Part Of Marco Polo Travels example essay topic

Marco Polo: An Inspiration to Christopher Columbus and the Age of Exploration. During the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Century, Marco Polo gave Europe a mental image of the Far East. With his very detailed descriptions of all he saw, from the Khan's beautiful palace and the flourishing trade market filled with rare goods from far away ports, with his book called the Travels, Marco Polo captured his readers and filled them with the stuff dreams are made of. Marco's text was the most read book in the medieval period. It excited the imagination and wonder of all nations and inspiring explorers to use his book as a guidebook, even Christopher Columbus was inspired (Fuson 70). The Thirteenth Century was a time of great prosperity and a major demand for exotic trade goods (Penrose 10).

Historian Richard Humble say's that the energy and ebullience of Thirteenth Century Europeans was never more clearly shown than by the speed in which far-sighted European entrepreneurs, especially the Venetians, adjusted their attitude towards the awe-inspiring new power (the Tarter reign, A.K.A. the Mongol reign or the Yuan Dynasty) which was said to have towered above the East (Marco Polo 9). Merchants knew fortunes awaited them if they made agreements with the Tarter rulers to trade. The first Venetian merchants to go to the Far East in search of that fortune were the Polo brothers, Niccolo and Maff eo. The Polo's went to the court of the of the BarkaKahn to make a trading contract within the Kahn's territory. They traded for twelvemonths and then, accepted an invitation to visit the court of Kublai Kahn in Cathay (Andrews 24). As the first Europeans to visit the capital city of the Tarter Empire, the Polos were amazed in the format of the city and Kublai Kahn, he was an intelligent, strong, thick-set man of medium height (Forman and Burland 81).

The Kahn welcomed them with great hospitality and many questions about the East. Kublai Kahn was also very interested inthe Christi a Religion. He sent the Polo brothers back to Europe with a request of 100 priests to teach him and his people about the strange religion along with a sample of holy oil from Jerusalem for the Kahn's collection of religious relics (Marco Polo 92). When the Polo's arrived in Europe they found out that Pope Gregory died and the church was disorganized. Finally, after many trials of arranging the priests, it fell through and the Polo's had to go back to the Kahn, and tell of the failure. Richard Humble says, however, that they were able to get the holy oil he had requested, an action that deepened the trust between the Kahn and the Polo's (Marco Polo 111).

But before the Polos left Venice in 1297, Nicole made a critical decision to bring his fifteen year old son named Marco. Marco later recorded the details of their trip in book called the Travels, including a prologue with his fathers first trip to the Far East. According to historian Richard Humble, Marco spent 26 years exploring the Far East, 17 of those working as a surveyor of potential markets for Kublai Kahn (The Explorers 23-26). Throughout the travels, Marco's influence is revealed and takes the main lead.

The Travels is not his itinerary, but a collection of descriptions of the cities he visited. Marco tells about the main communities with busy marketplaces, such as Ca indu, Kala chan, Ten duc, and Fu-chow (Andrews 26). In the Travels, Marco also notes of the magnificent wonders that he saw while he traveled the Empire. In Burma, he saw one pagoda covered entirely by gold and another one covered in silver. Marco also mentions the province Maar bar, across the straight from Ceylon, and described the process of pearl fishing.

Pearl fishing is when a trained swimmer takes a large breath of water at the surface and dives off the shore of an ocean to find pearls in shells (Samhaber 89). Eventually, the Polo's made it back to Europe, although the trip meant making one more errand for the Kahn. Their task was to escort a Mongol princess to Persia to marry a prince their, It was completed (Forman 39, 40). The Kahn also sent a letter with the Polo's to deliver to the Pope and to the King's of Europe, including King Edward of England and King Louis of France (Forman 41, 42).

The Polos returned to Venice in 1925. At first, their Tarter clothing was made fun of, but, as legend has it, they ripped open their seams of their robes and streams of jewels fell to the ground and people were ready to listen to their stories (Penrose 54). Within a few years the trade routes the Polo's had taken were inaccessible due to Turkish and Moslem advances. European trade had to be channeled through middle men such as Arab, Turkish, Persian merchants who had monopolies on Asian markets (Albion 62). Meanwhile, the great Kahn Empire that Marco had known in Cathay didn t remain unmoving either. Eighty years after Polo left Cathay, the Yuan Dynasty fell, ending the Tarter reign.

Native Chinese rule was restored to Cathay by the ethnic Han people Through the Ming Dynasty, a fact unknown to Europe until 200 years later (Forman 28). Upon his return to Venice, Marco Polo married and had children. Later he helped to fight against Genoa as a gentlemen commander of a venetian galley (Humble 205). In one of the battles Marco was captured and put in Prison in Genoa. He shared his experience with Messer Rusticiano of Pisa who in 1928 began to record the adventures ofMarco Polo in medieval French as they re dictated to him. It reached its audience and the audience was puzzled to see if it was all true or not (Humble 217).

Shortly after the manuscript was first published in 1299, Marco earned the nickname il-mili one -Marco of the millions-due to his excessive use of superlatives in describing the wonders of the Far East (Andrews 84). Even Marco's friends didn t believe all of the far- fetched stories the manuscript contained. On his death bed, his relative surged him to take back some of the lies he told, but he said I never told the half of what saw... (Andrews 92). Marco Polo's book became a valuable resource as a record of the last contact between Europeans and the Far East until 200 years later when Vasco de Gama opened the first sea route between Europe and India (Morison 32). The business community read with interest about the commercial potential described by Marco Polo, now unavailable for their use.

