Marco Polo

 Marco Polo wrote a book called The Travels of Marco Polo. He inspired other Travelers such as Christopher Columbus. Interesting fact about Christopher Columbus is that he had the book The Travels of Marco Polo in his ship as he traveled around. Even before Marco Polo was born his father and uncle where travelers. His father’s name was Niccolo his uncle’s name Maffeo. Niccolo and Maffeo were Venetian Merchants who traded with the city of Serai in the Middle East. Because of a war the Polo’s tried to find a different route home after trading in Serai but we’re captured and held for 3 years. They were rescued by Kubla Khan soldiers and we’re convinced to visit China before heading home. Kubla Khan met the Polo’s and he heard about the Catholic religion and he asked them to go back to Venice and ask the Pope to bring a hundred monks and holy oil so that he could be anointed. When the Polo’s got back, Marco Polo then firs saw his father at age 15 for the first time. It took two years for them to gather all of the monks and sail back to China. they took Marco Polo with them to China. Because they took Marco Polo they were able to write the book The travels of Marco Polo because of his keen eye and all of the things he saw. Marco Polo was surprised at how big the palace was. In his book he described it as the palace was the grandest thing he had ever seen. Some other things surprise him was paper money. He also described coal, which he had never seen before, as stones that burned like logs. Marco Polo spent many years in China before returning to Europe. He stayed in China for 17 years and had trouble speaking English because he had not spoken it for so long, but could speak 4 other languages. Kubla Khan liked Marco Polo a lot so he appointed Marco to his privy Council in 1277