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146-409: Marco Polo visited Qalhat in the 13th century, referring to it as Calatu. Ibn Battuta visited the city in the 14th century, noting that it had "fine bazaars and one of the most beautiful mosques." He further noted the mosque was built by Bibi Maryam and included walls of qashani . Bibi Maryam continued to rule Qalhat and Hurmuz after the death of her husband Ayaz in 1311 or 1312. Zheng He visited

292-474: A 15-year-old son named Marco. In contrast to the general consensus, there are theories suggesting that Marco Polo's birthplace was the island of Korčula or Constantinople but such hypotheses failed to gain acceptance among most scholars and have been countered by other studies. He was nicknamed Milione during his lifetime (which in Italian literally means 'Million'). The Italian title of his book

438-530: A ceremony on his grandsons Möngke and Kublai after their first hunt in 1224 near the Ili River . Kublai was nine years old and with his eldest brother killed a rabbit and an antelope. After his grandfather smeared fat from the killed animals onto Kublai's middle finger per a Mongol tradition, he said "The words of this boy Kublai are full of wisdom, heed them well – heed them all of you." The elderly Genghis Khan would die three years after this event in 1227, when Kublai

584-609: 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 and Marco Querini, among whose rebels were Jacobello and Francesco Polo from another family branch, is unclear. Polo is clearly mentioned again after 1305 in Maffeo's testament from 1309 to 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

730-705: A conference of Daoist and Buddhist leaders in early 1258. At the conference, the Daoist claim was officially refuted, and Kublai forcibly converted 237 Daoist temples to Buddhism and destroyed all copies of the Daoist texts. Kublai Khan and the Yuan dynasty clearly favored Buddhism, while his counterparts in the Chagatai Khanate , the Golden Horde , and the Ilkhanate later converted to Islam at various times in history – Berke of

876-608: A decade of his enthronement as Great Khan that he needed to concentrate on governing there. From the beginning of his reign, he adopted Chinese political and cultural models and worked to minimize the influences of regional lords, who had held immense power before and during the Song dynasty. Kublai heavily relied on his Chinese advisers until about 1276. He had many Han Chinese advisers, such as Liu Bingzhong and Xu Heng , and employed many Buddhist Uyghurs, some of whom were resident commissioners running Chinese districts. Kublai also appointed

1022-466: A decline in tax revenues. Kublai quickly came to his appanage in Hebei and ordered reforms. Sorghaghtani Beki sent new officials to help him and tax laws were revised. Thanks to those efforts, many of the people who fled returned. The most prominent, and arguably most influential, component of Kublai Khan's early life was his study and a strong attraction to contemporary Han culture . Kublai invited Haiyun,

1168-530: A detailed account of his travels to a fellow inmate, Rustichello da Pisa , 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 ( Italian title: Il Milione , lit. "The Million", deriving from Polo's nickname "Milione". Original title in Franco-Italian  : Livres des Merveilles du Monde ). It depicts

1314-450: A difficult route into the mountains of western Sichuan. Kublai went south over the grasslands and met up with the first column. While Uryankhadai travelled along the lakeside from the north, Kublai took the capital city of Dali and spared the residents despite the slaying of his ambassadors. The Dali emperor Duan Xingzhi ( 段興智 ) himself defected to the Mongols, who used his troops to conquer

1460-526: A direct Chinese transliteration of the name "Marco" ignores the possibility of his taking on a Chinese or even Mongol name with no similarity to his Latin name . Also in reply to Wood, Jørgen Jensen recalled the meeting of Marco Polo and Pietro d'Abano in the late 13th century. During this meeting, Marco gave to Pietro details of the astronomical observations he had made on his journey. These observations are compatible with Marco's stay in China, Sumatra and

1606-720: A few months and Li Tan was executed. These armies also executed Wang Wentong, Li Tan's father-in-law, who had been appointed the Chief Administrator of the Central Secretariat (Zhongshu Sheng) early in Kublai's reign and became one of Kublai's most trusted Han Chinese officials. The incident instilled in Kublai a distrust of ethnic Hans. After becoming emperor, Kublai banned granting the titles of and tithes to ethnic Han warlords. Chagatayid Khan Alghu, who had been appointed by Ariq Böke, declared his allegiance to Kublai and defeated

