Marco Polo sayfasının kaynağını görüntüle

{{About|the trader and explorer}}
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{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2011}}
{{Good article}}{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox person
 | name             = Marco Polo
 | image            = [[File:Marco Polo - costume tartare.jpg|250px]]
 | caption          = Polo wearing a [[Tatar]] outfit, date of print unknown
 | birth_date       = 1254
 | birth_place      = Venice, [[Republic of Venice]]
 | death_date       = {{death date and age|1324|1|8|1254|df=yes}}
 | death_place      = Venice, [[Republic of Venice]]
 | body_discovered  = 
 | death_cause      = 
 | resting_place    = [[San Lorenzo, Venice|Church of San Lorenzo]]
 | resting_place_coordinates = {{Coord|45.4373|12.3455|type:landmark_region:IT|display=inline}}
 | residence        = 
 | nationality      = Venetian
 | known_for        = ''[[The Travels of Marco Polo]]''
 | occupation       = Merchant
 | religion         = [[Catholicism]]
 | spouse           = Donata Badoer
 | children         = Fantina, Bellela and Moretta
 | parents          = Mother: Nicole Anna Defuseh<br />Father: [[Niccolò Polo]]
}}
'''Marco Polo''' ({{IPAc-en|audio=en-us-marco polo.ogg|ˈ|m|ɑr|k|oʊ|_|ˈ|p|oʊ|l|oʊ}} {{IPA-it|ˈmarko ˈpɔːlo}}; 1254{{spaced ndash}}January 8–9, 1324){{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=340–342}} was a [[Venice Republic|Venetian]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Marco Polo - Exploration - HISTORY.com|url=http://www.history.com/topics/exploration/marco-polo|accessdate=January 9, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Marco Polo - New World Encyclopedia|url=http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Marco_Polo|accessdate=January 9, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=BBC - History - Historic Figures: Marco Polo (c.1254 - 1324)|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/polo_marco.shtml|accessdate=January 9, 2017}}</ref>   merchant traveller and citizen of the [[Venice Republic]]<ref name=HFH>{{Citation|title=[[Tait's Edinburgh magazine]], Volume 10 |last=[[William Tait (publisher)|William Tait]], [[Christian Isobel Johnstone]] |year=1843 |place=Edinburgh}}</ref><ref name=HKJ>{{Citation|title=Venice and Its Merchant Empire|first= Kathryn|last= Hinds|year=2002 |place=New York}}</ref> whose travels are recorded in ''[[The Travels of Marco Polo|Livres des merveilles du monde]]'' (''Book of the Marvels of the World'', also known as ''The Travels of Marco Polo'', c. 1300), a book that described to Europeans the wealth and great size of China, its capital Peking, and other Asian cities and countries.

He learned the mercantile trade from his father and uncle, [[Niccolò and Maffeo Polo|Niccolò and Maffeo]], who travelled through Asia and met [[Kublai Khan]]. In 1269, they returned to Venice to meet Marco for the first time. The three of them embarked on an epic journey to Asia, returning after 24 years to find Venice [[Venetian–Genoese Wars|at war with]] [[Republic of Genoa|Genoa]]; Marco was imprisoned and dictated his stories to a cellmate. He was released in 1299, became a wealthy [[merchant]], married, and had three children. He died in 1324 and was buried in the church of [[San Lorenzo, Venice|San Lorenzo in Venice]].

Marco Polo was not the first European to reach China  (see [[Europeans in Medieval China]]), but he was the first to leave a detailed chronicle of his experience. This book inspired [[Christopher Columbus]]<ref name="Landström 1967 27">{{Harvnb|Landström|1967|p=27}}</ref> and many other travellers. There is a substantial literature based on Polo's writings; he also influenced European cartography, leading to the introduction of the [[Fra Mauro map]].

==Life==

===Family origin===
[[File:VENEZIA MILION.JPG|thumb|''Corte del Milion'' is still named after the nickname of Polo, "Il Milione".]]
Marco Polo was born in 1254<ref name="Italiani nel sistema solare">[https://books.google.com/books?id=TiTXdptskSsC&pg=PA67&dq=marco+polo+15+settembre+1254&hl=it&sa=X&ei=FHywUuKYKMHnywPTnoKIDA&ved=0CEwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=marco%20polo%2015%20settembre%201254&f=false Italiani nel sistema solare] di Michele T. Mazzucato</ref>{{refn|group="nb"|Many sources state "around 1254"; {{Harvnb|Britannica|2002|p=571}} states, "born in or around 1254". Some historians mentioned that he was born on September 15 1254,<ref name="Italiani nel sistema solare"/> but that date is not supported by primary sources, nor is it endorsed by mainstream scholarship.}} in [[Venice Republic]].{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=5}} His exact date and place of birth are archivally unknown.{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=5–6|ps=: have not yet been determined where (nor exactly when) the Traveler was born. His birth was not recorded in the Venetian registers of births (and not only that: the first document that connects Venice and his family is the same testament of his uncle Marco made yr. 1280), and Korčula's registers of births began to take a lot after his birth (only from 1583 yr.). Yet the Italian historiography considers that he was born in Venice and calls for the alleged Marco's paternal grandfather - Andrea Polo of San Felice (whose, as we said, first mention is by G. B. Ramusio), while our historical science claims the place of his birth island Korčula. Italian historians often, due to lack of archives of the birth of Marco Polo in Venice, stress that certainly was born in the Venetian Republic since Dalmatia was then in its composition.}}<ref name="PeklicPolo">{{cite journal |title=Marko Polo - Svjetski Putnik |trans-title=Marco Polo - The World Traveler |url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=102234 |first=Ivan |last=Peklić |publisher=Ivan Zakmardi Dijankovečki Gymnasium |location=Križevci |journal=Metodički ogledi |volume=17 |issue=1-2 |year=2011 |pages=50 |language=Croatian |quote=Birthplace of Marco Polo is archivally undetermined, but it is assumed that his ancestors came from Dalmatia. There are many scientific discussions on the subject in which as the birthplace mention Korčula, Venice or Constantinople...}}</ref> Some historians mentioned that he was born on September 15<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.fr/books?id=TvyZQQAACAAJ&dq=marco+polo+15+september+1254&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y|title=Marco Polo: The Connection with Greek Spirit, Gregory Zorzos - 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.fr/books?id=sZqWAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA8&dq=marco+polo+biography+1254+september&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Marco Polo, Jim Ollhoff, 2014}}</ref> 
but that date is not endorsed by mainstream scholarship{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}. Marco Polo's birthplace is generally considered [[Venice]],<ref name="PeklicPolo"/><ref name="Bergreen25">{{Harvnb|Bergreen|2007|p=25}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=x-PZdFbG6dEC&pg=PA24  online copy pp. 24–25])</ref> but also varies between [[Constantinople]],{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=14}}<ref name="PeklicPolo"/> and the island of [[Korčula]].{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=24}}<ref name="PeklicPolo"/><ref name="Michael Burgan7">[https://books.google.com/books?id=v7j5HuiU9_4C&printsec=frontcover&hl=it#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Marco Polo and the Silk Road to China''] by Michael Burgan, Compass Point Books, ISBN 0756501806, p. 7</ref><ref name="Timothy Brook24">Timothy Brook, ''The Troubled Empire: China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties'', 2010, ISBN 9780674046023, p. 24</ref> There is dispute as to whether the Polo family is of Venetian origin, as Venetian historical sources considered them to be of [[Dalmatia]]n origin.<ref name="Italiani nel sistema solare"/><ref name="PeklicPolo"/>{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=5–16}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Dizionario Storico-Portatile Di Tutte Le Venete Patrizie Famiglie |trans-title=Historical Dictionary Of All-Portable Venetian Patrician Families |url=https://books.google.it/books?id=9jY8AAAAcAAJ |first=Giuseppe |last=Bettinelli |location=Venice |year=1780 |pages=126 |language=Italian |quote=''Vennero dalla Dalmazia''}}</ref>

The first recorded Polo is Venetian Domenico Polo who was mentioned in 971 regarding the prohibition of trade with the Arabs.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=24}}<ref name="Rugoff">{{cite book |title=Marco Polo |url=https://books.google.hr/books?id=if-BBgAAQBAJ |first=Milton |last=Rugoff |publisher=New Word City |year=2015 |isbn=9781612308388}}</ref> Later other Polos were also mentioned in the service of the realm.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=24}}<ref name="Rugoff"/> Whether they were related with the family of Marco Polo is uncertain, but this could indicate that his ancestors travelled between Venice and Dalmatia.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=24}}

