columbus during his search for a route to India.
Origin
Marco Polo was born into the family of a Venetian merchant, Nicolo Polo, whose family was involved in the jewelry and spice trade. Since there is no surviving birth certificate for Marco Polo, the traditional version of his birth in Venice was challenged in the 19th century by Croatian researchers who claim that the first evidence of the Polo family in Venice dates back to the second half of the 13th century, where they are referred to as Poli di Dalmazia , while until 1430 the Polo family owned a house in Korcula, now in Croatia.
The Journey of Marco Polo
Road to China
A new journey to China passed through Mesopotamia, Pamir and Kashgaria.
Travels 1271-1295
Life in China
The first Chinese city to which the Polo family reached in 1275 was Shazha (modern Dunhuang). That same year they reached Kublai Kublai's summer residence in Shangdu (in modern Gansu province of China). According to Polo, the khan admired him, gave him various instructions, did not allow him to return to Venice, and even kept him governor of the city of Yangzhou for three years (Chapter CXLIV, Book 2). In addition, the Polo family (according to the book) participated in the development of the Khan's army and taught him to use catapults in the siege of fortresses.
Descriptions of Polo's life in China rarely follow a chronological order, making it difficult to determine the exact route of his travels. But its description is quite accurate geographically; it gives orientation by cardinal directions and distances in terms of days of the route: “To the south of Panshin, one day’s journey away, is the large and noble city of Kaiu”. In addition, Polo describes the daily life of the Chinese, mentioning the use paper money, typical crafts and culinary traditions of various regions. He stayed in China for fifteen years.
Return to Venice
Despite numerous requests from the Polo family, Khan did not want to let them go, but in 1291 he married one of the Mongol princesses to the Persian Ilkhan Arghun. To organize her safe journey, he equipped a detachment of fourteen ships, allowed the Polo family to join as official representatives of the khan, and sent a flotilla to Hormuz. During the voyage, the Polos visited Sumatra and Ceylon and returned to Venice in 1295 through Iran and the Black Sea.
Life after returning
Very little is known about his life after returning from China. According to some reports, he took part in the war with Genoa. Around 1298, Polo was captured by the Genoese and remained there until May 1299. His travel stories were recorded by another prisoner, Rustichello (Rusticiano), who also wrote chivalric romances. According to some sources, the text was dictated in the Venetian dialect, according to others, it was written in Old French with inserts in Italian. Due to the fact that the original manuscript has not survived, it is not possible to establish the truth.
After his release from Genoese captivity, he returned to Venice, got married and from this marriage he had three daughters (two were married to merchants from Dalmatia, which, according to some researchers, confirms the hypothesis of his Croatian origin, but the wife herself was from the famous Venetian family, which rather speaks of the well-established connections of the Polo family in Venice). He also had a house on the corner of Rio di San Giovanni Crisostomo and Rio di San Lio. There are documents showing that he was involved in two minor trials.
In 1324, already an ill man, Polo wrote his will, which mentioned the golden paiza received from Tatar Khan(he received it from his uncle Maffeo, who in turn bequeathed it to Marco in 1310). Also in 1324, Marco died and was buried in the church of San Lorenzo. In 1596, his house (where, according to legend, the things he brought from the Chinese campaign were kept) burned down. The church in which he was buried was demolished in the 19th century.
Researchers about the book
Cover of the English edition Books by Marco Polo, 1874
The book of Marco Polo is one of the most popular objects of historical research. The bibliography, compiled in 1986, contains more than 2,300 scientific works in European languages alone.
From the moment he returned to the city, stories from the trip were viewed with disbelief. Peter Jackson mentions as one of the reasons for mistrust reluctance to accept his description of a well-ordered and hospitable Mongol Empire, which contradicted the traditional Western view of barbarians. In turn, in 1995, Frances Wood, curator of the Chinese collection of the British Museum, published a popular book in which she questioned the very fact of Polo's travel to China, suggesting that the Venetian did not travel beyond Asia Minor and the Black Sea, but simply used the ones known to him. descriptions of the travels of Persian merchants. For example, in his book, Marco Polo writes that he helped the Mongols during the siege of the Song base in Sanyang, but the siege of this base ended in 1273, that is, two years before his arrival in China. There are other shortcomings in his book that raise questions among researchers.