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1752-635: A grand alliance of the Mongols and the Western European powers to defeat the Mamluks in Syria and North Africa that constantly invaded the Mongol dominions. Abagha and Kublai focused mostly on foreign alliances and opened trade routes. Khagan Kublai dined with a large court every day and met with many ambassadors and foreign merchants. Kublai's son Nomukhan and his generals occupied Almaliq from 1266 to 1276. In 1277,

1898-410: A group of Genghisid princes under Möngke's son Shiregi rebelled, kidnapped Kublai's two sons and his general Antong and handed them over to Kaidu and Möngke Temür. The latter was still allied with Kaidu who fashioned an alliance with him in 1269, although Möngke Temür had promised Kublai his military support to protect Kublai from the Ögedeids. Kublai's armies suppressed the rebellion and strengthened

2044-645: A legitimate heir to the throne instead of Kublai, who had turned away from the ways of Genghis Khan. Defections from Kublai's dynasty swelled the Ögedeids' forces. The Song imperial family surrendered to the Yuan in 1276, making the Mongols the first non-Han Chinese people to conquer all of China. Three years later, Yuan marines crushed the last of the Song loyalists . The Song Empress Dowager and her grandson, Emperor Gong of Song , were then settled in Khanbaliq where they were given tax-free property, and Kublai's wife Chabi took

2190-459: A peace agreement with Sidao. Kublai received a message from his wife that his younger brother Ariq Böke had been raising troops, so he returned north to the Mongolian Plateau. Before he arrived, he learned that Ariq Böke had held a kurultai (Mongol great council) at the capital Karakorum , which had named him Great Khan with the support of most of Genghis Khan's descendants. Kublai and

2336-477: A perilous one—of the six hundred people (not including the crew) in the convoy only eighteen had survived (including all three Polos). 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 . The British scholar Ronald Latham has pointed out that The Book of Marvels was a collaboration written in 1298–1299 between Polo and

2482-458: A personal interest in their well-being. However, Kublai later had Emperor Gong sent away to become a monk to Zhangye . Kublai succeeded in building a powerful empire, created an academy, offices, trade ports, and canals, and sponsored science and the arts. The record of the Mongols lists 20,166 public schools created during Kublai's reign. Having achieved real or nominal dominion over much of Eurasia, and having successfully conquered China, Kublai

2628-574: A portion of his estate; he approved of this and ordered that a further sum be paid to the convent of San Lorenzo , the place where he wished to be buried. He also set free Peter, a Tartar servant , who may have accompanied him from Asia, and to whom Polo bequeathed 100 lire of Venetian denari. He divided up the rest of his assets, including several properties, among individuals, religious institutions, and every guild and fraternity to which he belonged. He also wrote off multiple debts including 300 lire that his sister-in-law owed him, and others for

2774-503: 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 Zaitun in southern China on a fleet of 14 junks . The party sailed to the port of Singapore , travelled north to Sumatra , and around the southern tip of India, eventually crossing the Arabian Sea to Hormuz . The two-year voyage was

2920-648: A professional writer of romances, Rustichello of Pisa. It is believed that Polo related his memoirs orally to Rustichello da Pisa while both were prisoners of the Genova Republic . Rustichello wrote Devisement du Monde in Franco-Venetian language , which was a literary-only language widespread in northern Italy between the subalpine belt and the lower Po between the 13th and 15th centuries. Latham also argued that Rustichello may have glamorised Polo's accounts, and added fantastic and romantic elements that made

3066-507: A punitive expedition sent by Ariq Böke in 1262. The Ilkhan Hulagu also sided with Kublai and criticized Ariq Böke. Ariq Böke surrendered to Kublai at Xanadu on 21 August 1264. The rulers of the western khanates acknowledged Kublai's victory and rule in Mongolia. When Kublai summoned them to a new kurultai , Alghu Khan demanded recognition of his illegal position from Kublai in return. Despite tensions between them, both Hulagu and Berke , khan of

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3212-514: A trading voyage before Marco's birth. 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. 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 . Almost nothing

