One of a Legion
of Translations of Il Milione
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Marco!
Polo!
A Bored Prisoner,
Marco Polo Creates
a Diversion that
Becomes a Story
for the Ages.
Dr. Ronald Fritze
For I would have you know
that from the time when our Lord God
formed Adam our first parent with His hands
down to this day there has been no man,
Christian or Pagan, Tartar or Indian,
or of any race whatsoever,
who has known or explored so many
of the various parts of the world
and of its great wonders
as this same Messer Marco Polo.
From the Prologue of the Travels of Marco Polo
My title makes reference to the well-known game of Marco Polo. Its namesake, the medieval traveler and writer Marco Polo (1254?-1324), is even better known. He was a man of great and lasting achievement.
Marco Polo is the subject of many books and even some movies. He was born in Venice, the great trading city of the Middle Ages. His family were merchants of rather modest means. From 1260-1269, Marco Polo's father, Nicolo Polo, and his uncle, Maffeo Polo, traveled all the way to the court of Kublai Khan, the Mongol emperor of China. Kublai Khan desired to learn more about Christianity and wanted to develop closer relations with Europe. The Polo brothers were sent back as envoys to the Pope.
Marco Becomes a Busy Diplomat.
After staying in Venice two years, Nicolo and Maffeo decided to return to China. They took young Marco with them. Their lengthy visit lasted from 1271-1295. Marco Polo proved to be clever and attracted the favorable attention of Kublai Khan, who employed him for many years as a government official and diplomat. Marco's diplomatic status allowed him to travel through much of Asia and also provided access to information about other lands he was unable to visit.
Upon his return to Venice, Marco Polo went to war, fighting for his home city against the Genoese. Captured in battle, he suffered imprisonment with a scribe named Rustichello of Pisa. Together they passed the time writing a book about Asia. They called the book Il Milione. It was popular then, and continued to attract wide readership in subsequent generations. Some doubted Marco's stories soon after they were published (a few critics refused to believe that Polo had visited China), and contemporary skeptics raise the cry of doubt even today. However, Il Milione in its many translations remains a potent text with widespread influence on how students and scholars view the Age of Discovery.
The popular image of Marco Polo and his book contains some misunderstandings and inaccuracies. Il Milione in English is frequently called the "Travels of Marco Polo." First-time readers of the "Travels" are disappointed to learn that the book is not a narrative account of Polo's journey to and from China. The book begins with a brief and somewhat vague itinerary that gets the Polos to China. After that the book surveys the various lands, regions, and cities of China and its neighbors. Various geographical and ethnographic tales are included along the way, such as the stories of the Old Man in the Mountain, the mysterious Christian ruler Prester John, and the fabled land of Cipangu (Japan). Autobiographical comments are scattered throughout the work, but its focus is not on Marco Polo.
A Legion of Europeans
Made the Journey to China.
Most people also assume that Marco Polo, his father and his uncle were lone European travelers who bravely and uniquely made their way to China.  In fact, a significant number of Europeans traveled to China during the period when the Mongols dominated Asia. Missionaries such as John of Monte Corvino (d. 1328/30) and Odoric of Pordenone (1286?-1331) established churches in the China of Kublai Khan. Other merchants were present in China. The fictional Sir John Mandeville mentioned the Khan employing 10,000 Englishmen as mercenaries — and late medieval Europeans had no difficulty believing him.
With so many Europeans traveling to Asia during the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, what distinguished Marco Polo? His uniqueness came from his pen. He wrote his travels down and compiled a detailed account of Asia, whereas the others did not. Perhaps if Marco had not suffered the enforced leisure of a prisoner of war, he would have never written his account either.
Veracity, or Doubt?
As I mentioned earlier, readers in Marco Polo's day doubted his account. Critics rejected some of his stories - and most audaciously, some branded his account as total fabrication, claiming he had never set foot in China. The idea that Marco Polo never visited China has been revived in the late twentieth century. He is accused of plagiarizing some Persian travel books.
However, the consensus of scholars specializing in medieval European contacts with Asia supports Marco Polo's veracity.
 When the fall of the Mongols and the resurgence of the Islamic powers closed Asia to European travel, Marco Polo remained a primary source of knowledge about Asia. He would serve as an inspiration for Christopher Columbus. For people living in the early twenty-first century, Marco Polo's name is synonymous with adventure and travel.
Like Marco, Like Ibn.
In yet another perspective, Marco Polo's travels pale when compared with the journeys of the great Arab traveler, Ibn Battuta (1304-1369) of Tangier. He traveled over 75,000 miles throughout the Islamic world of Europe, Asia, and Africa from 1325 until 1354.
Like Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta wrote an account of his travels.
Like Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta was not believed by many of his contemporaries.
And like Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta in 2005 remains a voice of textual power and influence. The nameless doubters have long since faded to obscurity and dust.
PLANET CLIO is ruled by Dr. Ronald Fritze,
Professor of History at the University of Central Arkansas.
An independent entity in the CornDancer consortium of planets,
Planet Clio is dedicated to the study and exploration of history.
CORNDANCER
is a privately owned, non-commercial developmental website
for the mind and spirit
maintained by webmistress Freddie A. Bowles of the Planet Earth.
Submissions are invited.
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