Previous contacts with China
One of the myths surrounding this book is the idea of Polo as the first contact between Europe and China. Even without the assumption of contact between the Roman Empire and the Han dynasty, the Mongol conquests of the 13th century eased the route between Europe and Asia (since it now passed through the territory of almost one state).
In Khubilai's archives from 1261 there is a reference to European merchants from Lands of the Midnight Sun, probably Scandinavian or Novgorod. On their first journey, Nicolo and Maffeo Polo followed the same route as Guillaume de Rubruck, indeed sent by Pope Innocent IV, who reached the then Mongol capital of Karakorum and returned in 1255. The description of his route was known in medieval Europe and could have been known to the Polo brothers on their first journey.
During Polo's stay in China, Rabban Sauma, a native of Beijing, came to Europe, and missionary Giovanni Montecorvino, on the contrary, went to China. Published in 1997 by David Selbourne, the text of the Italian Jew Jacob of Ancona, who allegedly visited China in 1270-1271, shortly before Polo, is, according to most Hebraists and Sinologists, a hoax.
Unlike previous travelers, Marco Polo created a book that gained great popularity and throughout the Middle Ages competed in public success with the fantastic journey of John Mandeville (the prototype of which was Odorico Pordenone).
Book versions
Little is known about Marco Polo's literacy rate. Most likely he could keep commercial records, but it is unknown whether he could write text. The text of the book was dictated by him to Rustichello, probably in his native language, Venetian, or in Latin, but Rustichello could also write it in French, in which he wrote novels. The process of writing a book could significantly affect the reliability and completeness of its content: Marco excluded from his description those memories that were of no interest to him as a merchant (or were obvious to him), and Rustichello could omit or interpret at his own discretion memories that were not of interest to him. interest or already incomprehensible to him. It can also be assumed that Rustichello was related to only some of the four books, and Polo could have other “co-authors”.
Soon after its appearance, the book was translated into Venetian, Latin (different translations from the Venetian and French versions), back into French from the Latin version. During the process of translation and rewriting, the books were changed, text fragments were added or deleted. The oldest surviving manuscript (Manuscript F) is significantly shorter than the others, but textual evidence suggests that the other surviving manuscripts are based on more complete original texts.
Fragments that raise doubts
Significant omissions
Francis Wood notes that neither hieroglyphs, nor printing, nor tea, nor porcelain, nor the practice of binding women's feet, nor the Great Wall of China are mentioned in Polo's book. The arguments put forward by proponents of travel authenticity are based on the specific process of the book's creation and Polo's purpose in conveying his memories.
Polo knew Persian (the language of international communication at that time), while living in China, he learned Mongolian (the language of the Chinese administration during this period), but did not need to learn Chinese. As a member of the Mongol administration, he lived at a distance from Chinese society (which, according to him, had a negative view of European barbarians), had little interaction with his daily life, and was unable to observe many of the traditions evident only in the household.
To a man who had not received a formal education and was a stranger to literature, local books represented “Chinese literacy,” but Polo describes in detail the production of paper money, which differs little from the printing of books.
Tea was by that time widely known in Persia, so it was of no interest to the author; similarly, it is not mentioned in Arabic and Persian descriptions of that time.
Porcelain was mentioned briefly in the book.
Regarding footbinding, one of the manuscripts (Z) mentions that Chinese women walk in very small steps, but this is not explained more fully.
The Great Wall as we know it today was built during the Ming Dynasty. In the time of Marco Polo, these were mostly earthworks, which did not form a continuous wall, but were limited to the most militarily vulnerable areas. For the Venetian, fortifications of this kind may not have been of significant interest.
Inaccurate descriptions
Descriptions of Marco Polo are full of inaccuracies. This applies to the names of individual cities and provinces, their relative locations, as well as descriptions of objects in these cities. A famous example is the description of the bridge near Beijing (now named after Marco Polo), which actually has half as many arches as described in the book.
