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Marco Polo: The travel writer who shocked medieval Europe
Cristina Burack
03/18/2024March 18, 2024
Today, 700 years after his death, Marco Polo remains a household name.
But who was the Italian traveler who chronicled his Silk Road journey to China's Mongol Empire rCo and why has his legacy been steeped in controversy?

https://p.dw.com/p/4daWI
A medieval illustration shows two figures outside a castle surrounded by hills, trees and two riders on horseback.
Marco Polo's became famous for his Silk Road journey to Kublai Khan's
kingdom, depicted aboveImage: CPA Media Co. Ltd/picture alliance
Imagine this: You're 17 and have never left home. Your father and uncle, merchants who have been absent your whole life, return home before they
set off again on their next trip. Only this time, you join them.

The journey will cover 15,000 miles (24,000 km) and last 24 years.
You'll see things you could not have imagined and be catapulted into the
upper echelons of a powerful empire. And, eventually, you'll become one
of the most famous travelers in Western history.

A medieval Persian map depicts Marco Polo and a caravanA medieval
Persian map depicts Marco Polo and a caravan
Marco Polo became famous in medieval Europe for his Silk Road
journeyImage: akg-images/picture alliance
What could be the outline for a blockbuster movie is nothing less than
the biography of Marco Polo.

Born in Venice in 1254, Polo traveled the Silk Road, a medieval trade
route connecting Europe to Asia, between 1271-95, spending 17 of those
years in China as a prominent figure in the flourishing Mongol Empire
under Kublai Khan.

After returning to Italy, Polo collaborated with the writer Rustichello
da Pisa to chronicle his journey. The resulting book, "Il Milione" (The Million), known in English as "The Travels of Marco Polo," eventually
became a medieval bestseller. It was translated into numerous languages
and read by everyone literate, from princes to priests; Christopher
Colombus was said to have carried around a copy.

Pages from a version of the book The Travels of Marco Polo, ancient
writing with illustrations.Pages from a version of the book The Travels
of Marco Polo, ancient writing with illustrations.
The book documented the use of paper money and the burning of coal, and
opened European eyes to the wonders of the EastImage: CPA Media/picture alliance
An account that 'shocked' Europeans
Polo was far from the first European to travel to medieval China, let
alone the first individual to document this. According to Hyunhee Park,
a professor of history at City University of New York, Muslim travelers
were documenting both land and sea voyages to China as early as the 9th
and 10th centuries. But at a time when Europe was closed and
inward-looking, Polo was the first European to bring information on
China into the general consciousness rCo and his report did not meet
European expectations.

Polo described the Mongol Empire as a great civilization with great
cities, Park explained: "Many Europeans were shocked. [He] was even
criticized as a liar."

A Portrait of Marco Polo (1254-1324) A Portrait of Marco Polo (1254-1324)
Marco Polo has fascinated people for centuries. Above, a portrait of him
from the 19th century.Image: Bianchetti/Leemage/picture alliance
Polo's descriptions deviated from the conventions used by other
Westerners who reported on non-European lands, explains Margaret Kim, a professor of foreign languages and literature at National Tsing Hua
University in Taiwan.

"Before and even after Marco Polo, European travel writers, when they
describe foreign places and foreign people, they teach moral lessons and religious doctrine. That's implicit in what they write. But Polo doesn't
have that kind of sense of religious doctrine ... He seems primarily, in
his descriptions, interested in landscapes and customs of different
parts of the world. He's a very secular person."

Employing the 'Imperial Gaze'
Polo's view sets him apart from future European travel accounts, which
were largely driven by a desire to conquer and a perspective of
civilizational superiority.

The Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan overseas payments from merchants in a
medieval illustrationThe Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan overseas payments
from merchants in a medieval illustration
Polo admired the Mongol Empire under Kublai Khan, who in this
15th-century image overseas payments from merchantsImage:
akg-images/picture alliance
"Marco was amazed by the wealth and power of the Mongol rulers at a time
when the East was fabled to be rich and prosperous in comparison with
medieval Europe, so his attitude was very different from later European explorers and militant colonialists," said Zhang Longxi, distinguished professor at Yenching Academy of Peking University, explaining that
future descriptions of China would label it "backward" and "stagnant,"
nothing near the grandeur of Europe.

In China, Polo became a well-respected figure in Khan's court. While his
exact position remains debated, there's a broad consensus that he was a prominent civil servant with diplomatic responsibilities. He therefore
looked at the Mongol Empire not as a foreigner, but as an insider.