Some of the first indications of where his family originated and were resident come from Venetian documents and manuscripts.<ref name="Poljica">{{cite book |title=Putopisac Marko Polo |trans-title=Travel writer Marco Polo |url=http://www.korcula.net/mpolo/mpolo_pav_text.htm |first=Anđelko |last=Pavešković |journal=Godišnjak Poljičkog dekanata "Poljica" |issue=23 |year=1998 |location=Split |pages=38–66}}</ref> In the 1280 testament of Marco Polo's homonymous uncle it is said that the uncle previously lived in [[Constantinople]], and that his son Nicollo and daughter Marota at the time of testament lived in family house in [[Sudak|Soldaia]] (in [[Crimea]]).{{sfn|Moule&Pelliot|1938|pp=22}}<ref name="Poljica"/> Some scholars argued that this account could go along with the note from ''Il Milione'' that his father and uncle, [[Niccolò and Maffeo Polo]], in 1250 stayed in Constantinople with merchandise from Venice.{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=5}}<ref name="Poljica"/>

The non-Venetian i.e. Dalmatian origin of his family was considered by the Venetians themselves since the 14th century; in the ''Chronicon Iustiniani'' (1385) his family was mentioned among immigrants in Venice{{refn|group="nb"|In the ''Chronicon Iustiniani'' they are mentioned among immigrants, and for whom is not known from where they came, but on the original is written an addition ''Di Dalmazia'', which corresponds with other Venetian sources.<ref name="Poljica"/>}}, in the ''Cronaca di Venezia'' (1446) along his family coat of arms it states "antigamente vene de Dalmatia" (in ancient times came from Dalmatia), and the same again was recorded by [[Marino Sanuto the Younger]] in ''Le Vite dei Dogi'' (1552).{{sfn|Moule&Pelliot|1938|pp=18–19}}{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=9–10}} Sanuto also mentioned a captain from Korčula, Antonio di Polo.{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=10|ps=: ''Zercha uno patron di nave, Antonio di Polo, di Curzola''}} [[Marco Barbaro]] in his ''Genealogie Patrizie'' (1566) mentioned a document from 1033 by which time the family arrived from [[Šibenik]], but the year was probably symbolically chosen by Barbaro himself as in that is the year that Dalmatian cities were conquered by Venetian Doge [[Pietro II Orseolo]].{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=24}}{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=12}} Arthur C. Moule cited two early 17th century Venetian manuscripts "questi ueneno de dalmatia", "Polo questi uene de Dalmatia".{{sfn|Moule&Pelliot|1938|pp=18–19}}{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=10–11}}

Scholars etymologically argued that his family name derives from Latin ''[[Paul (name)|Paul]]us'',{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=24}}<ref name="Rugoff"/> the name of a certain bird species,{{sfn|Moule&Pelliot|1938|pp=20–21}} or like [[Albert t'Serstevens]] considered - from Eastern origin.{{refn|group="nb"|[[Albert t'Serstevens]] noted that he signed himself as Marc Pol, and not like many scholars later transcribed - Marco Polo, and thus had a different non-Italian-Venetian-Latin, yet Eastern ie. Slavic origin. Previously [[Henry Yule]] also argued Eastern origin. [[Arthur Christopher Moule]] researched for the surname Polo-Pollo origin, and the nearest to the origin was Venetian word ''pola'' which there existed for some time, and meant shorebird like the Old Croatian ''pol''. However, according to A. Pavešković the singular ''pola'' has plural ''pole'', thus the surname would be written as Pola and not Pol or Polo, which was not the case. The root ''pol-'' is often found in Croatian history; the Croatian noble tribe Polečić who signed [[Pacta conventa (Croatia)|Pacta conventa]] (1102), village Pol-Buk in [[Lika]] (1449), the [[Republic of Poljica|dutchy of Poljica]] was sometime named in documents as ''Politia'', and many Dalmatian surnames like Polić, Pole, Polina, Poline, Depolo and so on.<ref name="PoljicaNotes">{{cite book |title=Putopisac Marko Polo (Notes) |url=http://www.korcula.net/mpolo/mpolo_pav_note.htm |first=Anđelko |last=Pavešković |journal=Godišnjak Poljičkog dekanata "Poljica" |issue=23 |year=1998 |location=Split |pages=38–66}}</ref>}} By the scholars is related to the three bird specifes who in Old Croatian dialect from [[Republic of Poljica|Poljica]] were called ''pol'', while in the Old Venetian dialect ''pola/pole''; for the shorebird [[wader]], and the [[jackdaw]] or [[chough]], with all fitting the representation of the bird(s) in family coat of arms (compared to Italian ''pollo'', [[rooster]]).{{sfn|Moule&Pelliot|1938|pp=20–21}}{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=10, 141}}<ref name="Poljica"/> However, the habitat of the shorebird is non-existent on Korčula, and should be related to [[Venetian Lagoon|Venice laguna]] or wetland areas of Dalmatia like that of Šibenik.{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=141}} The surname Polo seems related with other widespread Dalmatian surnames.{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=13}} The lack of evidence makes the Korčula theory (probably under Ramusio influence{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=8}}) as a specific birthplace strongly disputed,{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=5}} and even some Croatian scholars consider it justly invented.<ref>Olga Orlić (Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb, Croatia), ''[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212682113000140 The curious case of Marco Polo from Korčula: An example of invented tradition]'', Journal of Marine and Island Cultures, Volume 2, Issue 1, June 2013, Pages 20–28</ref>

===Early life and Asian travel===
{{See also|Niccolò and Maffeo Polo|Europeans in Medieval China}}

[[File:Marco Polo Mosaic from Palazzo Tursi.jpg|thumb|Mosaic of Marco Polo displayed in the Palazzo Doria-Tursi, in [[Genoa]], [[Italy]]]]

In 1168, his great-uncle, Marco Polo, borrowed money and commanded a ship in Constantinople.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=25}}<ref name="Rugoff"/> His grandfather, Andrea Polo of the parish of San Felice, had three sons, Maffeo, yet another Marco, and the traveller's father Niccolò.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=25}} This genealogy, described by Ramusio, is not universally accepted as there is no additional evidence to support it.{{sfn|Noule&Pelliot|1938|pp=15–16}}<ref name="Poljica"/>

His father, [[Niccolò and Maffeo Polo|Niccolò Polo]], a merchant, traded with the [[Near East]], becoming wealthy and achieving great prestige.<ref name="Britannica571"/><ref name="WB">{{Harvnb|Parker|2004|pp=648–649}}</ref> Niccolò and his brother Maffeo set off on a trading voyage before Marco's birth.<ref name="Italiani nel sistema solare"/><ref name="WB"/> In 1260, Niccolò and Maffeo, while residing in Constantinople, then the capital of the [[Latin Empire]], foresaw a political change; they liquidated their assets into jewels and moved away.<ref name="Britannica571">{{Harvnb|Britannica|2002|p=571}}</ref> According to ''The Travels of Marco Polo'', they passed through much of Asia, and met with [[Kublai Khan]], a Mongol ruler and founder of the [[Yuan dynasty]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Yule|Cordier|1923|loc=ch.1–9}}</ref> Their decision to leave Constantinople proved timely. In 1261 [[Michael VIII Palaiologos]], the ruler of the [[Empire of Nicaea]], took Constantinople, promptly burned the Venetian quarter and re-established the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]]. Captured Venetian citizens were blinded,<ref>Zorzi, Alvise, Vita di Marco Polo veneziano, Rusconi Editore, 1982</ref> while many of those who managed to escape perished aboard overloaded refugee ships fleeing to other Venetian colonies in the Aegean Sea.

Almost nothing is known about the childhood of Marco Polo until he was fifteen years old, excepting that he probably spent part of his childhood in Venice.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=36}}{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=24}}<ref name="Rugoff"/> Meanwhile, Marco Polo's mother died, and an aunt and uncle raised him.<ref name="WB"/> He received a good education, learning mercantile subjects including foreign currency, appraising, and the handling of cargo ships;<ref name="WB"/> he learned little or no [[Latin]].<ref name="Britannica571"/> His father later married Floradise Polo (née Trevisan).<ref name="Poljica"/>

In 1269, Niccolò and Maffeo returned to their families in Venice, meeting young Marco for the first time.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=36}} In 1271, during the rule of [[Doge]] [[Lorenzo Tiepolo]], Marco Polo (at seventeen years of age), his father, and his uncle set off for Asia on the series of adventures that Marco later documented in his book.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=37}} They returned to Venice in 1295, 24 years later, with many riches and treasures. They had travelled almost {{convert|15000|mi|km|-3}}.<ref name="WB"/>

===Genoese captivity and later life===
[[File:Chiesa di San Lorenzo.jpg|thumb|''[[San Lorenzo, Venice|San Lorenzo]]'' church in the [[sestiere]] of [[Castello, Venice|Castello]] ([[Venice]]), where Polo was buried. The photo shows the church as is today, after the 1592 rebuilding.]]
Marco Polo returned to Venice in 1295 with his fortune converted into [[gemstone]]s. At this time, Venice was at war with the [[Republic of Genoa]].<ref name="Donald M. Nicol219">Nicol 1992, p. 219</ref> Polo armed a galley equipped with a [[trebuchet]]<ref name="pierriere">Yule, ''The Travels of Marco Polo'', London, 1870: reprinted by Dover, New York, 1983.</ref> to join the war. He was probably caught by Genoans in a skirmish in 1296, off the [[Anatolia|Anatolian coast]] between [[Adana]] and the [[Gulf of İskenderun|Gulf of Alexandretta]]<ref>According to fr. Jacopo d'Aqui,'' Chronica mundi libri imaginis''</ref> and not during the [[battle of Curzola]] (September 1298), off the Dalmatian coast.{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=28–36}} The latter claim is due to a later tradition (16th Century) recorded by [[Giovanni Battista Ramusio]].<ref>Polo, Marco; Latham, Ronald (translator) (1958). ''The Travels of Marco Polo'', p. 16. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-044057-7.</ref>{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=8, 12, 28–36}}

