Question 1

His book made Europe believe the East was real — and historians have argued for seven hundred years about how much of it he actually saw.

Accepted Answer

He spent seventeen years in the service of Kublai Khan and came home to a Venice that thought he was lying. Then he was captured in a war, dictated everything to a cellmate who wrote romances, and the result became the most influential travel book ever written.

Question 2

Marco Polo: what happened in 1271?

Accepted Answer

East, at seventeen — He leaves Venice with his father and uncle, carrying letters for Kublai Khan and oil from the lamp of the Holy Sepulchre.

Question 3

Marco Polo: what happened in 1275?

Accepted Answer

The court of Kublai Khan — They reach Shangdu. The Khan, ruler of the largest land empire in history, takes an interest in the young Venetian and puts him to work.

Question 4

Marco Polo: what happened in 1298?

Accepted Answer

A Genoese prison, and a co-author — Captured in Venice's war with Genoa, he shares a cell with Rustichello da Pisa, a writer of Arthurian romances. Marco dictates; Rustichello shapes.

Marco Polo — Silk Road · 1271 · 24 years away · Great Explorers

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