Geographers were also intrigued. Marco Polo revealed many little known geographic facts about the Far East. Abraham Cresque, author of the Catalan Atlas, a series of maps issued in 1375, based his work on the world in light of the travels ofMarco Polo and his missionary successors of Cathay. The placing of the cities of Central Asia, as well as semicircle of the coastline revealed the author's familiarity with Marco descriptions (Albion 19). The maps also showed the thousands of small islands off the coast of China that Marco had mentioned in his book. Historian Boise Penrose mentions in his book that there was not another map more correct of the Eastern Hemisphere untill the Can tino Map was published in 1502 (18).

Robert Albion say's that it is almost certain that Henery the Navigator saw this atlas (19). The son of Abraham Cresque, Ja huda Cresque, was the Prince's leading navigational expert, a position in which he was able to control considerable influence withthe Prince's exploration department. Paoli Toscanelli, a Florentine scholar whose hobby was geography, also admired Marco Polo and studied the book of his travels. Toscanelli accepted the theory that the Asiatic land mass extended much more eastward than even Ptomely had said. He figured out that there were 5,000 more miles between the Canary Islands and Kin say (Hangchou). He was an early figure of the western route to the Indies (Penrose 51-53).

Christopher Columbus was also a big fan of Toscanelli, who began a correspondence with him (The Explorers 56). Columbus bought a copy of Marco Polo book and consumed the descriptions of the riches of the Far East and especially of Cipangu (now Japan), an island containing palaces with roofs of gold. Cipangu was one of the more than 7,000 islands Marco Polo had described off the coast of Asia, an archipelago so large that it had the effect of extending the land mass of Asia a good 30 degrees farther East than by earlier calculations (Fuson 46). Columbus said that Asia would be closer to the west by way of the Atlantic Ocean.

He figured that Cipangu must be around 28 degrees latitude which would make it 2,400 miles due west on a 270 degree course at a speed of 4 knots, therefore, he could arrive at Cipangu in three weeks. From Cipangu to the Cathay mainland would be another 1500 miles he thought. He thought that between the European coastline and the eastern shores of Asia, there were no newlands to discover (Fuson 50). Columbus had kept an audience with King John II of Portugal in 1484 to gain support for his expedition.

He used Marco Polo's account to back up his theories, the court chronicler later wrote that the king ob severed this Cristavao Column to be a great talker, and full of fancy and imagination (Fuson 73). According to Colombian expert Samuel Morison, the maritime advisory committee appointed to discuss his plan dismissed it as vain, simply founded on imagination, or things like that Isle of Cipangu of MarcoPolo (371). The king gave him no support. At last, Columbus found the support he found from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.

In his log, Columbus recorded how he used the prologue of MarcoPolo's book, the account of the Khan requesting priests to teach him about Christianity, inh is effort to convince the monarch of the importance of the project: I informed Your Highnesses how this great Khan and his predecessors had sent to Rome many times to beg for men learned in our Holy Faith so that his people might be instructed therein, and that the Holy Father never furnished them, and therefore, many peoples believing in idolatries and recieving among themselves sects of perdita tion were lost (Fuson 79). The arguement proved convincing and in May 1492 Columbus set sail in three diferent ships. In his possession was a letter from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella addressed tothe great Khan, with the understanding that it should be given to the heirs that hadsucceded him. Columbus took the task seriously and went to great lenght's to try to deliver the letter. After leaving their Canary Island stop over Columbus and his company spent 36 days at sea before sighting land.

They had travelled 2,400 miles, which should have brought them to Cipangu, According to Columbus calculations. However, the land that they found didn t seem to resemble the fabulous Cathay that Marco Polo described. The land was stony and scrub and the people were poor. Columbus decided that he landed ozone of the other 7,448 islands about which Marco Polo had discussed. He decided to look farther into the mainland (Fuson 82) From Marco Polo's description, the mainland should have been west of Cipangu, however the islanders that Columbus questioned, signaled that there was a king to the south who had great vessels and possessed a lot (Fuson 89) Native guides indicatedthata place called Colba (Cuba) was wealthy and populated, full of ships and sailors, both great and many (Fuson 91). Columbus thought Colba and Cuba meant Cipangu, he also thought Cuba can meant the Kahn when it actually meant the center of an island.

When Columbus arrived in Cuba he found the inhabitants to be just as poor as the natives before. The Cubans indicated that there was a powerful king to the west. Columbus went we stand still found nothing, so he sent some men into the mainland and still found nothing. Columbus then went to the eastern tip of Cuba, sailing around His panola. He found a culture there and it seemed a little more advanced than the earlier natives, they had belts made of gold. The natives said they would take Columbus to Cibao where the gold was panned from the streams.

Columbus, once again, felt he was getting closer tothe Kahn. On his trip east, he had problems with his ship and went to the shore to ask for help. He also used the opportunity to ask about the Kahn. The chief promised to take Columbus to Cai boa but warned about a man eating tribe called the Can iba (Fuson 93). Att his point Columbus decided to leave some of the men there and go back to Europe to tell of their discoveries in what they thought was the East (Fuson 94). On following journey's to America, Columbus continued to search for the great Kahn.

He was probably still in search upon his death (Fuson 62-105). During this age of discovery, explorers from various nations looked for a sea route to Asia, or the Indies as they called it. Many of them used at least part of Marco Polo travels to guide them. Prince Henery the Navigator had directed his sailors southward to circumnavigate Africa in search of the land further east. John Cabot's proposition to the English in 1494 was based on the idea that columbus didn t go far enough. Cabot proposed that he d find a more northern route to Asia and then sail south of Marco cathay Which would be deeper into the islands where Columbus was (Moule 23).

Magellan discovered the western passage while looking for Asia. Even the discovery of Australia by the Dutch may have been inspired by Marco Polo. Albion, Robert G. Exploration and Discovery. The Macmillan Co. New York.

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