He spent several months of his imprisonment dictating a detailed account of his travels to a fellow inmate, [[Rustichello da Pisa]],<ref name="WB"/> who incorporated tales of his own as well as other collected anecdotes and current affairs from China. The book soon spread throughout Europe in manuscript form, and became known as ''[[The Travels of Marco Polo]]''. It depicts the Polos' journeys throughout Asia, giving Europeans their first comprehensive look into the inner workings of the Far East, including China, India, and Japan.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bram|1983}}</ref>

Polo was finally released from captivity in August 1299,<ref name="WB"/> and returned home to Venice, where his father and uncle in the meantime had purchased a large [[Palace#Italy|palazzo]] in the zone named ''contrada San Giovanni Crisostomo'' (Corte del Milion).{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=332}} For such a venture, Polo family probably invested profits from trading, and even many gemstones they brought from the East.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=332}} The company continued its activities and Marco soon became a wealthy merchant. Marco and his uncle Maffeo financed other expeditions, but likely never left Venetian provinces, nor returned to the Silk Road and Asia.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=333}} Somewhere before 1300, his father Niccolò died.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=333}} In 1300, he married Donata Badoèr, the daughter of Vitale Badoèr, a merchant.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=332–333}} They had three daughters, Fantina (married Marco Bragadin), Bellela (married Bertuccio Querini), and Moreta.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=333, 338}}<ref>{{Harvnb|Power|2007|p=87}}</ref>

In 1305 he is mentioned in a Venetian document among local sea captains regarding the payment of taxes.<ref name="Poljica"/> His relation with a certain Marco Polo, who in 1300 was mentioned with riots against the aristocratic government, and escaped the death penalty, as well as riots from 1310 led by [[Bajamonte Tiepolo]] (by mother side grandson of Trogir count Stjepko [[Šubić noble family|Šubić]]) and Marco Querini, among whose rebels were Jacobello and Francesco Polo from another family branch, is unclear.<ref name="Poljica"/> Polo is clearly mentioned again after 1305 in Maffeo's testament from 1309–1310, in a 1319 document according to which he became owner of some estates of his deceased father, and in 1321, when he bought part of the family property of his wife Donata.<ref name="Poljica"/>

===Death===
In 1323, Polo was confined to bed, due to illness.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=339}} On January 8, 1324, despite physicians' efforts to treat him, Polo was on his deathbed.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=340}} To write and certify the will, his family requested Giovanni Giustiniani, a priest of San Procolo. His wife, Donata, and his three daughters were appointed by him as [[Executor|co-executrices]].{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=340}} The church was entitled by law to a portion of his estate; he approved of this and ordered that a further sum be paid to the convent of [[San Lorenzo, Venice|San Lorenzo]], the place where he wished to be buried.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=340}} He also set free Peter, a [[Tatars|Tartar]] [[slave|servant]], who may have accompanied him from Asia,<ref>{{Harvnb|Britannica|2002|p=573}}</ref> and to whom Polo bequeath 100 lire of Venetian denari.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=341}}

He divided up the rest of his assets, including several properties, among individuals, religious institutions, and every guild and fraternity to which he belonged.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=340}} He also wrote-off multiple debts including 300&nbsp;lire that his sister-in-law owed him, and others for the convent of [[San Giovanni Grisostomo, Venice|San Giovanni]], [[Church of San Polo, Venice|San Paolo of the Order of Preachers]], and a cleric named [[Friar]] Benvenuto.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=340}} He ordered 220&nbsp;[[Solidus (coin)|soldi]] be paid to Giovanni Giustiniani for his work as a notary and his prayers.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=340–341}}

The will was not signed by Polo, but was validated by the then-relevant "[[signum manus]]" rule, by which the testator only had to touch the document to make it legally valid.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=341}}<ref name="Marciana">Biblioteca Marciana, the institute that holds Polo's original copy of his testament. [http://marciana.venezia.sbn.it/admin/filemanager/file/UserFiles/File/testamento-polo.txt Venezia.sbn.it]</ref> Due to the Venetian law stating that the day ends at sunset, the exact date of Marco Polo's death cannot be determined, but according to some scholars it was between the sunsets of January 8 and 9, 1324.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=342}} [[Biblioteca Marciana]], which holds the original copy of his testament, dates the testament in January 9, 1323, and gives the date of his death at some time in June 1324.<ref name="Marciana"/>

==''Travels of Marco Polo''==
{{Main article|The Travels of Marco Polo}}
{{further information|Franco-Mongol alliance|Byzantine-Mongol alliance|John of Montecorvino}}
[[File:Travels of Marco Polo.png|thumb|Map of Marco Polo's travels]]
[[File:Marco Polo traveling.JPG|thumb|A [[Miniature (illuminated manuscript)|miniature]] from ''Il Milione''.]]
An authoritative version of Marco Polo's book does not and cannot exist, for the early manuscripts differ significantly. The published editions of his book either rely on single manuscripts, blend multiple versions together, or add notes to clarify, for example in the English translation by [[Henry Yule]]. The 1938 English translation by A.C. Moule and [[Paul Pelliot]] is based on a Latin manuscript found in the library of the [[Cathedral of Toledo]] in 1932, and is 50% longer than other versions.<ref name="book">{{Harvnb|Bergreen|2007|pp=367–368}}</ref> Approximately 150 manuscript copies in various languages are known to exist, and before availability of the [[printing press]] discrepancies were inevitably introduced during copying and translation.<ref name="NAG p.1">{{Harvnb|Edwards|p=1}}</ref> The popular translation published by Penguin Books in 1958 by R.E. Latham works several texts together to make a readable whole.<ref>''The Travels of Marco Polo.'' (Harmondsworth, Middlesex; New York: Penguin Books, Penguin Classics, 1958; rpr. 1982 etc.)ISBN 0140440577.</ref>
[[File:Marco Polo, Il Milione, Chapter CXXIII and CXXIV Cropped.jpg|thumb|A page from ''Il Milione'', from a manuscript believed to date between 1298–1299.]]

Polo related his memoirs orally to [[Rustichello da Pisa]] while both were prisoners of the [[Genova Republic]]. Rustichello wrote ''[[Il Milione|Devisement du Monde]]'' in [[Langues d'Oil]], a [[lingua franca]] of [[crusaders]] and western merchants in the Orient.<ref>^ Marco Polo, Il Milione, Adelphi 2001, ISBN 88-459-1032-6, Prefazione di Bertolucci Pizzorusso Valeria, pp. X–XXI.</ref> The idea probably was to create a [[Pratica della mercatura|handbook for merchants]], essentially a text on weights, measures and distances.<ref>^ Larner John, Marco Polo and the discovery of the world, Yale University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-300-07971-0 pp. 68–87.</ref>

===Narrative===
The book opens with a preface describing his father and uncle traveling to [[Bolghar]] where Prince [[Berke|Berke Khan]] lived. A year later, they went to [[Ukek]]<ref name="YuleCH2">{{Harvnb|Yule|Cordier|1923|loc=ch. 2}}</ref> and continued to [[Bukhara]]. There, an envoy from the [[Levant]] invited them to meet [[Kublai Khan]], who had never met Europeans.<ref>{{Harvnb|Yule|Cordier|1923|loc=ch. 3}}</ref> In 1266, they reached the seat of Kublai Khan at [[Khanbaliq|Dadu]], present day [[Beijing]], [[China]]. Kublai received the brothers with hospitality and asked them many questions regarding the European legal and political system.<ref>{{Harvnb|Yule|Cordier|1923|loc=ch. 5}}</ref> He also inquired about the Pope and Church in Rome.<ref>{{Harvnb|Yule|Cordier|1923|loc=ch. 6}}</ref> After the brothers answered the questions he tasked them with delivering a letter to the Pope, requesting 100 Christians acquainted with the [[Liberal arts|Seven Arts]] (grammar, rhetoric, logic, geometry, arithmetic, music and astronomy). Kublai Khan requested that an envoy bring him back [[Chrism|oil of the lamp in Jerusalem]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Yule|Cordier|1923|loc=ch. 7}}</ref> The long ''[[sede vacante]]'' between the death of [[Pope Clement IV]] in 1268 and the election of his successor delayed the Polos in fulfilling Kublai's request. They followed the suggestion of Theobald Visconti, then papal legate for the realm of [[Egypt]], and returned to Venice in 1269 or 1270 to await the nomination of the new Pope, which allowed Marco to see his father for the first time, at the age of fifteen or sixteen.<ref name="YuleCH9">{{Harvnb|Yule|Cordier|1923|loc=ch. 9}}</ref>