3358-566: A venture, the Polo family probably invested profits from trading, and even many gemstones they brought from the East. 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. Sometime before 1300, his father Niccolò died. In 1300, he married Donata Badoèr,

3504-1360: Is a plausible reason for the decline of the medieval city. This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on July 4, 1988 in the Cultural category. The ancient city became a World Heritage Site in 2018. The Oman LNG LLC S.A.O.C. owned Qalhat LNG Terminal is situated at the Port of Qalhat. 15th century 16th century 15th century 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 16th century 17th century 15th century 16th century Portuguese India 17th century Portuguese India 18th century Portuguese India 16th century 17th century 19th century Portuguese Macau 20th century Portuguese Macau 15th century [Atlantic islands] 16th century [Canada] 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century Marco Polo Marco Polo ( / ˈ m ɑːr k oʊ ˈ p oʊ l oʊ / ; Venetian: [ˈmaɾko ˈpolo] ; Italian: [ˈmarko ˈpɔːlo] ; c.  1254  – 8 January 1324)

3650-665: Is also largely free of the gross errors found in other accounts such as those given by the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta who had confused the Yellow River with the Grand Canal and other waterways, and believed that porcelain was made from coal. 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

3796-561: Is based on a Latin manuscript found in the library of the Cathedral of Toledo in 1932, and is 50% longer than other versions. The popular translation published by Penguin Books in 1958 by R. E. Latham works several texts together to make a readable whole. Sharon Kinoshita 's 2016 version takes as its source the Franco-Italian 'F' manuscript, and invites readers to "focus on the text as

3942-512: Is considered to be the first fiat money maker. The paper bills made collecting taxes and administering the empire much easier and reduced the cost of transporting coins. In 1287, Kublai's minister Sangha created a new currency, Zhiyuan Chao, to deal with a budget shortfall. It was non-convertible and denominated in copper cash. Later Gaykhatu of the Ilkhanate attempted to adopt the system in Iran and

4088-564: Is inaccurate), no other foreign visitors to Yuan China mentioned the practice, perhaps an indication that the footbinding was not widespread or was not practised in an extreme form at that time. Marco Polo himself noted (in the Toledo manuscript) the dainty walk of Chinese women who took very short steps. It has also been noted by other scholars that many of the things not mentioned by Marco Polo such as tea and chopsticks were not mentioned by other travellers either. Haw also pointed out that despite

4234-577: Is known about the childhood of Marco Polo until he was fifteen years old, except that he probably spent part of his childhood in Venice. Meanwhile, Marco Polo's mother died, and an aunt and uncle raised him. He received a good education, learning mercantile subjects including foreign currency, appraising, and the handling of cargo ships; he learned little or no Latin . His father later married Floradise Polo (née Trevisan). In 1269, Niccolò and Maffeo returned to their families in Venice, meeting young Marco for

4380-549: Is nothing in The Book of Marvels about China that could not have been obtained by reading Persian books. Wood maintains that it is more probable that Polo went only 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. Supporters of Polo's basic accuracy countered on the points raised by sceptics such as footbinding and

4526-450: 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. Other accounts have also been verified; for example, when visiting Zhenjiang in Jiangsu , China, Marco Polo noted that a large number of Christian churches had been built there. His claim is confirmed by a Chinese text of

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4672-564: Is the Elizabethan version by John Frampton published in 1579, The most noble and famous travels of Marco Polo , based on Santaella's Castilian translation of 1503 (the first version in that language). The published editions of Polo's book 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

4818-445: Is unknown, but scholars estimate it to be between 1271 and 1275. On reaching the Yuan court, the Polos presented the sacred oil from Jerusalem and the papal letters to their patron. 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; he wrote about many imperial visits to China's southern and eastern provinces,

4964-570: The Borjigin lines except that of Jochi . This kurultai proclaimed Kublai Great Khan, on 15 April 1260, despite Ariq Böke's apparently legal claim to become Khan. This led to warfare between Kublai and Ariq Böke, which resulted in the destruction of the Mongol capital at Karakorum. In Shaanxi and Sichuan, Möngke's army supported Ariq Böke. Kublai dispatched Lian Xixian to Shaanxi and Sichuan, where they executed Ariq Böke's civil administrator Liu Taiping, and won over several wavering generals. To secure

