Marco Polos Travel Account - Essay Example

? s School - Marco Polo`s Travel Account Marco Polo (1254-1324) presents a firsthand account of his long journey from VenetianCity to China, at that time known as Cathay. His account is much appraised because he was one of the first Western travelers who had a chance to visit Asia, and explore the vibrant routes via Armenia, Persia, even Afghanistan to Silk route finally to witness the amazing culture of the empire. Also, his study is unique in the sense that before Marco Polo along with his Polo brother`s explored a land which was completely alien to the Western world at that time. In addition, though a few other travelers had already made an effort to travel at far off lands, they hadn’t recorded their accounts the way Marco Polo did. After having analyzed Marco Polo`s travelogue in detail along with the second hand accounts on his writings written afterwards, a few patterns can be identified conveniently. These accounts suggest that the Mongolian Empire which belonged to the Kublai Khan (1214-1294) was a highly glorified one, in the sense that the architecture of the farfetched land, especially Kublai`s palace was beyond imagination, also the Mongolian culture unlike that perceived by the Westerners is a highly enriched one which escalates the senses of anyone experiencing it. Moreover, though Marco Polo had also mentioned the hardships and distance which he had to face in detail, which implies that the journey was a highly difficult one, even after they possessed the VIP pass, however on experiencing their cultures and having the experience of staying close to Kublai Khan for so long, he finally concludes that the hardships were worth it. However, those who have reflected on the works of Marco Polo have further doubted the credibility of Marco Polo on the account that neither had he learnt the Chinese language during all those years, and adding insult to injury, some of the accounts which he had presented are way too amazing to be true. "When a man is riding through this desert by night and for some reason -falling asleep or anything else -he gets separated from his companions and wants to rejoin them, he hears spirit voices talking to him as if they were his companions, sometimes even calling him by name. Often these voices lure him away from the path and he never finds it again, and many travelers have got lost and died because of this. Sometimes in the night travelers hear a noise like the clatter of a great company of riders away from the road; if they believe that these are some of their own company and head for the noise, they find themselves in deep trouble when daylight comes and they realize their mistake.” ---- Marco Polo Travels Quoted above is an account from the Marco Polo travels, an excerpt which indicates the hardships which he and even his companions had to face on their way to Cathay. Analyzing the excerpt, like the one quoted above, one may literally experience the intensity of hardships on the way, also the feelings of helplessness and extreme hunger and isolation while there is no way back. One might even start imagining that he is rather accompanying Marco Polo on his journey, given the quality of writings produced by Marco Polo where he has poured his heart out. Since Marco Polo`s father was a great merchant who had visited Cathay early on for trade, he had the honor of having met Kublai Khan, the emperor of Cathay, and thus the emperor had bestowed the merchant with a VIP passport, which allowed them to access horsebacks and other necessities and luxuries when the Polo brothers were to accompany their father. Relying on these where he experienced an adrenaline rush all that time while he was away, having gathered both good and bad times with him driving on either extreme like a pendulum. However, his stay in Cathay being close to Kublai Khan was rather more of a compensation for all he had experienced during his journey, and once Kublai Khan died, the miseries of Marco Polo still continued however these miseries contributed towards the writings which Marco Polo then decided to produce, which are now a source of education as well as an inspiration for people from different origins and different disciplines. Marco was merely 17 when they left for Cathay from the Venetian City, relying on the golden passport which Kublai Khan had bestowed his father with, where he quotes, “By the strength of the eternal heaven, holy be Khan`s Name. Let him that pays him not reverence he killed” – Marco Polo travels. Thus, the resources on the way including housing, foods and travel should not be an issue for them; however this wasn’t the case for him. Their route allowed them to travel through Armenia to Persia, Afghanistan via Pamir Mountains to Silk route after which they finally reached Cathay (Bergreen 2007). To the benefit of other travelers, Marco Polo made a written record of the terrain which he experienced; out of which some are quiet amazing. For instance, he had written various accounts for the Gobi Desert and quotes that the desert is essentially about 500,000 square miles of distance, all of which is sand, and he further indicates that it would take about an year to pass the desert from one end to another, and the nature of this terrain is such that there is nothing