A medieval illustration shows Kublai Khan hunting on horsebackA medieval illustration shows Kublai Khan hunting on horseback
Kublai Khan (above, in a version of the 'Travels'), a grandson of
Genghis Khan, established the Mongol Yuan dynasty in ChinaImage: CPA
Media Co. Ltd/picture alliance
"[Marco] left Venice as a teenager and spent the most formative middle
years of his life in Asia. It's there in Asia that he developed his way
of thinking about the world that cannot be characterized as purely
Western," Kim explains. "But he does have what I would call an 'Imperial
gaze' ... He viewed the world as divided between the more or less
civilized peoples of the world. So in Marco Polo's world, you're either
very civilized, somewhat civilized, or savage."

And for him, as Kim points out, the greatest center of civilization was
not the one Europeans expected, but rather: Kublai Khan's Mongol Empire.

The many different travels of Marco Polo?
As a source of historical information, Polo has had his fair share of controversy, much of it based on complexities surrounding his book.

There is no one authoritative manuscript; instead, some 140 different
versions exist. The role of Marco Polo's co-writer Rustichello in the
book's production and his possible influence on its content also adds a
layer of uncertainty viewed differently by historians.

Kim considers Polo to be the author of the book, responsible for its
content and style, and believes Rustichello may have overseen the
copying and dissemination.

Zhang, however, believes that while Polo was the source of information, Rustichello may have shaped the book's content: "Rustichello, a romance writer, actually retold the stories from Marco, likely with added
fantastic colors and details that would appeal to medieval readers," he explained. Yet, the expert added, compared with some other works of
travelogue literature from that period, "The Travels of Marco Polo"
definitely shows restraint in terms of imaginary features.

A medieval illustration shows dog-headed people, including one in regal clothing, all wearing hats with cows or goats on their headsA medieval illustration shows dog-headed people, including one in regal clothing,
all wearing hats with cows or goats on their heads
Historian Zhang Longxi says that many of the fantastical elements in
Marco Polo's book took the form of illustrations in the French version (above)Image: CPA Media Co. Ltd/picture alliance
Omissions of expected information on China and a purported lack of corroborating sources also led some historians, such as the prominent Sinologist Frances Wood, to question the authenticity of Polo's
observations. Yet today, historians tend to agree that Polo's key
observations are so original and so specific, they couldn't have been
made up, or solely be based on second-hand accounts rCo even though Polo/Rustichello make clear in their book's prologue that they too
include second-hand observations in their travelogue.

Scholars, including Park, have also found corroborating proof of Polo's observations, including in primary documents coming from Chinese and
Islamic sources, such as in the writings of Ibn Batutta, the celebrated 14th-century North African explorer.

A depiction from French version of "The Travels of Marco Polo"A
depiction from French version of "The Travels of Marco Polo"
Marco Polo had a great impact on Europe because it was so closed
offImage: akg-images/picture-alliance
Marco Polo: A man for today
Today, 700 years after his death, Marco Polo remains remarkably
well-known, even by non-scholars: an American swimming pool game, an
upscale fashion company, numerous travel businesses, even the "Snapchat
for boomers" all make use of his famous name.

Yet Polo's relevance goes far beyond his branding power.

For Kim, Polo shows that "the world contains things beyond our
imagination of it in ways that may unsettle and disturb, but we can
adapt to that. So the 'Imperial Gaze' is not the property of any culture
or civilization. And it is certainly not the sole property of the West."

As for Zhang, Polo provides a reminder during times of heightened
tensions between much of the West and China that non-antagonistic
cultural relations are possible: "Marco Polo offers an alternative model
of East-West encounters and interrelations that are extremely valuable
for us in today's world. It is a model of mutual understanding and cooperation, rather than [of] fierce rivalry and conflict."

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier

DW author Cristina Burack.DW author Cristina Burack.
Cristina Burack Editor and reporter focusing on culture, politics and
history
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"The Travels of Marco Polo"
Gutenberg Project publication of "The Travels of Marco Polo"
www.gutenberg.org
Debunking the Myth: Did Marco Polo Go to China?
Association for Asian Studies review of Frances Wood's book "Did Marco
Polo go to China?"
www.asianstudies.org
"Marco Polo Was in China: New Evidence from Currencies, Salts and Revenues" Book by Hans Ulrich Vogel on Marco Polo in China
www.amazon.com
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