Marco Polo People and places
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north China for almost twenty years. Marco Polo
spoke four languages and all the Polos knew a lot
about the world, buying and selling things and
about European culture.
sic
Kublai Khan was interested in all these things and
it was information which he needed, so when the
Polos wanted to leave, he didn’t allow them to go.
3
They had to wait until 1292 when the ruler of
45
Persia, today Iran, who was one of Kublai Khan’s
relatives, asked their help to find a wife in China.
When they had found a wife, they were invited back
to Persia for the wedding. A group of 600 people left
China to go to the wedding. They sailed on 14
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Chinese boats from China, to Singapore, all around
India and then to Persia. The journey took two years
and was very dangerous. It is said that only 18
people and some of the people who sailed the ships
55
survived the journey. The Polos were three of the
lucky ones. From there they travelled back to
Venice. They arrived in 1295. In the 24 years they
were away, they travelled about 15,000 miles and
became a lot richer.
ra
n
Marco Polo is one of the world’s most famous
travellers. When he was about 17, he left his home
in Venice and travelled over land to China. He spent
24 years in Asia and then went back to Venice. When
5 he got back, he wrote a book about his journey.
As you might expect Marco had many exciting
adventures over the 24 years, so his whole life was
one long exciting adventure!
We don’t know exactly when and where he was
10 born – this all happened a long time ago – but we
think he was born in Venice in 1254. At the time it
was quite normal for fathers not to be there when
their children were born, but Marco’s father,
Niccolò, did not come back for another 15 years!
1
15 Niccolò, who was a rich merchant , was travelling
around Asia with his brother, Maffeo. And this is
where Marco’s story starts.
Vo
Niccolò and Maffeo went to Asia to buy and sell
things and, of course, to make more money. First
20 they travelled to the capital of Turkey and then on to
what is now Beijing, China. There they met Kublai
Khan. The countries in Asia were not the same then
as they are today but basically Kublai Khan was the
Emperor of China and a large part of Asia. He had
25 never met any Europeans and was very interested in
Europe and its culture. He asked the Polos to take a
2
letter to the Pope in Rome and he also asked
them to take back some people who knew about
grammar, music and mathematics. The Polos went
30 back to Italy but when they arrived the Pope had
died and so they had to wait.
In 1271, after the new Pope had been chosen, they
set off again back to China, but this time with
Marco. Three and a half years later they arrived at
35 Kublai Khan’s palace and gave him letters from the
Pope. They all stayed there and worked for the
Emperor. They travelled around south China and
Marco Polo’s adventures did not finish there. When 60
they arrived back, they found that Venice was at war
with Genoa and Marco Polo was put in prison. It is
said that Marco told his stories to a man called
Rustichello da Pisa, who was also in prison with
him, and Rustichello wrote them down. When he
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left prison four years later, he became a rich
merchant, got married and had three children. His
book which is called “The Travels of Marco Polo”
in English became very famous quite quickly and
taught Europeans a lot about China and Asia. Many 70
other people became interested in travelling to
China, for example Christopher Columbus, who
wanted to travel the other way round the world to
get there. But that is another story!
1 merchant !*m3:tSEnt?: Kaufmann – 2 pope !pEUp?: Papst – 3 ruler !*ru:lE?: Herrscher
© Ernst Klett Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart 2010 | www.klett.de Von dieser Druckvorlage ist die Vervielfältigung für den eigenen
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Autor: Pauline Ashworth, Stuttgart
Bildquellen: (1) Corbis GmbH RM (MAPS.com); (2) iStockphoto (Steven Wynn)
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