In 1271, Niccolò, Maffeo and Marco Polo embarked on their voyage to fulfil Kublai's request. They sailed to [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], and then rode on camels to the Persian port of [[Hormuz, Iran|Hormuz]]. The Polos wanted to sail straight into China, but the ships there were not seaworthy, so they continued overland through the [[Silk Road]], until reaching Kublai's summer palace in [[Shangdu]], near present-day [[Zhangjiakou]]. In one instance during their trip, the Polos joined a caravan of travelling merchants whom they crossed paths with. Unfortunately, the party was soon attacked by [[bandits]], who used the cover of a sandstorm to ambush them. The Polos managed to fight and escape through a nearby town, but many members of the caravan were killed or enslaved.<ref>Zelenyj, Alexander, ''Marco Polo: Overland to China'', Crabtree Publishing Company (2005) Chapter: Along the Silk Road. ISBN 978-0778724537</ref> Three and a half years after leaving Venice, when Marco was about 21 years old, the Polos were welcomed by Kublai into his palace.<ref name="WB"/> The exact date of their arrival is unknown, but scholars estimate it to be between 1271 and 1275.{{refn|group="nb"|[[Drogön Chögyal Phagpa]], a [[Tibet]]an monk and confidant of Kublai Khan, mentions in his diaries that in 1271 a foreign friend of Kublai Khan visits—quite possibly one of the elder Polos or even Marco Polo himself, although, no name was given. If this is not the case, a more likely date for their arrival is 1275 (or 1274, according to the research of Japanese scholar Matsuo Otagi).({{Harvnb|Britannica|2002|p=571}})}} On reaching the Yuan court, the Polos presented the sacred oil from Jerusalem and the papal letters to their patron.<ref name="Britannica571"/>

Marco knew four languages, and the family had accumulated a great deal of knowledge and experience that was useful to Kublai. It is possible that he became a government official;<ref name="WB"/> he wrote about many imperial visits to China's southern and eastern provinces, the far south and [[Burma]].<ref>{{citation|url=http://web.soas.ac.uk/burma/pdf/Polo.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090219141709/http://web.soas.ac.uk/burma/pdf/Polo.pdf|archivedate=February 19, 2009|title=The Travels of Marco Polo, The Venetian (1298)|format=PDF|accessdate=February 21, 2013|author=W. Marsden|editor=Thomas Wright|year=2004}}</ref> His travels also brought him farther to the Bay of Bengal, where he possibly met and gave one of the earliest accounts of the hostile [[Sentinelese people|North Sentinelese tribe]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/feb/12/theobserver.worldnews12|title=Survival comes first for the last Stone Age tribe world |last=McKie|first=Robin |publisher=''[[The Guardian]]'' |date=February 12, 2006 |accessdate=December 22, 2015}}</ref> Highly respected and sought after in the Mongolian court, Kublai Khan decided to decline the Polos' requests to leave China. They became worried about returning home safely, believing that if Kublai died, his enemies might turn against them because of their close involvement with the ruler. In 1292, Kublai's great-nephew, then ruler of [[Iran|Persia]], sent representatives to China in search of a potential wife, and they asked the Polos to accompany them, so they were permitted to return to Persia with the wedding party—which left that same year from [[Quanzhou|Zaitun]] in southern China on a fleet of 14 [[Junk (ship)|junks]]. The party sailed to the port of [[Singapore]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Yule|Cordier|1923|loc=vol. 3 ch. 8|p=281}}</ref> travelled north to [[Sumatra]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Yule|Cordier|1923|loc=vol. 3 ch. 9|p=286}}</ref> sailed west to the [[Point Pedro]] port of [[Jaffna kingdom|Jaffna]] under [[Savakanmaindan]] and to [[Pandyan kingdom|Pandyan]] of [[Tamilakkam]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Yule|Cordier|1923|loc=vol. 3 ch. 21|p=373}}</ref> Eventually Polo crossed the [[Arabian Sea]] to [[Ormus|Hormuz]]. The two-year voyage was a perilous one—of the six hundred people (not including the crew) in the convoy only eighteen had survived (including all three Polos).<ref>Boyle, J. A. (1971). Marco Polo and his Description of the World. ''History Today''. Vol. 21, No. 11. [http://www.historytoday.com/MainArticle.aspx?m=33372&amid=30283909 Historyoftoday.com]</ref> The Polos left the wedding party after reaching Hormuz and travelled overland to the port of Trebizond on the [[Black Sea]], the present day [[Trabzon]].<ref name="WB"/>

===Role of Rustichello ===
The British scholar Ronald Latham has pointed out that ''The Book of Marvels'' was in fact a collaboration written in 1298–1299 between Polo and a professional writer of romances, Rustichello of Pisa.<ref name="Latham pages 7">Latham, Ronald "Introduction" pages 7–20 from ''The Travels of Marco Polo'', London: Folio Society, 1958 page 11.</ref> Latham also argued that Rustichello may have glamorised Polo's accounts, and added fantastic and romantic elements that made the book a bestseller.<ref name="Latham pages 7"/> The Italian scholar Luigi Foscolo Benedetto had previously demonstrated that the book was written in the same "leisurely, conversational style" that characterised Rustichello's other works, and that some passages in the book were taken verbatim or with minimal modifications from other writings by Rustichello. For example, the opening introduction in ''The Book of Marvels'' to "emperors and kings, dukes and marquises" was lifted straight out of an [[Matter of Britain|Arthurian romance]] Rustichello had written several years earlier, and the account of the second meeting between Polo and Kublai Khan at the latter's court is almost the same as that of the arrival of [[Tristan]] at the court of [[King Arthur]] at [[Camelot]] in that same book.<ref>Latham, Ronald "Introduction" pages 7–20 from ''The Travels of Marco Polo'', London: Folio Society, 1958 pages 11–12.</ref> Latham believed that many elements of the book, such as legends of the Middle East and mentions of exotic marvels may have been the work of Rustichello who was giving what medieval European readers expected to find in a travel book.<ref name="ReferenceA">Latham, Ronald "Introduction" pages 7–20 from ''The Travels of Marco Polo,'' London: Folio Society, 1958 page 12.</ref>

===Authenticity and veracity===
Since the book publication, some have viewed the book with skepticism.<ref name="chang"/> Some in the Middle Ages viewed the book simply as a romance or fable, due largely to the sharp difference of its descriptions of a sophisticated civilisation in China to other early accounts by [[Giovanni da Pian del Carpine]] and [[William of Rubruck]] who portrayed the Mongols as 'barbarians' who appeared to belong to 'some other world'.<ref name="chang">{{cite web |url= http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1667#f2 |title=Marco Polo Was in China: New Evidence from Currencies, Salts and Revenues |author=Na Chang |work=Reviews in History }}</ref> Doubts have also been raised in later centuries about Marco Polo's narrative of his travels in China, for example for his failure to mention the Great Wall of China, and in particular the difficulties in identifying many of the place names he used<ref name="haw1">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DSfvfr8VQSEC&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=Marco Polo's China: A Venetian in the Realm of Khubilai Khan |first= Stephen G. |last=Haw |page=1 |publisher=Routledge| isbn=9781134275427}}</ref> (the great majority however have since been identified).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DSfvfr8VQSEC&pg=PA123#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=Marco Polo's China: A Venetian in the Realm of Khubilai Khan |first= Stephen G. |last=Haw |pages=83–123 |publisher=Routledge| isbn=9781134275427}}</ref> Many have questioned if he had visited the places he mentioned in his itinerary, if he had appropriated the accounts of his father and uncle or other travelers, and some doubted if he even reached China, or that if he did, perhaps never went beyond [[Khanbaliq]] (Beijing).<ref name="haw1"/><ref name="haeger"/>

It has however been pointed out that Polo's accounts of China are more accurate and detailed than other travelers' accounts of the periods. Polo had at times refuted the 'marvelous' fables and legends given in other European accounts, and despite some exaggerations and errors, Polo's accounts have relatively few of the descriptions of irrational marvels. In many cases where present (mostly given in the first part before he reached China, such as mentions of Christian miracles), he made a clear distinction that they are what he had heard rather than what he had seen.  It is also largely free of the gross errors found in other accounts such as those given by the Moroccan traveler [[Ibn Battuta]] who had confused the [[Yellow River]] with the [[Grand Canal (China)|Grand Canal]] and other waterways, and believed that porcelain was made from coal.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DSfvfr8VQSEC&pg=PA67#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=Marco Polo's China: A Venetian in the Realm of Khubilai Khan |first= Stephen G. |last=Haw |pages=66&ndash;67 |publisher=Routledge| isbn=9781134275427}}</ref>