to eat and nothing to drink. When Marco Polo, however, reached the Mongolian civilization, much to his relief, it was a great culture which he seems to love, as indicated in his writings. Much to the surprise of many readers, though he hadn’t managed to learn any of the Chinese languages, however, he had learnt about four different languages spoken and understood by the Mongolian civilization. And since Marco Polo had lived for a very long period with the Mongols, once he reached Kublai Khan, he was able to impress the emperor with his knowledge over the Mongolian culture. Also, before the Polo`s had reached Cathay, they had already travelled about 5600 miles in about three and a half years as recorded in the travelogue of Marco Polo. Marco Polo’s travel history includes almost the whole world that he travelled and noted down all the important happenings during his quest. In Cathay, the writings and account of Marco Polo, i.e. his excerpts along with his books, this period where he lived alongside Kublai Khan was a time period which was a source of pleasure to Marco Polo which he highly value and presents an extended and exaggerated account of his stay in his writings. Marco Polo was so fond of the place and also of emperor Kublai Khan that he spent a time of 17 years with him as his advisor. Here he learnt about trade and industry, and prior to Marco Polo`s account, people of the West weren’t so aware of the highly glorified industry owned by Cathay. Moreover, Marco Polo discovered the paper currency for the first time over here, which implied that instead of using copper and silver, even gold coins, the trade and financial transactions would be made easy by replacing them with paper money, another amazing discovery for the Westerners. While on one hand, Marco Polo learnt a great deal by the Cathay culture and industry, on the other hand, he even contributed to Cathay culture in the sense that he told them the more convenient method for sending messages with the help of horses who acted as messengers situated at a distance, who gave messages to one after another like that in a relay race (Polo 2004). Further, Marco Polo has written piles of page on the amazing architecture of the palace which belonged to Kublai Khan, the walls of which were covered with gold and silver. The hall of the palace was so huge that about 6000 people can fit in all at once. Moreover, like everything else which was beyond fantastic in the palace, the stable was also in itself a wonder of the world where about a thousand of white horses were present, and it was the pure milk of these horses which the royal family used to drank. The rooms were also all pieces of art in themselves, as Marco Polo indicated that the finest of the art paintings and sculptures were places in all rooms which were all masterpieces which Marco Polo had never seen before. Also, Europe didn’t have any such source of fuel like the one present in Cathay, where there were rocks which burnt like coal to produce fuel. However, after Marco Polo left for home, via his voyage, Kublai Khan died which was quiet sad news for Polo. On his way, Marco Polo was also captured as a prisoner of war where he had the chance to meet a writer from Pisa who acted as an inspiration to Marco Polo and convinced him to write a book based on his experience. Marco was released from prison after about a year, after which he went back to Venetian City and got married, and had two daughters. His was so moved by his journey that he wrote, “I have written only half of what I saw! Which were his last words on his death bed. (Freedman 2006) Thus, the writings of Marco Polo acted as a source of information and education especially for the Westerners who were completely unaware of the amazing cultures of Mongolian civilization and the fantastic empire of Kublai Khan along with the industry and the nature of transactions which took place in Cathay. Marco Polo’s study of the world especially the Mongolian civilization acted as a source of inspiration for other explorers to go there and study them by themselves. He inspired all the civilizations of the world. Marco polo’s books and writings were an encyclopedia of these civilizations. Also, Marco Polo had managed to comprehend an account of all his hardships to which the readers can relate. However, some of the readers and researchers on the other hand state that it is rather story telling technique used by Marco Polo as the amazing accounts can`t be true, not at least all of them. However, it is up to the readers to believe or not to believe relying on their own sense of judgment. References: Polo, Marco. 1958. The travels of Marco Polo. With 25 illus. in full color from a fourteenth-century MS. in the Bibliothe?que nationale, Paris. New York: Orion Press; distributed by Crown Publishers. Bergreen, Laurence. 2007. Marco Polo: from Venice to Xanadu. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Freedman, Russell. 2006. The adventures of Marco Polo. New York, NY: A.A. Levine Books Polo, Marco. 2004. The travels: Marco Polo. London: Penguin. Primary Source Polo, Marco. 1958. The travels of Marco Polo. With 25 illus. in full color from a fourteenth-century MS. in the Bibliothe?que nationale, Paris. New York: Orion Press; distributed by Crown Publishers. Read More