5110-669: The Catalan Atlas and the Fra Mauro map . Marco Polo was born around 1254 in Venice , but the exact date and place of birth are archivally unknown. The Travels of Marco Polo contains some basic information concerning Marco Polo's Venetian family and his birth in Venice; the book states that Marco's father, the travelling merchant Niccolò Polo , returned to visit his family in his hometown of Venice around 1269 and there found out that his wife, whom he had left pregnant, had died and left

5256-481: The Genova Republic . Rustichello wrote Devisement du Monde in Franco-Venetian . The idea probably was to create a handbook for merchants , essentially a text on weights, measures and distances. The oldest surviving manuscript is in Old French heavily flavoured with Italian; According to the Italian scholar Luigi Foscolo Benedetto, this "F" text is the basic original text, which he corrected by comparing it with

5402-475: The Golden Horde being the only Muslim during Kublai's era (his successor did not convert to Islam). In 1258, Möngke put Kublai in command of the Eastern Army and summoned him to assist with an attack on Sichuan. As he was suffering from gout , Kublai was allowed to stay home, but he moved to assist Möngke anyway. Before Kublai arrived in 1259, word reached him that Möngke had died. Kublai decided to keep

5548-578: The Golden Horde , at first accepted Kublai's invitation. However, they soon declined to attend the kurultai . Kublai pardoned Ariq Böke, although he executed Ariq Böke's chief supporters. The mysterious deaths of three Jochid princes in Hulagu's service, the Siege of Baghdad (1258) , and unequal distribution of war spoils strained the Ilkhanate's relations with the Golden Horde. In 1262, Hulagu's complete purge of

5694-570: The House of Ögedei declined to personally attend the court of Kublai. Kublai instigated Baraq to attack Kaidu. Baraq began to expand his realm northward; he seized power in 1266 and fought Kaidu and the Golden Horde. He also pushed out Great Khan's overseer from the Tarim Basin . When Kaidu and Mentemu together defeated Kublai, Baraq joined an alliance with the House of Ögedei and the Golden Horde against Kublai in

5840-528: The Mongol Empire and China under the Yuan dynasty , giving Europeans their first comprehensive look into China, Persia, India, Japan, and other Asian societies. Born in Venice , Marco learned the mercantile trade from his father and his uncle, 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, exploring many places along

5986-611: The Shanxi scholar Zhao Bi to his entourage. Kublai employed people of other nationalities as well, for he was keen to balance local and imperial interests, Mongol and Turkic . In 1251, Kublai's eldest brother Möngke became Khan of the Mongol Empire, and Khwarizmian Mahmud Yalavach and Kublai were sent to China proper . Kublai received the viceroyalty over northern China and moved his ordo to central Inner Mongolia . During his years as viceroy, Kublai managed his territory well, boosted

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6132-679: The South China Sea and are recorded in Pietro's book Conciliator Differentiarum , but not in Marco's Book of Travels . Reviewing Haw's book, Peter Jackson (author of The Mongols and the West ) has said that Haw "must surely now have settled the controversy surrounding the historicity of Polo's visit to China". Igor de Rachewiltz's review, which refutes Wood's points, concludes with a strongly-worded condemnation: "I regret to say that F. W.'s book falls short of

6278-558: The South China Sea and the Indian Ocean . In 1286, maritime trade was put under the Office of Market Taxes. The main source of revenue for the government was the monopoly of salt production. The Mongol administration had issued paper currencies from 1227 on. In August 1260, Kublai created the first unified paper currency called Jiaochao ; bills were circulated throughout the Yuan domain with no expiration date. To guard against devaluation,

6424-664: The Tibetan monk Sangha rose to high office and had the office renamed the Commission for Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs. In 1286, Sangha became the dynasty's chief fiscal officer. However, their corruption later embittered Kublai, and he later relied wholly on younger Mongol aristocrats. Antong of the Jalairs and Bayan of the Baarin served as grand councillors from 1265, and Oz-temur of the Arulad headed