In Marco Polo's defense, it can be said that his description was from memory, he was familiar with Persian and used Persian names, which were often also inconsistent in their rendering of Chinese names. Some inaccuracies were introduced during translation or rewriting of the book, so some surviving manuscripts are more accurate than others. In addition, in many cases Polo did use second-hand information (especially when describing historical or fantastic events that happened before his journey). Many other contemporary descriptions also suffer from this kind of inaccuracy, which cannot be blamed on the fact that their authors were not in that place at that time.
Role at court
Kublai's honor to the young Polo and his appointment as governor of Yangzhou do not look credible, and the absence of Chinese or Mongolian official records of the merchants' presence in China for almost twenty years, according to Frances Wood, looks particularly suspicious. Most authors mention only a reference from 1271 in which Pagba Lama, a close adviser to Kublai Kublai, mentions a foreigner on friendly terms with the khan, but it does not indicate the name, nationality, or length of stay of this foreigner in China.
It is possible that Polo's role in China is greatly exaggerated in his book, but this error may be attributed to the author's boasting, the embellishment of the copyists, or problems of the translators, as a result of which the role of adviser may have been transformed into the post of governor.
In the book, Polo shows an awareness of relationships at the Khan's court, information about which would not have been available without proximity to the court. Thus, in Chapter LXXXV (On the treacherous plan to revolt the city of Kambala), he, emphasizing his personal presence at the events, describes in detail the various abuses of Minister Ahmad and the circumstances of his murder, naming the name of the killer (Wanzhu), which exactly corresponds to Chinese sources. This episode is significant because the Chinese dynastic chronicle Yuan-shi mentions the name of Po-Lo as a person who was part of the commission investigating the murder and stood out for sincerely telling the emperor about Ahmad's abuses. It was common practice to use Chinese nicknames for foreigners, making it difficult to find mention of Polo's name in other Chinese sources. Many Europeans who officially visited China during this period, such as de Rubruck, received no mention at all in Chinese chronicles.
Evaluation of the book by modern researchers
Most modern researchers reject Frances Wood's opinion about the complete fabrication of the entire trip, considering it an unsubstantiated attempt to make money on a sensation.
A more productive (and generally accepted) point of view is to look at this book as a source of merchant records about places to buy goods, routes for their movement and the circumstances of life in these countries.
MARCO POLO(Marco Polo) (1254–1324), Venetian traveler. Born into the family of the Venetian merchant Niccolo Polo. In 1260 Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, Marco's father and uncle, went to Beijing (Khanbalay, or Tatu), which Kublai Khan, grandson Genghis Khan, made it the capital of his possessions. Kublai made them promise to return to China and bring with him several Christian monks. In 1271 the brothers set off on a long journey to the east, taking Marco with them. The expedition reached Beijing in 1275 and was warmly received by Kublai Kublai. Marco was a diligent young man and had a talent for languages. While his father and uncle were engaged in trade, he studied the Mongolian language. Khubilai, who usually brought talented foreigners to his court, hired Marco into the civil service. Soon Marco became a member of the privy council, and the emperor gave him several assignments. One of them was to compile a report on the situation in Yunnan and Burma after the latter was conquered by the Mongols in 1287, the other was to purchase a Buddha tooth from Ceylon. Marco subsequently became prefect of Yangzhou.
During his 15 years of service, Marco studied China and collected a lot of information about India and Japan. In 1290 he asked to be allowed to go home, but Kublai refused. Marco managed to get out of China only in 1292, when he was appointed to accompany the Mongol princess Kokachin, who was going to Persia, where she was supposed to marry the local viceroy Arghun, Kublai's grandnephew. Having reached Persia, Marco received news of the death of Kublai. This freed him from the obligation to return to China, and he went to Venice.
The following year, after returning to Venice, Marco was captured aboard a Venetian merchant ship by the Genoese in the eastern Mediterranean. From 1296 to 1299 he was in prison in Genoa, where he dictated the Book of Marco Polo (or the Book of Wonders of the World) to a certain Rustichello from Pisa. The book contains descriptions not only of China and mainland Asia, but also of the vast world of islands - from Japan to Zanzibar.
In 1299 Marco was released. In the eyes of his fellow citizens, he remained an eccentric; no one believed his stories.