When was marco polo born and died

Fast Facts

700 years ago today (08/01/2024), the explorer and merchant Marco Polo died. 

Polo was born in Venice in 1254 to a wealthy merchant family. At 17 Polo left Venice with his father and uncle. They travelled along what would later be known as the Silk Road to China. Polo began recording his observations whilst travelling, providing Europeans with an account of Asian geography, customs, and culture. His findings were formative in terms of early European knowledge of China and Central Asia. Polo was particularly impressed by the Mongol Empire’s use of paper money, which facilitated a complex economy and significant scales of production. 

After four years of travel, Polo arrived in China. Whilst Polo was not the first European to explore China, the book in which he recorded his travels became well known and ultimately made him famous. Polo immersed himself in Chinese culture and learnt four languages, leading him to be accepted into the Empire. The Mongol ruler, Kublai Khan, trusted Polo and his family and sent them on various diplomatic and administrative missions. For instance, Khan requested that Polo and his family return to Europe to send Christian missionaries to China. In 1275 Polo returned to China with two missionaries. Not that Christianity was not new to China — many had practiced it since the seventh century. It was not until the start of the Ming Dynasty in 1368, however, that Christianity began to spread in a significant manner amongst China’s population.

In 1295 Polo returned to Venice. Here, whilst imprisoned for his involvement in a naval conflict between Venice and Genoa, he recorded his travels. This was transcribed into a book, which became popular and was translated into many languages. It included extensive descriptions of the Mongol Empire’s structure, with a particular focus on how information was spread across millions of square miles. Polo’s knowledge serve

(1254-1324)

Who Was Marco Polo?

Marco Polo was a Venetian explorer known for the book The Travels of Marco Polo, which describes his voyage to and experiences in Asia. Polo traveled extensively with his family, journeying from Europe to Asia from 1271 to 1295 and remaining in China for 17 of those years. Around 1292, he left China, acting as escort along the way to a Mongol princess who was being sent to Persia.

Early Life

Polo was born in 1254, in Venice, Italy. Although he was born to a wealthy Venetian merchant family, much of Polo’s childhood was spent parentless, and he was raised by an extended family. Polo's mother died when he was young, and his father and uncle, successful jewel merchants Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, were in Asia for much of Polo's youth.

Niccolo and Maffeo’s journeys brought them into present-day China, where they joined a diplomatic mission to the court of Kublai Khan, the Mongol leader whose grandfather, Genghis Khan, had conquered Northeast Asia. In 1269, the two men returned to Venice and immediately started making plans for their return to Khan's court. During their stay with the leader, Khan had expressed his interest in Christianity and asked the Polo brothers to visit again with 100 priests and a collection of holy water.

Khan's Empire, the largest the world had ever seen, was largely a mystery to those living within the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. A sophisticated culture outside the reaches of the Vatican seemed unfathomable, and yet that's exactly what the Polo brothers described to confounded Venetians when they arrived home.

Voyage to China

In 1271, Polo set out with his father and uncle, Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, for Asia, where they would remain until 1295. Unable to recruit the 100 priests that Kublai Khan had requested, they left with only two, who, after getting a taste of the hard journey ahead of them, soon turned back for home. The Polos' journey took place on land, and they were forced to

Marco Polo  ©Polo was a Venetian traveller and writer who was one of the first westerners to visit China.

Marco Polo was born in around 1254 into a wealthy and cosmopolitan Venetian merchant family. Polo's father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, were jewel merchants. In 1260, they left Venice to travel to the Black Sea, moving onwards to central Asia and joining a diplomatic mission to the court of Kublai Khan, the Mongol ruler of China. Khan asked the Polo brothers to return to Europe and persuade the pope to send scholars to explain Christianity to him. They arrived back in Venice in 1269.

In 1271, they set off again, accompanied by two missionaries and Marco, and in 1275 reached Khan's summer court. For the next 17 years the Polos lived in the emperor's lands. Little is known of these years, but Marco Polo was obviously popular with the Mongol ruler and was sent on various diplomatic missions which gave him the opportunity to see many parts of China.

Around 1292, the Polos offered to accompany a Mongol princess who was to become the consort of Arghun Khan in Persia. The party sailed from a southern Chinese port via Sumatra, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), southern India, and the Persian Gulf. After leaving the princess in Iran, the Polos travelled overland to Constantinople and then to Venice, arriving home in 1295.

The Polos eventually departed for Europe and reached Venice in 1295. Marco became involved in a naval conflict between Venice and Genoa and in 1298 was captured by the Genoese. In prison, his stories attracted the attention of a writer from Pisa, Rustichello, who began to write them down, frequently embellishing them as he went. The resulting book was extremely popular and was translated into many languages under a number of titles, including 'The Million' and the 'Travels of Marco Polo'.

After Polo was released he returned to Venice, where he remained for the rest of his life. He died on 8 January 1324.