People often think of marco polo as the most famous traveller of his time But it is important to remember that marco’s father and uncle travelled to the East before him. Without the earlier journey of Niccolo and Maffeo Polo we cannot imaging the travels of Marco and his book the Description of the world.
Niccolo and Maffeo left Venice for Constantinople in 1253 they sailed from the city in large ships full of good to trade . At this time, travel by sea was dangerous dirty and very uncomfortable so the brothers were surely pleased to at last in constantinople
The great city was an important center for merchants from around the world . the brothers traded busily here for six years and bought a lof of jewels. But after some fighting between different groups in the city, the Polos decided to leave and take their jewels with them
The brothers first salied to Sudak in modern – day Ukraine . they wanted to return Venice but travel from here was too dangerous . So they began to move east along the north route of the Silk Road. The roads were safer in this area because they were under the rule of the Mongols . On the journey the brothers bought and sold goods like salt, animal skins , gold and spices.
The travelled to serai in a plece now called Astrakhan this was the summer home of the Mongo ruler Barka khan and his people. When the POlos first met Barka Khan, they gave him their jewels from Constantiniple as a present . But the ruler then gave them twice the number of jewels in return !
The brothers, who were now rich, stayed in Serai for a year and traded. They then travelled to famous Silk Road city of Bukhara in modern day Uzbekistan . More fighting meant that they could not go further , or return home , so they worked there as merchants for three years.
By luck they met an ambassador in Bukhara who was going yo visit the great Mongol rule of china , Kublai khan. The ambassador agreed to take the two men to China to meet the Khan. In 1264 the Polos arrived at Kublai Khan’s palace in Khanbaliq, or modern –day Beijing . It was now eleven years since they first left Venice
Later in the Descriotion the world Marco talked about this famous meeting between the polo and Kublai khan. We learn that great ruler was very interested to hear about the rest of the world . He asked the brothers about the pope , the Christian church , and the different rulers in Europe.
The Khan likrd Niccolo and Maffeo. The brothers traded in China for two years and learned to speak the Mongol language well. But in the end they wanted to return home. Kublai Khan agree, and he gave the two men a beautiful gold passport. With this they could travel freely in the larger Mongol Empire and always get food and place to sleep along the road.
but before the brothers left, the khan asked them to take a message to the Pope and to return to China with a hunded Christian priest ! he also asked for some of the special oli from the famous Church of the holy sepulcher in Jerusalem. Niccolo and maffeo agreed and said that they would return as soon as possible
After a three – year journey along the Silk Road , the brothers arrived at Acre, a town on the Mediterranean Sea. There they leaned that the pope was dead and they could not take the Khan’s message t o him. So they sailed straight home to Venice to see their families
In 1269 , Niccolo and Maffeo arrived in Venice-sixteen years after they began their journey . But life was now very different . Niccolo’s wife was long dead and he had a fifteen –year-old son called Marco
Perhaps it was difficute for Marco to meet his ‘new ’ father and for Niccolo to meet his ‘New’ son –we can only imagine. But niccolo and maffeo’s return was surely a time for telling stories of the East –stories about the great Mongol Empire and the Silk Road