Who was Marco Polo? – son of a Venetian merchant who travelled to China and came back twenty-four years later, and the author of a travel book that inspired Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama.
Marco Polo was born in 1254. The same
year, his father left for Asia and returned fifteen years later. Shortly after Marco
was born, his mother died. So he was raised by his relatives.
He didn’t spend much time in
school. Instead, he was taught different measurements used in different places
in order to become a merchant.
His father and uncle returned in
1269 and two years later were heading back to China. Marco went with them.
On the way to China, Marco was a
good observer of places and its products, and whether food or water were easy
to find – he saw it as valuable information for other merchants.
It took them three and a half years
to arrive at Shang-tu and the palace of Kublai Khan who was happy to see Polos
again. Kublai was the grandson of Genghis Khan.
Marco was very impressed by the
palace made of white marble and decorated with gold.
Kublai didn’t force a specific
religion on conquered lands. He actually practiced an opposite tactic to keep
people happy and not revolt. He told them that their religion was his favorite.
He studied the teachings of Jesus and Buddha, and respected teachings of
Confucius. He hired Muslims to work at his government. When farmers had a bad
harvest, they didn’t have to pay taxes and were fed for free with grains kept
in storage.
Kublai liked Marco as he was smart
and amusing. He sent him on missions to different areas of the Mongol empire.
It seemed as Marco had a talent for describing places and what was happening
there. Along the lines, Kublai probably got the information he was looking for
and felt entertained. Marco was surprised by the variety of animals and not
knowing what they were, he described them what came out as entertaining
descriptions.
Marco saw coal for the first time,
which was used for fire pits. He was impressed by the Mongols mailing system
powered by horses. He saw paper money for the first time. Europe developed
money in the 1600s.
Marco described many Mongol battles
in his book.
The Polos wanted to return home
many times, but Kublai refused as he liked having them around. But in 1291,
they got lucky when a seventeen-year-old Mongol princess was being sent to
Persia to get married. They thought the route by sea would be the safest and
Marco had just returned from a voyage from India. So he knew the route. They
were sent with two golden tablets with a message – an order to anyone they met
to protect them along the way. Again, it took them three and a half years to
travel from China to Venice.
In Venice, Marco settled as a
merchant but soon a war broke out between Venice and Genoa. The latter won and
Marco was one of about 7,000 Venetians that were captured. He was in jail for
about ten months and to pass the time, he entertained other prisoners with
stories from his travels. Rustichello, an author, was in the same cell and
convinced Marco to write down his stories.
In 1299, Venice and Genoa signed a
treaty and they were freed. Marco returned to Venice with his stories written
down.
At the time, books were written by
hand. Currently, there are about 150 handwritten copies of his book but no two
books are exactly alike, raising legitimacy issue.
In 1477, his book was
machine-printed for the first time, and his book is still in print. Also, when
his book was translated into different languages, the printer changed the story
a bit if he thought it would sell better.
During his time, most of the people
didn’t travel far from their home. So Marco’s stories sounded very bizarre.
People didn’t believe him and said that his book was nothing but a million
lies. Thus, they nicknamed him Marco Millions.
Whatever the case, Christopher
Columbus and Vasco da Gama studied his book for their explorations.
As Marco was dying in 1324, people
begged him to confess the truth. Instead he said, “I did not tell half of what
I saw, for I knew I would not be believed.”
This biography exemplifies a man
who stood by his words even on his death-bed while others thought his stories
were filled with lies. He was a man who stayed true to himself, never wavered
under ridicule. He was a good observer and storyteller. Just one book made him
the most famous traveler of the silk road (by land) and the spice route (by sea).
Source: Penguin Workshop, 2007
TRENDING INSPIRATION: “I did not tell half of what I saw, for I knew I would not be believed.” – Marco Polo (he knew it was pointless to be proving anything to anyone)
Traits:
·
He didn’t have much
schooling besides practical knowledge in measurements in order to become a
merchant.
·
As he travelled, he observed
places and its products, and whether food or water was easy to find as he saw
it as valuable information for other merchants.
·
Marco’s talent for describing places and what was happening
there got him on special assignments for the Mongol Emperor.
·
When he returned to Venice, he was captured and became one of
the war prisoners. To pass the time, he entertained other prisoners with his
stories from his travels.
·
One of the prisoners was an author who encouraged him to
write down his stories. They did it together. When out of prison, he had his
stories written down.
·
Some of his stories sounded far-fetched as Asia was more
evolved, some things that were already developed in China, where not yet in
Europe. Also, the wild animals were very exotic and unreal to Europeans. –
Because of this many thought he was a liar, but he never changed any of his
stories.
“I speak and speak, (…)
but the listener retains only the words he is expecting. (…) It is not the
voice that commands the story; it is the ear.” – Marco Polo
FURTHER INSPIRATION AND RECOMMENDATION:
Marco Polo's adventures, and others not believing him - bring to mind the subject of aliens and the book by Adam Frank – Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth.
Do you believe in extra terrestrial life?
From the leaflet, “Light of the
Stars tells the story of humanity’s coming of age as we awaken to the
possibilities of life on the other worlds and their sudden relevance to our
fate on Earth. Astrophysicist Adam Frank traces the question of alien life and
intelligence from the ancient Greeks to the leading thinkers” questioning
climate change as “we are just one of ten billion trillion planets in the
universe, and it’s highly likely that many of those planets hosted
technologically advanced alien civilizations.”
Frank Drake was one of the
astronomers at Green Bank, West Virginia, - which held the best radio
observatory in the world in 1958. He was interested in using the telescope to
search for signs of intelligent life on other worlds. Thus, Project Ozma was
born. By the spring of 1960 the equipment was ready, but Project Ozma never
captured any alien signals.
Meanwhile, in 1959, two physicists Giuseppe Cocconi
and Philip Morrison published a study arguing that with radio waves the galaxy
becomes transparent. And Drake has reached the same conclusion.
This gave beginning to
exo-civilizations. A new human story was emerging. NASA projects began for
search for extraterrestrial life. (From new knowledge, NASA did see life on
Mars it was just not revealed to the public).
James Lovelock and biologist Lynn
Margulis introduced Gaia theory of life as a self-regulating planetary system.
Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky,
Russian scientist, also stated that planetary evolution was not just a force,
but a force with its own kind of intention.
Building on those three scientists,
a new generation of scientist began speaking of “coevolution” between life and
the planet.
In the last few decades, the
knowledge of planets as generic cosmic phenomena has exploded.
In this book, the author recounts the work of pioneering scientists in regards to
extraterrestrial life and explores the question – what can we learn from
extraterrestrial life on other worlds?
In May 2026, over 400 documents
were released to the public which is part of disclosure about extraterrestrial
life. The scientists are studying those documents now. According to ancient
wisdom, extraterrestrial beings have been among us since the inception of our
planet. The question is - are we ready to open ourselves to such possibility and interact with them?
