EXPLORERS
JULY 29, 2022
The Great Adventure Of Marco Polo
One of the most important books for European is The Adventure Of Marco Polo that contains details information about the eastern world.
Marco Polo (15 September 1254 – 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant as well as an adventurer and author from Venice who traveled to various parts of the world. throughout Asia via the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295.
Throughout his life, Marco Polo was known as an explorer who managed to explore the eastern hemisphere, Asia. Uniquely throughout his adventure, he was not only an explorer but also an ambassador for the greatest empire at that time, the Mongol empire.
In about 1300, a book about his travels entitled The Travels of Marco Polo was published. This book inspired many European sailors to sail across the oceans, including Christopher Columbus.
EARLY YEARS
Marco Polo was born in 1254 in Venice, the capital of the Republic of Venice. Niccolò Polo, Marco’s father, started a family in Venice, but left his wife pregnant in order to migrate to Asia with his brother, Maffeo Polo.
They returned to Venice in 1269, and it was only then that 15-year-old Marco finally met Niccolo, the father he never knew.
Marco joined them when they left on their second, larger voyage in 1271. While they initially planned only a brief visit to the Far East, the three men would eventually travel Asia together on more than one occasion.
The oldest known generation in the Polo family is Marco Polo (elder) from Venice, the brother of Marco’s grandfather. Marco Polo Sepuh ran a money-lending business and captained a ship in Constantinople.
Andrea Polo, Marco’s grandfather, lives in the city of Venice, precisely in the contrada San Felice. Andrea Polo has three sons, namely Marco (senior), Maffeo, and Niccolò, Marco’s father. According to several Venetian historical literature sources, the ancestors of the Polo family came from Dalmatia.
Polos were traders who dealt with rare items such as silk, gems and spices, but their extensive travels were more than just trading missions. Marco, Maffeo, and Niccolo were also employed as emissaries for the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan, whom he had met during his earlier trip to the eastern hemisphere.
MOST IMPORTANT ADVENTURE BOOK
The stories of his adventures were recorded under the title Adventures of Marco Polo (Library of Wonders of the World or Il Milione, published around 1300). This book gives an overview to the Europeans about the customs and daily lives of the people of the Eastern World which at that time was still a mystery to them.
From his book, it is known that Marco Polo had stopped in Indonesia, more precisely to the islands of Sumatra and Java, on his way back to Europe.
Marcopolo’s travel notes in 1292 explained that he had seen the existence of the growing Islamic Kingdom at that time, namely Samudera Pasai with the capital of Pasai.
The news from Marco Polo is the oldest news that states that in Indonesia there has been a growing group of Muslim citizens, of course in cities located on the coast or on the edge of shipping and trade routes at that time.
After returning from Asia, Marco Polo documented his encounters with animals foreign to him such as elephants, monkeys and crocodiles. He described the latter, for example, as a giant snake, the sharp claws of which could swallow a man.
It was so strange with the animal he had just seen, Polo thought that the creature came from myths and legends. He was one of the first Europeans to see an Asian rhinoceros, he even thought the horned beast was a unicorn.
RETURNING TO EUROPE
Marco Polo returned to Venice in 1295, bringing with him a wealth of precious stones. At that time Venice was at war with the Republic of Genova.
Most likely it was captured by the enemy in 1296 in a surprise attack in the waters off the coast of Anatolia, between Adana and the Gulf of Alexandretta.
While in prison he met Rustichello of Pisa, a captive known as a gifted romance writer. Eager to document his years as a traveler, Polo dictated his life story to Rustichello, who acted as a ghostwriter.
By the time of their release in 1299, the two men had completed the book that would later become one of his most prized works.
The date of Marco’s death cannot be determined with certainty because a day according to Venetian law ends at sunset, but some scholars estimate Marco Polo died between sunset on the 8th and sunset on January 9, 1324.The Biblioteca Marciana, the institution that kept the originals of his will, set January 9, 1323 as the date of the will, and estimated that Marco Polo died in June 1324.
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