Modern studies have further shown that details given in Marco Polo's book, such as the currencies used, salt productions and revenues, are accurate and unique. Such detailed descriptions are not found in other non-Chinese sources, and their accuracy is supported by archaeological evidence as well as Chinese records compiled after Polo had left China, his accounts are therefore unlikely to have been obtained second hand.<ref name="vogel"/> Other accounts have also been verified; for example, when visiting [[Zhenjiang]] in [[Jiangsu]], China, Marco Polo noted that a large number of [[Christian church]]es had been built there. His claim is confirmed by a Chinese text of the 14th century explaining how a [[Sogdia]]n named Mar-Sargis from [[Samarkand]] founded six [[Nestorianism|Nestorian Christian churches]] there in addition to one in [[Hangzhou]] during the second half of the 13th century.<ref>Emmerick, R. E. (2003) "Iranian Settlement East of the Pamirs", in Ehsan Yarshater, ''The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol III: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp 275.</ref>  His story of the princess [[Kököchin]] sent from China to Persia to marry the Īl-khān is also confirmed by independent sources in both Persia and China.<ref name="cleaves"/>

==Debate==
[[File:LetterInnocenceToTartarKingAndPeople a.jpg|thumb|160px|Text of the letter of [[Pope Innocent IV]] "to the ruler and people of the Tartars", brought to [[Güyüg Khan]] by [[John de Carpini]], 1245]]
[[File:Guyuk khan's Stamp 1246.jpg|thumb|160px|Seal of [[Güyük Khan]] using the classical [[Mongolian script]], as found in a letter sent to the Roman [[Pope Innocent IV]] in 1246.]]
[[File:LetterArghunToNicholasIV1290VaticanArchives.jpg|thumb|160px|Letter from [[Arghun]], Khan of the Mongol [[Ilkhanate]], to [[Pope Nicholas IV]], 1290.]]
[[File:GhazanSeal1302LetterToBonifaceVIII.JPG|thumb|160px|Seal of the Mongol ruler [[Ghazan]] in a 1302 letter to [[Pope Boniface VIII]], with an inscription in Chinese [[seal script]]]]

===Omissions===
Skeptics have long wondered if Marco Polo wrote his book based on hearsay, with some pointing to omissions about noteworthy practices and structures of China as well as the lack of details on some places in his book. While Polo describes [[paper money]] and the burning of coal, he fails to mention the [[Great Wall of China]], [[tea]], [[Chinese characters]], [[chopstick]]s, or [[footbinding]].<ref>Frances Wood, ''[[Did Marco Polo Go to China?]]'' (London: Secker & Warburg; Boulder, Colorado: Westview, 1995).</ref> His failure to note the presence of the Great Wall of China was first raised in the middle of seventeenth century, and in the middle of eighteenth century, it was suggested that he might have never reached China.<ref name="haw1"/>  Later scholars such as John W. Haeger argued the Marco Polo might not have visited Southern China due to the lack of details in his description of southern Chinese cities compared to northern ones, while [[Herbert Franke (sinologist)|Herbert Franke]] also raised the possibility that Marco Polo might not have been to China at all, and wondered if he might have based his accounts on Persian sources due to his use of Persian expressions.<ref name="haeger">{{cite journal |jstor=23497510|title= Marco Polo in China? Problems with Internal Evidence |first=John W. |last=Haeger|journal=Bulletin of Sung and Yüan Studies |volume= 14 |date=1978|pages= 22–30 }}</ref><ref name="franke">{{cite journal |jstor=23881433|title=Sino-Western Contacts Under the Mongol Empire |first=Herbert |last=Franke |journal=Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society |volume= 6 |date=1966| pages= 49–72}}</ref> This is taken further by Dr. [[Frances Wood]] who claimed in her 1995 book ''[[Did Marco Polo Go to China?]]'' that at best Polo never went farther east than Persia (modern Iran), and that there is nothing in ''The Book of Marvels'' about China that could not be obtained via reading Persian books.<ref name="Morgan, D page 222">Morgan, D.O "Marco Polo in China-Or Not" 221-225 from ''The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'', Volume 6, Issue # 2 July 1996 page 222.</ref> Wood maintains that it is more probable that Polo only went to Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey) and some of the Italian merchant colonies around the Black Sea, picking hearsay from those travellers who had been farther east.<ref name="Morgan, D page 222"/>

Supporters of the book's basic accuracy countered on the points raised by skeptics such as footbinding and the Great Wall of China. Historian [[Stephen G. Haw]] argued that the Great Walls were built to keep out northern invaders, whereas the ruling dynasty during Marco Polo's visit were those very northern invaders. They note that the Great Wall familiar to us today is a [[Ming Dynasty|Ming]] structure built some two centuries after Marco Polo's travels; and that the [[Yuan Dynasty|Mongol]] rulers whom Polo served controlled territories both north and south of today's wall, and would have no reasons to maintain any fortifications that may have remained there from the earlier dynasties.<ref name=polo>{{citation |first=Stephen G. |last=Haw |publisher=Psychology Press |year=2006|isbn=0-415-34850-1 |title=Marco Polo's China: a Venetian in the realm of Khubilai Khan |series=Volume 3 of Routledge studies in the early history of Asia |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=DSfvfr8VQSEC&pg=PA54#v=onepage&q&f=false |pages=52–57}}</ref> Other Europeans who travelled to [[Khanbaliq]] during the Yuan Dynasty, such as [[Giovanni de' Marignolli]] and [[Odoric of Pordenone]], said nothing about the wall either. The Muslim traveler [[Ibn Batutta]], who asked about the wall when he visited China during the Yuan Dynasty, could find no one who had either seen it or knew of anyone who had seen it, suggesting that while ruins of the wall constructed in the earlier periods might have existed, they were not significant or noteworthy at that time.<ref name=polo/>

Haw also argued that footbinding was not common even among Chinese during Polo's time and almost unknown among the Mongols. While the Italian missionary [[Odoric of Pordenone]] who visited [[Yuan dynasty|Yuan]] China mentioned footbinding (it is however unclear whether he was merely relaying something he had heard as his description is inaccurate),<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iL2AAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA196#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=Women and the Family in Chinese History |first=Patricia|last= Ebrey |page=196|publisher=Routledge |isbn= 9781134442935 }}</ref> no other foreign visitors to [[Yuan dynasty|Yuan]] China mentioned the practice, perhaps an indication that the footbinding was not widespread or was not practiced in an extreme form at that time.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DSfvfr8VQSEC&pg=PA55#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=Marco Polo's China: A Venetian in the Realm of Khubilai Khan |first= Stephen G. |last=Haw |pages=55–56 |publisher=Routledge| isbn=9781134275427}}</ref> Marco Polo himself noted (in the Toledo manuscript) the dainty walk of Chinese women who took very short steps.<ref name=polo /> It has also been noted by other scholars that many of the things not mentioned by Marco Polo such as tea and chopsticks weren't mentioned by other travelers as well.<ref name="Igor">{{cite web |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/41883/1/Marcopolo.html |title= F. Wood's Did Marco Polo Go To China? A Critical Appraisal by I. de Rachewiltz |author= Igor de Rachewiltz }}</ref>  Haw also pointed out that despite the few omissions, Marco Polo's account is more extensive, more accurate and more detailed than those of other foreign travelers to China in this period.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DSfvfr8VQSEC&pg=PA63#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=Marco Polo's China: A Venetian in the Realm of Khubilai Khan |first= Stephen G. |last=Haw |pages=65&ndash;66 |publisher=Routledge| isbn=9781134275427}}</ref>

===Exaggerations===

Many scholars believe that Marco Polo exaggerated his importance in China. The British historian [[David Morgan (historian)|David Morgan]] thought that Polo had likely exaggerated and lied about his status in China,<ref name="Morgan, D page 223"/> while Ronald Latham believed that such exaggerations were embellishments by his ghost writer [[Rustichello da Pisa]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In ''The Book of Marvels'', Polo claimed that he was a close friend and advisor to Kublai Khan and that he was the governor of the city of [[Yangzhou]] for three years – yet no Chinese source mentions him as either a friend of the Emperor or as the governor of Yangzhou – indeed no Chinese source mentions Marco Polo at all.<ref name="Morgan, D page 223">Morgan, D.O "Marco Polo in China-Or Not" 221-225 from ''The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'', Volume 6, Issue # 2 July 1996 page 223.</ref>  Herbert Franke noted that all occurrences of Po-lo or Bolod (an [[Altaic]] word meaning "steel") in Yuan texts were names of people of Mongol or Turkic extraction.<ref name="franke"/> The sinologist [[Paul Pelliot]] thought that Polo might have served as an officer of the government salt monopoly in Yangzhou, which was a position of some significance that could explain the exaggeration.<ref name="Morgan, D page 223"/> Polo also claimed to have provided the Mongols with technical advice on building [[mangonel]]s during the [[Battle of Xiangyang|Siege of Xiangyang]], a claim that cannot possibly be true as the siege was over before Polo had arrived in China.<ref name="Morgan, D page 223"/> The Mongol army that besieged Xiangyang did have foreign military engineers, but they were mentioned in Chinese sources as being from [[Baghdad]] and had Arabic names.<ref name="franke"/>