6570-402: The censorate . Borokhula's descendant, Ochicher, headed a kheshig (Mongolian imperial guard) and the palace provision commission. In the eighth year of Zhiyuan (1271), Kublai officially created the Yuan dynasty and proclaimed the capital as Dadu ( Chinese : 大都 ; Wade–Giles : Ta-tu ; lit. 'Grand Capital', known as Khanbaliq or Daidu to the Mongols, modern Beijing)

6716-472: The " Muslim trebuchet " (or Huihui Pao ), which was utilized by Kublai Khan during the Battle of Xiangyang . Although Kublai restricted the functions of the kheshig, he created a new imperial bodyguard, at first entirely ethnic Han in composition but later strengthened with Kipchak , Alan ( Asud ), and Russian units. Once his own kheshig was organized in 1263, Kublai put three of the original kheshigs under

6862-448: The 'marvellous' 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 of descriptions of events where he was not 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

7008-582: The 14th century explaining how a Sogdian named Mar-Sargis from Samarkand founded six Nestorian Christian churches there in addition to one in Hangzhou during the second half of the 13th century. 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. Sceptics have long wondered whether Marco Polo wrote his book based on hearsay, with some pointing to omissions about noteworthy practices and structures of China as well as

7154-587: The 1960s the German historian Herbert Franke noted that all occurrences of Po-lo or Bolod in Yuan texts were names of people of Mongol or Turkic extraction. Kublai Khan Kublai Khan (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan , was the founder and first emperor of the Mongol -led Yuan dynasty of China. He proclaimed

7300-480: The Chagatai Khanate also died. In the new official version of his family's history, Kublai refused to write Berke's name as the khan of the Golden Horde because of Berke's support for Ariq Böke and wars with Hulagu; however, Jochi's family was fully recognized as legitimate family members. Kublai Khan named Abaqa as the new Ilkhan (obedient khan) and nominated Batu's grandson Mentemu for the throne of Sarai ,

7446-459: The Europeans with a clear picture of the East's geography and ethnic customs, and it included the first Western record of porcelain, gunpowder, paper money, and some Asian plants and exotic animals. His narrative inspired Christopher Columbus and many other travellers. There is substantial literature based on Polo's writings; he also influenced European cartography , leading to the introduction of

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7592-560: The Golden Horde returned the princes as a peace overture to the Yuan dynasty in 1282 and induced Kaidu to release Kublai's general. Konchi, khan of the White Horde , established friendly relations with the Yuan and the Ilkhanate, and as a reward received luxury gifts and grain from Kublai. Despite political disagreement between contending branches of the family over the office of Khagan, the economic and commercial system continued. Kublai Khan considered China his main base, realizing within

7738-583: The Golden Horde's interests in the Middle East and the Caucasus . In 1260, Kublai sent one of his advisors, Hao Ching, to the court of Emperor Lizong of Song to say that if Lizong submitted to Kublai and surrendered his dynasty, he would be granted some autonomy. Emperor Lizong refused to meet Kublai's demands and imprisoned Hao Ching and when Kublai sent a delegation to release Hao Ching, Emperor Lizong sent them back. Kublai called two Iraqi siege engineers from

7884-518: The Golden Horde, including Smolensk and Vitebsk in 1274–75. The Khans also sent Nogai Khan to the Balkans to strengthen Mongol influence there. Kublai renamed the Mongol regime in China Dai Yuan in 1271, and sought to sinicize his image as Emperor of China to win control of millions of Han Chinese people. When he moved his headquarters to Khanbaliq , also called Dadu, in modern-day Beijing, there

8030-531: The Goryeo supplied Korean troops and an ocean-going naval force for the Mongol campaigns. Despite the opposition of some of his Confucian-trained advisers, Kublai decided to invade Japan, Burma, Vietnam, and Java, following the suggestions of some of his Mongol officials. He also attempted to subjugate peripheral lands such as Sakhalin , where its indigenous people eventually submitted to the Mongols by 1308, after Kublai's death. These costly invasions and conquests and

8176-646: 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 structure built some two centuries after Marco Polo's travels; and that the Mongol rulers whom Polo served controlled territories both north and south of today's wall, and would have had no reasons to maintain any fortifications that might have remained there from

