September 15, 1254 The inspirer of the Great Geographical Discoveries was born in Venice

On September 15, 1254 the inspirer of the Great Geographical Discoveries was born in Venice. Marco Polo appears in the white world.

He, together with his father Niccolò and his uncle Matteo, traveled the Silk Road to China for 24 years and gave the first information about the island of Sipangu (Japan).

In 1254, the same year Marco was born, his father Niccolò Polo and his brother Matteo embarked on a 15-year journey, during which they crossed the Transcaspian steppes, past the Tianshan Mountains and reached Shandong, the capital of the great Mongol Khan Kubilai, who gave them a warm welcome. In 1269, the two brothers returned to Venice with rich gifts.

In the autumn of 1271, the brothers embarked on a new journey to Asia as merchants and ambassadors together with the already 17-year-old Marco. Leaving Acre in Palestine, they move much further south, cross Asia Minor and the Armenian highlands, turn south into Kurdistan and descend the Tigris River to Basra.

They then head north to Tabriz in Persia and then cross southeast through Iran through Kerman to Hormuz. Unable to reach China by sea through India, they made the arduous trek through the Desert of Lut to the city of Cayen. From there, through the Afghan cities of Herat and Balkh, they continue east along the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush and reach the foothills of the Pamirs. They turn northeast and descend into the Kashgar oasis, and then skirt the Taklamakan desert from the south, moving along the northwestern parts of Tibet, from oasis to oasis to the lower reaches of the Cherchen River.

On their further journey, they passed through the Kumtag desert, reached the Sulekh River, and from there to the city of Ganzhou, where, for unknown reasons, they lived for a whole year. From Ganzhou, the Venetians traveled southeast to the city of Xining, then along the Yellow River and in 1275 they arrived in Beijing – the capital of the Great Mongol Khan Hanbalik.

In China, Marco Polo quickly learned Chinese, Turkic and Mongolian languages. The emperor loves him very much and starts sending him on various missions as his special envoy. Unlike other officials, he is able to notice the details in the different traditions and the diversity in the life and daily life of the local people, and after returning to the emperor, he tells him everything he saw during the trip. Therefore, the emperor increasingly prefers to send him on missions to gather the necessary information. As a result, Marco Polo receives more and more important tasks, and the emperor needs his services more and more.

Marco Polo lived in China for a total of 17 years. He was sent on errands to many places, even visiting the countries of South Asia on behalf of the emperor. In addition, he also worked as a local governor in Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province for three years.

Time passes and the three Europeans begin to miss home. They repeatedly beg the emperor to release them, but he needs them and won't let them go.

In 1292, the three Venetians were ordered to escort two princesses – Chinese and Mongolian to Persia, who will marry an Ilkhan in the capital Tabriz.

By water they traveled along the Indochina peninsula, the islands of Java, Sumatra and Ceylon and in 1294 they reached Persia, where they safely delivered the princesses to the groom. From there, through Armenia and Trebizond, in 1295 they returned to Venice after a 24-year absence.

The return of the three travelers surprises the people of Venice because they no longer believe they are alive. Marco Polo left his hometown only at the age of 17, and returned home as a 40-year-old man. Seeing the jewels and silk they brought, the Venetians began to call him “Millionaire Marco”. He felt like a stranger in his city, and in 1296 he again went on a commercial voyage.

Hardly out to sea, Polo's galley was attacked by the Genoese (at that time Venice and Genoa were fighting a war for naval supremacy). Marco was captured and imprisoned in Genoa until 1299. Although he was a prisoner, people came to him to hear about his extraordinary life in China.

In prison there is a prisoner from Pisa (Rusticano or Rusticello) who writes novels of chivalry (Marco Polo himself is illiterate) and writes down everything the traveler tells him. Later he published “The Travels of Marco Polo“ or “The Million”, which became a world famous book. It tells in detail about Marco Polo's impressions of Chinese cities such as Yangzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, etc., as well as about the prosperity of China.

After the publication of the book in 1299, Marco Polo was released and returned to Venice, took a wife from a noble Venetian family and from this marriage three daughters were born to him – two of them were married to merchants from Dalmatia, which confirms the hypothesis of his Croatian origin. His home is on the corner of Rio di San Giovanni Crisostomo and Rio di San Lio

streets

He died on January 8, 1324 in his hometown of Venice and was buried in the church of “San Lorenzo”. In 1596, his home (where, according to legend, the items brought from China were stored) burned down in a fire. The Church of “San Lorenzo” was demolished in the 19th century.

It is named after the Marco Polo Ridge (Bokaluktag) in China's Kunlun Mountains, as well as a species of mountain ram from that area. In 1851, the ship “Marco Polo”, named after the explorer, became the first ship to circumnavigate the world in less than 6 months. The airport in Venice also bears his name. The TV series “Marco Polo“ from 1982 it became an Emmy Award winner.