[[Stephen G. Haw]], however, challenges this idea that Polo exaggerated his own importance, writing that, "contrary to what has often been said...Marco does not claim any very exalted position for himself in the Yuan empire."<ref name="haw 2006 173">Stephen G. Haw (2006), ''Marco Polo's China: a Venetian in the Realm of Kublai Khan'', London & New York: Routledge, p. 173, ISBN 0-415-34850-1.</ref> He points out that Marco never claimed to be a minister of high rank, a ''[[darughachi]]'', a leader of a [[Tumen (unit)|tumen]] (i.e. 10,000 men), not even the leader of 1,000 men, only that he was an emissary for the khan and held a position of some honor. Haw sees this as a reasonable claim if Marco was a ''[[keshig]]'', who numbered some fourteen thousand at the time.<ref name="haw 2006 173"/> Haw explains how the earliest [[manuscript]]s of Polo's accounts provide contradicting information about his role in Yangzhou, with some stating he was just a simple resident, others stating he was a governor, and [[Giovanni Battista Ramusio|Ramusio's manuscript]] claiming he was simply holding that office as a temporary substitute for someone else, yet all the manuscripts concur that he worked as an esteemed emissary for the khan.<ref>Stephen G. Haw (2006), ''Marco Polo's China: a Venetian in the Realm of Kublai Khan'', London & New York: Routledge, pp 3-4, ISBN 0-415-34850-1.</ref> Haw also objected to the approach to finding mention of Marco Polo in Chinese texts, contending that contemporaneous Europeans had little regard for using [[Surname#history|surnames]], and a direct [[Transcription into Chinese characters|Chinese transcription]] of the name "Marco" ignores the possibility of him taking on a [[Chinese name|Chinese]] or even [[Mongolian name|Mongol name]] that had no bearing or similarity with his [[Christian name|Latin name]].<ref name="haw 2006 173"/>

===Errors===
A number of errors in Marco Polo's account have been noted, for example, he described the bridge later known as [[Marco Polo Bridge]] as having twenty-four arches instead of eleven or thirteen.<ref name="Igor"/>  He also said that city wall of Khanbaliq had 12 gates when it had only 11.<ref>Stephen G. Haw (2006), ''Marco Polo's China: a Venetian in the Realm of Kublai Khan'', London & New York: Routledge, p 73, ISBN 0-415-34850-1.</ref> Archaeologists have also pointed out that Polo may have mixed up the details from the two [[Mongol invasions of Japan|attempted invasions of Japan]] by [[Kublai Khan]] in 1274 and 1281. Polo wrote of five-masted ships, when archaeological excavations found that the ships in fact had only three masts.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/8691111/Explorer-Marco-Polo-never-actually-went-to-China.html |title=Explorer Marco Polo 'never actually went to China|work= [[The Daily Telegraph]]|date= 9 August 2011 }}</ref>

===Appropriation===
Wood accused Marco Polo of taking other people's accounts in his book, retelling other stories as his own, or based his accounts on Persian guidebooks or other lost sources. For example, Sinologist [[Francis Woodman Cleaves]] noted that Polo's account of the voyage of the princess [[Kököchin]] from China to Persia to marry the Īl-khān in 1293 has been confirmed by a passage in the 15th-century Chinese work ''[[Yongle Encyclopedia]]'' and by the Persian historian [[Rashid-al-Din Hamadani]] in his work ''[[Jami' al-tawarikh]]''.  However neither of these accounts mentions Polo or indeed any European as part of the bridal party,<ref name="cleaves">{{cite journal |jstor=2718743|author=Francis Woodman Cleaves|title=A Chinese Source Bearing on Marco Polo's Departure from China and a Persian Source on his Arrival in Persia|journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies| volume=36|date= 1976|pages=181–203}}</ref> and Wood used the lack of mention of Polo in these works as an example of Polo's "retelling of a well-known tale".  Morgan, in Polo's defence, noted that even the princess herself was not mentioned in the Chinese source, and that it would have been surprising if Polo had been mentioned by Rashid-al-Din.<ref name="Morgan, D page 224">{{cite journal |jstor=25183182|author= Morgan, D.O |title=Marco Polo in China-Or Not" 221-225 |journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society|volume = 6|issue= 2 |date=July 1996 |page= 224}}</ref> Historian [[Igor de Rachewiltz]] argued that Marco Polo's account in fact allows the Persian and Chinese sources to be reconciled – by relaying the information that two of the three envoys sent (mentioned in the Chinese source and whose names accord with those given by Polo) had died during the voyage, it explains why only the third who survived, Coja/Khoja, was mentioned by Rashìd al-Dìn. Polo had therefore completed the story by providing information not found in either source. He also noted that the only Persian source that mentions the princess was not completed until 1310-11, therefore Marco Polo could not have learned the information from any Persian book.  According to de Rachewiltz, the concordance of Polo's detailed account of the princess with other independent sources that gave only incomplete information is proof of the veracity of Polo's story and his presence in China.<ref name="Igor"/>

===Assessments===
Morgan writes that since much of what ''The Book of Marvels'' has to say about China is "demonstrably correct" that to claim that Polo did not go to China "creates far more problems than it solves" and so that the "balance of probabilities" strongly suggests that Polo really did go to China, even if he exaggerated somewhat his importance in China.<ref>Morgan, D.O "Marco Polo in China-Or Not" 221–225 from ''The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'', Volume 6, Issue # 2 July 1996 pages 225.</ref> Haw dismisses the various anachronistic criticisms of Polo's accounts that started in the 17th century, and highlights Polo's accuracy in great part of his accounts, for example on the lay of the land such as the [[Grand Canal of China]].<ref>Stephen G. Haw (2006), ''Marco Polo's China: a Venetian in the Realm of Kublai Khan'', London & New York: Routledge, pp 1-2, ISBN 0-415-34850-1.</ref> "If Marco was a liar," Haw writes, "then he must have been an implausibly meticulous one."<ref>Stephen G. Haw (2006), ''Marco Polo's China: a Venetian in the Realm of Kublai Khan'', London & New York: Routledge, pp 2-3, ISBN 0-415-34850-1.</ref>

In 2012, the [[University of Tübingen]] Sinologist and historian Hans Ulrich Vogel released a detailed analysis of Polo's description of currencies, [[Salt in Chinese history#Early modern technology|salt production]] and revenues, and argued that the evidence supports his presence in China because he included details which he could not have otherwise known.<ref name="vogel">{{cite book |author=Hans Ulrich Vogel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ydo_9TEmuVQC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1 |title=Marco Polo Was in China: New Evidence from Currencies, Salts and Revenues|publisher=  BRILL |date=21 November 2012|isbn= 978-9004231931}}</ref><ref name=uot1204>{{cite news | url = http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=119306&CultureCode=en | title = Marco Polo was not a swindler – he really did go to China | work = [[University of Tübingen]] | publisher = Alpha Galileo | date = 16 April 2012 }}</ref> Vogel noted that no other Western, Arab, or Persian sources have given such accurate and unique details about the currencies of China, for example, the shape and size of the paper, the use of seals, the various denominations of paper money as well as variations in currency usage in different regions of China, such as the use of [[cowry shell]]s in Yunnan, details supported by archaeological evidence and Chinese sources compiled long after Polo's had left China.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://newobserveronline.com/marco-polo-did-go-to-china-new-research-shows-and-the-history-of-paper/ |title=Marco Polo Did Go to China, New Research Shows (and the History of Paper) |date=July 31, 2013 |work=The New Observer}}</ref>  His accounts of salt production and revenues from the salt monopoly are also accurate, and accord with Chinese documents of the Yuan era.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120416100439.htm |title=Marco Polo was not a swindler: He really did go to China |work=Science Daily }}</ref> Economic historian [[Mark Elvin]], in his preface to Vogel's 2013 monograph, concludes that Vogel "demonstrates by specific example after specific example the ultimately overwhelming probability of the broad authenticity" of Polo's account. Many problems were caused by the oral transmission of the original text and the proliferation of significantly different hand-copied manuscripts. For instance, did Polo exert "political authority" (''seignora'') in Yangzhou or merely "sojourn" (''sejourna'') there. Elvin concludes that "those who doubted, although mistaken, were not always being casual or foolish," but "the case as a whole had now been closed": the book is, "in essence, authentic, and, when used with care, in broad terms to be trusted as a serious though obviously not always final, witness."<ref>{{cite book |author=Hans Ulrich Vogel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ydo_9TEmuVQC&printsec=frontcover&hl=de&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=Marco Polo Was in China: New Evidence from Currencies, Salts and Revenues|publisher=  BRILL |date=21 November 2012|isbn= 978-9004231931|page = xix}}</ref>