8322-420: The Ilkhanate to destroy the fortresses of Song China. After the fall of Xiangyang in 1273, Kublai's commanders, Aju and Liu Zheng, proposed a final campaign against the Song dynasty, and Kublai made Bayan of the Baarin the supreme commander. Kublai ordered Möngke Temür to revise the second census of the Golden Horde to provide resources and men for his conquest of China. The census took place in all parts of

8468-466: The Indies ), it is reasonable to think that they considered Marco's book as a trustworthy piece of information for missions in the East. The diplomatic communications between Pope Innocent IV and Pope Gregory X with the Mongols were probably another reason for this endorsement. At the time, there was open discussion of a possible Christian-Mongol alliance with an anti-Islamic function. A Mongol delegate

8614-463: The Jochid troops and support for Kublai in his conflict with Ariq Böke brought open war with the Golden Horde. Kublai reinforced Hulagu with 30,000 young Mongols to stabilize the political crises in the western regions of the Mongol Empire. When Hulagu died on 8 February 1264, Berke marched to cross near Tbilisi to conquer the Ilkhanate but died on the way. Within a few months of these deaths, Alghu Khan of

8760-530: The Middle East and Europe as Khagan. By 1279, the Yuan conquest of the Song dynasty was completed and Kublai became the first non- Han emperor to rule all of China proper . The imperial portrait of Kublai was part of an album of the portraits of Yuan emperors and empresses, now in the National Palace Museum collection in Taipei. White, the color of the imperial costume of Kublai, was the imperial color of

8906-544: The Middle East, which was a complete failure, and shortly afterward he was assassinated. Kublai encouraged Asian arts and demonstrated religious tolerance. Despite his anti-Daoist edicts, Kublai respected the Daoist master and appointed Zhang Liushan as the patriarch of the Daoist Xuánjiào (玄教, "Mysterious Order"). Under Zhang's advice, Daoist temples were put under the Academy of Scholarly Worthies. Several Europeans visited

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9052-431: The Mongols as ' barbarians ' who appeared to belong to 'some other world'. 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 (the great majority, however, have since been identified). Many have questioned whether he had visited

9198-470: 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. Three and a half years after leaving Venice, when Marco was about 21 years old, the Polos were welcomed by Kublai into his palace. The exact date of their arrival

9344-630: The Polos with his last duty: accompany the Mongol princess Kököchin , who was to become the consort of Arghun Khan , in Persia. When the Polos arrived to Persia, they learned that Arghun Khan died, and Kököchin eventually became a wife of his son Ghazan . After leaving the princess, the Polos travelled overland to Constantinople. They later decided to return to their home. They returned to Venice in 1295, after 24 years, with many riches and treasures. They had travelled almost 15,000 miles (24,000 km). Marco Polo returned to Venice in 1295 with his fortune converted into gemstones . At this time, Venice

9490-412: The Polos' journeys throughout Asia, giving Europeans their first comprehensive look into the inner workings of the Far East , including China, India, and Japan . Polo was finally released from captivity in August 1299, and returned home to Venice, where his father and uncle in the meantime had purchased a large palazzo in the zone named contrada San Giovanni Crisostomo (Corte del Milion). For such

9636-410: The Sakya lama Drogön Chögyal Phagpa ("the Phags pa Lama") his Imperial Preceptor , giving him power over all the empire's Buddhist monks . In 1270, after the Phags pa Lama created the 'Phags-pa script , he was promoted to imperial preceptor. Kublai established the Supreme Control Commission under the Phags pa Lama to administer the affairs of Tibetan and Chinese monks. During Phagspa's absence in Tibet,

9782-459: The Silk Road until they reached " Cathay ". They were received by the royal court of Kublai Khan, who was impressed by Marco's intelligence and humility. Marco was appointed to serve as Kublai's foreign emissary, and he was sent on many diplomatic missions throughout the empire and Southeast Asia, visiting present-day Burma, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. As part of this appointment, Marco also travelled extensively inside China, living in

9928-401: The Yuan capitol). Kublai Khan patronized Muslim scholars and scientists, and Muslim astronomers contributed to the construction of the observatory in Shaanxi . Astronomers such as Jamal ad-Din introduced 7 new instruments and concepts that allowed the correction of the Chinese calendar. Muslim cartographers made accurate maps of all the nations along the Silk Road and greatly influenced

