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"The Travels of Marco Polo" Explorer, Journalist (c. 1254–1324)
Just a few years after his return to Venice, Marco commanded a ship in a war against the rival city of Genoa. He was
eventually captured and sentenced to a Genoese prison, where he met a fellow prisoner and writer named
Rustichello. As the two men became friends, Marco told Rustichello about his time in Asia, what he'd seen, where
he'd traveled and what he'd accomplished. His stories were soon committed to paper and eventually published as a
book called The Description of the World, later known as The Travels of Marco Polo.
The book made Marco, who was released from prison in 1299, a celebrity. It was printed in French, Italian and
Latin, becoming the most popular read in Europe. But few readers allowed themselves to believe Marco's tale. They
took it to be fiction, the construct of a man with a wild imagination. The work eventually earned another title: Il
Milione ("The Million Lies"). Marco, however, stood behind his book. He also moved on with his life. After his
release from prison, he returned to Venice, where he married, raised three daughters and, for some 25 years, carried
on the family business.
Marco died at his home in Venice on January 8, 1324. As he lay dying, friends and fans of his book paid him visits,
urging him to admit that his book was fiction. Marco wouldn't relent. "I have not told half of what I saw," he said.
Leg acy
In the centuries since his death, Marco Polo has received the recognition that failed to come his way during his
lifetime. So much of what he claimed to have seen has been verified by researchers, academics and other explorers.
Even if his accounts came from other travelers he met along the way, Marco's story has inspired countless other
adventurers to set off and see the world. Two centuries after Marco's passing, Christopher Columbus set off across
the Atlantic in hopes of finding a new route to the Orient. With him was a copy of Marco Polo's book.
1. Why was Marco Polo in prison? _________________________________________________
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2. Who did he meet in prison and how did that help him? _______________________________
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3. Why was the book called Il Milione? _____________________________________________
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4. How was Polo’s legacy redeemed?________________________________________________
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5. What could he have done to make people believe him? _______________________________
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King Philip Wars
Metacomet was the second son of Massasoit, the Wampanoag sachem(chief) who had managed to keep peace with
the English colonizers of Massachusetts and Rhode Island for many decades. Upon Massasoit’s death (1661) and
that of his eldest son, Wamsutta (English name Alexander), the following year, Metacomet became sachem. He
succeeded to the position during a period characterized by increasing exchanges of Indian land for English guns,
ammunition, liquor, and blankets. He recognized that these sales threatened native American freedom and was
further upset by the humiliations to which he and his people were continually subjected by the colonizers. He was,
for example, summoned to Taunton in 1671 and required to sign a new peace agreement that included the surrender
of Indian guns.
Metacom frightened the settlers, who eventually demonized him as a menace that could not be controlled. For 13
years he kept the region’s towns and villages on edge with the fear of an Indian uprising. Finally, in June 1675,
violence erupted when three Wampanoag warriors were executed by Plymouth authorities for the murder of John
Sassamon, a tribal informer. Metacom’s coalition, comprising the Wampanoag, Narraganset, Abenaki, Nipmuck, and
Mohawk, was at first victorious. On June 20, possibly without Metacomet's approval, a group of Wampanoags
attacked the village of Swansea. Responding to this raid, Puritan leaders in Boston and Plymouth immediately
dispatched as force which burned the Wampanoag town at Mount Hope(Bristol), RI. Metacomet led raids against
Puritan towns such as Middleborough, Dartmouth, Lancaster, Deerfield, Hadley, and Northfield. This lead the New
England Confederation to declare war on Metacomet on September 9. Nine days later a colonial force was beaten at
the Battle of Bloody Brook as they sought to collect crops for the winter. Two weeks later, a colonial company led
by Captain Michael Pierce was surrounded and destroyed by Native American warriors in Rhode Island. On March
29, Metacomet's men burned Providence, RI after it was abandoned by the colonists. Attacks were made at
Andover, Bridgewater, Chelmsford, Groton, Lancaster, Marlborough, Medfield, Medford, Millis, Portland,
Providence, Rehoboth, Scituate, Seekonk, Simsbury, Sudbury, Suffield, Warwick, Weymouth, and Wrentham,
including what is modern-day Plainville. As the spring progressed, Metacomet was successful in driving the Puritans
from many of their outlying villages and forced the settlers to seek the safety of the large towns.
However, after a year of savage fighting during which some 3,000 Indians and 600 colonists were killed, food
became scarce, and the native alliance began to disintegrate. Seeing that defeat was imminent, Metacomet returned
to his ancestral home at Mount Hope, where he was betrayed by an informer and killed in a final battle. He was
beheaded and quartered and his head displayed on a pole for 25 years at Plymouth. Two weeks later, Captain
Benjamin Church and his group of colonial soldiers captured Anawan, the War Chief of the Pocasset People. He was
a chief captain of Metacomet. The capture of Anawan marked the final event in King Philip's War.
1. What triggered the start of the war?_______________________________________________
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2. What was Metacomet’s strategy? _________________________________________________
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3. Why is this important?-_________________________________________________________
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