==Legacy==

===Further exploration===
[[File:ColombusNotesToMarcoPolo.jpg|thumb|Handwritten notes by [[Christopher Columbus]] on a Latin edition of Polo's book.]]
[[File:FraMauroDetailedMapInverted.jpg|thumb|The [[Fra Mauro map]], published ''c.''&nbsp;1450 by the Venetian monk [[Fra Mauro]].]]
{{See also|Age of Discovery|Europeans in Medieval China|Chronology of European exploration of Asia|Jorge Alvares|Rafael Perestrello}}
Other lesser-known European explorers had already travelled to China, such as [[Giovanni da Pian del Carpine]], but Polo's book meant that his journey was the first to be widely known. [[Christopher Columbus]] was inspired enough by Polo's description of the Far East to want to visit those lands for himself; a copy of the book was among his belongings, with handwritten annotations.<ref name="Landström 1967 27"/> [[Bento de Góis]], inspired by Polo's writings of a Christian kingdom in the east, travelled {{convert|4000|mi|km}} in three years across Central Asia. He never found the kingdom but ended his travels at the [[Great Wall of China]] in 1605, proving that Cathay was what [[Matteo Ricci]] (1552–1610) called "China".<ref>{{Harvnb|Winchester|2008|p=264}}</ref>

===Cartography===
Marco Polo's travels may have had some influence on the development of European cartography, ultimately leading to the [[Age of Discovery|European voyages of exploration]] a century later.<ref name="Falchetta">{{Harvnb|Falchetta|2006|p=592}}</ref> The 1453 [[Fra Mauro map]] was said by [[Giovanni Battista Ramusio]] (disputed by historian/cartographer Piero Falchetta, in whose work the quote appears) to have been partially based on the one brought from [[Cathay]] by Marco Polo: {{Quote|That fine illuminated world map on parchment, which can still be seen in a large cabinet alongside the choir of their monastery (the Camaldolese monastery of San Michele di Murano) was by one of the brothers of the monastery, who took great delight in the study of cosmography, diligently drawn and copied from a most beautiful and very old nautical map and a world map that had been brought from Cathay by the most honourable Messer Marco Polo and his father.|[[Giovanni Battista Ramusio]]<ref name="Falchetta"/>}}

Though Marco Polo never produced a map that illustrated his journey, his family drew several maps to the Far East based on the wayward's accounts. These collection of maps were signed by Polo's three daughters: Fantina, Bellela and Moreta.<ref name="History3">{{cite web |url=http://www.history.com/news/did-marco-polo-visit-alaska|title=Did Marco Polo Visit Alaska? |last=Klein|first=Christopher|publisher=''History'' |date=September 30, 2014 |accessdate=}}</ref> Not only did it contain maps of his journey, but also sea routes to [[Japan]], Siberia's [[Kamchatka Peninsula]], the [[Bering Strait]] and even to the coastlines of [[Alaska]], centuries before the rediscovery of Americas by Europeans.

===Commemoration===
[[File:Lire 1000 (Marco Polo).jpg|thumb|Italian banknote, issued in 1982, portraying Marco Polo.]]
The '''[[Marco Polo sheep]]''', a subspecies of ''[[argali|Ovis ammon]]'', is named after the explorer,<ref>{{Harvnb|Bergreen|2007|p=74}}</ref> who described it during his crossing of [[Pamir Mountains|Pamir]] (ancient [[Mount Imeon]]) in 1271.{{refn|group="nb"|{{Harvnb|Yule|Cordier|1923|loc=ch.18}} states, "Then there are sheep here as big as asses; and their tails are so large and fat, that one tail shall weigh some 30&nbsp;lb. They are fine fat beasts, and afford capital mutton."}}

In 1851, a three-masted [[Clipper]] built in Saint John, New Brunswick also took his name; '''the [[Marco Polo (1851 ship)|''Marco Polo'']]''' was the first ship to sail around the world in under six months.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lubbock|2008|p=86}}</ref>

The airport in [[Venice]] is named '''[[Venice Marco Polo Airport]]'''.<ref>{{citation|last=Brennan |first=D. |title=Lost in Venice |publisher=WalesOnline |date=February 1, 2009 |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/travel/travel-news/2009/02/01/lost-in-venice-91466-22826493/ |accessdate=July 15, 2009 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830062732/http://www.walesonline.co.uk/travel/travel-news/2009/02/01/lost-in-venice-91466-22826493/ |archivedate=August 30, 2009 }}</ref>

The [[Frequent-flyer program|frequent flyer programme]] of Hong Kong [[flag carrier]] [[Cathay Pacific]] is known as the '''"Marco Polo Club"'''.<ref>{{Citation|url=http://www.cathayforbusiness.com/freqfly/marcopoloclub.asp|title=The Marco Polo Club|publisher=[[Cathay Pacific|Cathay Pacific Airways Limited]]|author=Cathay Pacific Airways|accessdate=July 13, 2009|year=2009}}</ref>

====Arts, entertainment, and media====

=====Games=====
* The game "[[Marco Polo (game)|Marco Polo]]" is a form of [[Tag (game)|tag]] played in a [[swimming pool]]<ref name=play>{{cite book |last=Bittarello |first=Maria Beatrice |title=Encyclopedia of Play in Today's Society |editor=Rodney P. Carlisle |publisher=SAGE |date=2009|chapter=Marco Polo |isbn=1-4129-6670-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7DiB3z2fBpAC&pg=PT416}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Jeffrey |first=Phillip |author2=Mike Blackstock |author3=Matthias Finke |author4=Anthony Tang |author5=Rodger Lea |author6=Meghan Deutscher |author7=Kento Miyaoku  |title=Chasing the Fugitive on Campus: Designing a Location-based Game for Collaborative Play |journal=Proceedings of CGSA 2006 Symposium |publisher=Canadian Games Study Association |url=http://journals.sfu.ca/loading/index.php/loading/article/viewFile/12/15}}</ref> or on land, with slightly modified rules.
* Polo appears as a Great Explorer in the strategy video game ''[[Civilization Revolution]]'' (2008).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.civfanatics.com/civrev/great_people |title=Civilization Revolution: Great People |website=CivFanatics|accessdate=September 4, 2009}}</ref>

=====Literature=====
The travels of Marco Polo are fictionalised in a number works, such as:
*[[Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne]]'s ''Messer Marco Polo'' (1921)<ref>{{cite book| title=Messer Marco Polo| date=1921| author=Donn-Byrne, Brian Oswald| url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1605413.Messer_Marco_Polo}}</ref>
*[[Italo Calvino]]'s novel ''[[Invisible Cities]]'' (1972), in which Polo appears as a pivotal character.
* [[Gary Jennings]]' novel ''[[The Journeyer]]'' (1984)
* [[James Rollins]]' [[James Rollins#SIGMA Force Book 4: The Judas Strain .282007.29|SIGMA Force Book 4: ''The Judas Strain'']] (2007), in which facts about Polo's travels and conjecture about secrets he kept are interleaved with modern-day action.

=====Television=====
* The television miniseries, ''[[Marco Polo (miniseries)|Marco Polo]]'' (1982), featuring [[Ken Marshall]] and [[Ruocheng Ying]], and directed by [[Giuliano Montaldo]], depicts Polo's travels. It won two [[Emmy Award]]s, and was nominated for six more.<ref name=Emmy>{{Citation|title=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences|url=http://www.emmys.org/awards/awardsearch.php|accessdate=July 6, 2009}} (Searching for "Marco Polo", and year 1982)</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083446/ |website=IMDb TV miniseries|title= Marco Polo |date= 1982}}</ref>
* The television film, ''[[Marco Polo (2007 film)|Marco Polo]]'' (2007), starring [[Brian Dennehy]] as Kublai Khan, and [[Ian Somerhalder]] as Marco, portrays Marco Polo being left alone in China while his uncle and father return to Venice, to be reunited with him many years later.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0813789/ |website=IMDb TV miniseries|title= Marco Polo  |date=2007}}</ref>
* ''[[In the Footsteps of Marco Polo]]'' (2009) is a [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] documentary about two friends ([[Denis Belliveau]] and Francis O'Donnell) who conceived of the ultimate road trip to retrace Marco Polo's journey from Venice to China via land and sea.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.wliw.org/marcopolo |work=WLIW.org|title=In the footsteps of Marco Polo (PBS)|date= 2009}}</ref>
* ''[[Marco Polo (TV series)|Marco Polo]]'' is a television drama series about Marco Polo's early years in the court of [[Kublai Khan]] which premiered on [[Netflix]] in December 2014.

