But perhaps the Great Wall was not worth mentioning. The Great Wall of China | It seems suspicious that the Venetian merchant could go to China and not mention this colossal engineering accomplishment. Marco Polo has been praised for the level of detail in his writing and criticised for getting things wrong – or leaving stuff out entirely

Niccolo and Maffeo wished to see the conclusion of the ongoing papal election so they could deliver a letter from Kublai Khan to the new pope. Marco must have been eager to join his father and uncle on their travels, but that had to wait. There are no other clues in The Travels of Marco Polo to explain how Niccolo and Maffeo spent the years in China. That was the reason for their second expedition, during which Niccolo’s teenage son Marco accompanied them, although they failed to bring the 100 priests. He asked the Polo brothers to deliver a message to the Pope and return with 100 Christian priests (or scholars able to explain Christianity to him) and oil from the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. They may have been the first Europeans honoured as guests at the court of Kublai Khan.Īlthough the Mongols were regarded as barbaric and uncivilised in Europe, the empire was relatively peaceful at this time and Kublai Khan showed a high degree of tolerance towards other races and religions. They continued east to the court of Berke Khan – the ruler of the Golden Horde, the Mongol’s western territories – and then to China. They began in Constantinople (now Istanbul), but showed astute political awareness by removing their business from the city just a year before the Crusader leaders there were overthrown in 1261. The two brothers were successful merchants, making their fortune in jewels, silks and spices before Marco had been born.

If not for his father Niccolo and uncle Maffeo, Marco Polo would not have made his epic voyage to China at all, and so would not have written the book that forevermore changed the European view of the world.

The history of marco polo