==See also==
{{Portal|Venice}}
* [[Chinese expeditions to the Sinhala Kingdom]]
* [[Chronology of European exploration of Asia]]
* [[Rabban Bar Sauma]], Uyghur Nestorian Christian monk from [[Zhongdu]] ([[Khanbaliq]], modern Beijing) who led a Mongol diplomatic mission to medieval European monarchs and the pope, visiting Greece, Italy, and France
* [[Silk Road]], which Marco Polo travelled
* [[Katarina Vilioni]] (d. 1342), an Italian woman whose tombstone was found in [[Yangzhou]], China

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group="nb"|30em}}

==References==
{{Reflist|20em}}

==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin|30em}}

* [https://books.google.com/books?id=x9tEAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=Betlehem&f=false Marco Polo, ''Marci Poli Veneti de Regionibus Orientalibus'', Simon Grynaeus Johannes Huttichius, ''Novus Orbis Regionum ac Insularum Veteribus Incognitarum,'' Basel, 1532, pp.350–418.]
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Marco Polo}}
* {{Citation |contribution=Marco Polo |year=1915 |title=[[Nordisk familjebok]] |edition=Uggleupplagan |language=Swedish |contribution-url=http://runeberg.org/nfca/0687.html |ref=CITEREFBerg1915}}
* {{citation|last1=Yule|first1=Henry|authorlink1=Henry Yule|last2=Cordier|first2=Henri|authorlink2=Henri Cordier|title=The Travels Of Marco Polo|publisher=Dover Publications|location=Mineola|year=1923|isbn=978-0-486-27586-4|url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Travels_of_Marco_Polo|ref=CITEREFYuleCordier1923}}
* {{cite book|last1=Moule|first1=Arthur Christopher|last2=Pelliot|first2=Paul|author-link2=Paul Pelliot|date=1938|title=Marco Polo: The Description of the World|publisher=[[Routledge|George Routledge & Sons Limited]]|location=London|volume=1|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptionofwor01polo}} 
* {{Citation|last=Landström|first=Björn |title=Columbus: the story of Don Cristóbal Colón, Admiral of the Ocean
|publisher=Macmillan|location=New York City|year=1967}}
* {{citation|last=Bram|first=Leon L.|first2=Phillips|last2=Robert S.|first3=Norma H.|last3=Dickey|title=Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia
|publisher=[[Funk & Wagnalls]]|location=New York|year=1983|isbn=978-0-8343-0051-4|ref=CITEREFBram1983}} (Article republished in 2006 World Almanac Books, available online from [https://web.archive.org/web/20090412181453/http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=219550 History.com])
* {{Citation | last=Nicol | first=Donald M. | url= | title=Byzantium and Venice: a study in diplomatic and cultural relations | year=1992| publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=0-521-42894-7}}
* {{citation|last=Wood|first=Frances|authorlink=Frances Wood|title=Did Marco Polo Go To China?|publisher=Westview Press|year=1998|isbn=0-8133-8999-2 |url=https://books.google.com/?id=yMRVjwNIqW0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Did+Marco+Polo+Go+to+China%3F&q=}}
* {{Citation|last=Burgan|first=Michael|title=Marco Polo: Marco Polo and the silk road to China|year=2002|url=https://books.google.com/?id=3aPF0rgdslUC&dq=Marco+Polo:+Marco+Polo+and+the+silk+road+to+China&printsec=frontcover&q=Korcula|publisher=Compass Point Books|location=Mankato|isbn=978-0-7565-0180-8|ref=CITEREFBurgan2002}}
* {{Citation|title=The New Encyclopædia Britannica Macropedia|edition=15|publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica|Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc]]|isbn=978-0-85229-787-2|contribution=Marco Polo|volume=9|year=2002|ref=CITEREFBritannica2002}}
* {{citation|last=Parker|first=John|authorlink=John Parker (author)|contribution=Marco Polo|location=United States|title=[[World Book Encyclopedia|The World Book Encyclopedia]]|publisher=World Book, Inc.|year=2004|volume=15|edition=illustrated|isbn=978-0-7166-0104-3|ref=CITEREFParker2004}}
* [[Olivier Weber]], ''Le grand festin de l'Orient''; Robert Laffont, 2004
* {{citation|last=Edwards|first=Mike|title= Marco Polo, Part 1|publisher=[[National Geographic Society]]|location=Washington, D.C.|year=2005|url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0105/feature1/index.html|ref=CITEREFEdwards}}
* {{citation | last = Falchetta | first = Piero | authorlink = Piero_Falchetta | title = Fra Mauro's World Map | location = [[Turnhout]] | publisher=[[Brepols]] | year = 2006 | url = | isbn = 2-503-51726-9|ref=CITEREFFalchetta2006}}
* {{citation|last=McKay|first=John|last2=Hill|first2=Bennet|last3=Buckler|first3=John|title=A History of Western Society|edition=Eighth|year=2006|publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Company]]|isbn=0-618-52266-2|page=506|ref=CITEREFMcKayHillBuckler2006}}
* {{citation|last=Bergreen|first=Laurence|authorlink=Laurence Bergreen|title=Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu|url=https://books.google.hr/books?id=x-PZdFbG6dEC|year=2007|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=9780307267696|ref=CITEREFBergreen2007}}
* {{citation|last=Power|first=Eileen Edna |title=Medieval People|publisher=BiblioBazaar|year=2007|isbn=978-1-4264-6777-6|ref=CITEREFPower2007}}
* {{citation|last=Winchester|first=Simon|authorlink=Simon Winchester|title=The Man Who Loved China: Joseph Needham and the Making of a Masterpiece|location=New York|publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|date=May 6, 2008|isbn=978-0-06-088459-8|ref=CITEREFWinchester2008}}
* {{citation|last=Basil|first=Lubbock| authorlink = Basil Lubbock |title=The Colonial Clippers|publisher=Read Books|year=2008|isbn=978-1-4437-7119-1|ref=CITEREFLubbock2008}}
* {{Citation | last=Brook | first=Timothy | authorlink = Timothy Brook | url=https://books.google.com/?id=b80ePdTYWXoC&pg=PA24&dq=Marco+Polo+Korcula#v=onepage&q=Marco%20Polo%20Korcula&f=false | title=The Troubled Empire: China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties | year=2010 | publisher=Harvard University Press | isbn=0-674-04602-1}}
* Marco Polo. (2010). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2010-08-28, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/468139/Marco-Polo
* {{citation|title=Marco Polo i njegov Le Divisiment dou monde (Opis svijeta): fikcija i fakcija u književnoj historiografiji|trans-title=Marco Polo and his Description of the world: fact and fiction in the history of literature|url=http://bib.irb.hr/prikazi-rad?lang=en&rad=753305|first=Željana|last=Puljiz-Šostik|publisher=Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb|location=Zagreb|year=2015|language=Croatian}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
*{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=VovVAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=The Travels of Marco Polo|author=Marco Polo|editor=Marsden, William|year=1918|publisher=J.M. Dent & Sons|edition=|location=London|isbn=|page=461}}
*{{cite book|last=Hart|first=H. Henry|authorlink=Henry Hart (author)|title=Marco Polo, Venetian Adventurer|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|year=1948|ref=CITEREFHart1948}}
* {{cite book|title=In Xanadu|author= [[William Dalrymple (historian)|Dalrymple, William]]|year=1989}}
*{{cite book|last=Daftary|first=Farhad|title=The Assassin legends: myths of the Ismaʻilis|edition=2|publisher=[[I.B. Tauris]]|year=1994|page=213|isbn=978-1-85043-705-5|ref=CITEREFDaftary1994}}
*{{cite book|last=Otfinoski|first=Steven|title=Marco Polo: to China and back|year=2003|publisher=Benchmark Books|location=New York|isbn=0-7614-1480-0|ref=CITEREFOtfinoski2003}}
* {{cite book|authors=Polo, Marco & [[Rustichello of Pisa]]|title=The Travels of Marco Polo – Volume 1 |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/10636 |publisher=Project Gutenberg |date=January 1, 2004 |accessdate=April 2, 2011}}
* {{cite book|authors=Polo, Marco & [[Rustichello of Pisa]]|title=The Travels of Marco Polo – Volume 2|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12410 |publisher=Project Gutenberg |date=May 1, 2004 |accessdate=April 2, 2011}}
* [[Olivier Weber]], ''Sur les routes de la soie'' (On the Silk Roads) (with [[Reza Deghati|Reza]], Hoëbeke,2007
* {{cite book|title=Daughter of Xanadu|last=Yang|first=Dori Jones|authorlink=Dori Jones Yang|publisher=Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers|date=January 11, 2011|isbn=978-0-385-73923-8}} (Young Adult novel)

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Marco Polo}}
{{wikisource author}}
{{Wikivoyage|On the trail of Marco Polo}}
*{{dmoz|Society/History/By_Topic/Exploration/Explorers/Polo,_Marco/|Marco Polo}}
*{{Imdb character|0026847}}
*[http://www.innvenice.com/Marco-Polo.htm Marco Polo's house in Venice, near the church of San Giovanni Grisostomo]
*[http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/data/2001/07/01/sights_n_sounds/media.2.2.html National Geographic Marco Polo: Journey from Venice to China]
* {{Gutenberg author |id=Polo,+Marco | name=Marco Polo}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Marco Polo}}
* {{Librivox author |id=6353}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polo, Marco}}
[[Category:Marco Polo| ]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:1254 births]]
[[Category:1324 deaths]]
[[Category:13th-century explorers]]
[[Category:13th-century Italian writers]]
[[Category:Italian expatriates in China]]
[[Category:Explorers of Asia]]
[[Category:Explorers of Central Asia]]
[[Category:Explorers from the Republic of Venice]]
[[Category:Republic of Venice merchants]]
[[Category:Italian travel writers]]
[[Category:Republic of Venice writers]]
[[Category:People from Venice]]
[[Category:Medieval travel writers]]
[[Category:Italian male writers]]
[[Category:13th-century Venetian people]]
[[Category:14th-century Venetian people]]