10074-400: The Yuan dynasty based on the Chinese philosophical concept of the Five Elements . Kublai Khan was the fourth son of Tolui , and his second son with Sorghaghtani Beki . As his grandfather Genghis Khan advised, Sorghaghtani chose a Buddhist Tangut woman as her son's nurse, whom Kublai later honored highly. On his way home after the Mongol conquest of Khwarezmia , Genghis Khan performed

10220-731: The Yuan dynasty, there were two Duke Yanshengs, once in the north in Qufu and the other in the south at Quzhou. An invitation to come back to Qufu was extended to the southern Duke Yansheng Kong Zhu by the Yuan Dynasty Emperor Kublai Khan. The title was taken away from the southern branch after Kong Zhu rejected the invitation, so the northern branch of the family kept the title of Duke Yansheng. The southern branch still remained in Quzhou where they lived to this day. Confucius's descendants in Quzhou alone number 30,000. Yuan Emperors like Kublai Khan forbade practices such as butchering according to Jewish ( kashrut ) or Muslim ( dhabihah ) legal codes and other restrictive decrees continued. Circumcision

10366-462: The Yuan garrisons in Mongolia and the Ili River basin. However, Kaidu took control over Almaliq. In 1279–80, Kublai decreed death for those who performed slaughtering of cattle according to the legal codes of Islam ( dhabihah ) or Judaism ( kashrut ), which offended Mongolian custom. When Tekuder seized the throne of the Ilkhanate in 1282, attempting to make peace with the Mamluks, Abaqa's old Mongols under prince Arghun appealed to Kublai. After

10512-443: The agricultural output of Henan , and increased social welfare spending after receiving Xi'an . These acts received great acclaim from ethnic Han warlords and were essential to the founding of the Yuan dynasty. In 1252, Kublai criticized Mahmud Yalavach, who was never highly valued by his ethnic Han associates, over his cavalier execution of suspects during a judicial review, and Zhao Bi attacked him for his presumptuous attitude toward

10658-485: The assassination of Ahmad Fanakati and execution of his sons, Kublai confirmed Arghun's coronation and awarded his commander in chief Buqa the title of chancellor . Kublai's niece, Kelmish, who married a Khongirad general of the Golden Horde, was powerful enough to have Kublai's sons Nomuqan and Kokhchu returned. Three leaders of the Jochids, Tode Mongke , Köchü , and Nogai, agreed to release two princes. The court of

10804-551: The beginning of the fragmentation of the empire. Kublai's real power was limited to the Yuan Empire, even though as Khagan he still influenced the Ilkhanate and, to a significantly lesser degree, the Golden Horde . In 1271, Kublai established the Yuan dynasty and formally claimed orthodox succession from prior Chinese dynasties. The Yuan dynasty came to rule over most of present-day China, Mongolia , Korea , southern Siberia, and other adjacent areas. He also amassed influence in

10950-442: The book a bestseller. 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"

11096-552: The book that would convince him that Marco Polo did not go to China. Haw also argues in his book Marco Polo's China that Marco's account is much more correct and accurate than has often been supposed and that it is extremely unlikely that he could have obtained all the information in his book from secondhand sources. Haw also criticizes Wood's approach to finding mention of Marco Polo in Chinese texts by contending that contemporaneous Europeans had little regard for using surnames and that

11242-558: The capital of the Golden Horde. The Kublaids in the east retained suzerainty over the Ilkhans until the end of their regime. Kublai also sent his protege Ghiyas-ud-din Baraq to overthrow the court of the Oirat Orghana , the empress of the Chagatai Khanate , who put her young son Mubarak Shah on the throne in 1265, without Kublai's permission after her husband's death. Prince Kaidu of

11388-535: The charge of the descendants of Genghis Khan's assistants, Borokhula, Boorchu, and Muqali . Kublai began the practice of having the four great aristocrats in his kheshig sign jarligs (decrees), a practice that spread to all other Mongol khanates. Mongol and Han units were organized using the same decimal organization that Genghis Khan used. The Mongols eagerly adopted new artillery and technologies. Kublai and his generals adopted an elaborate, moderate style of military campaigns in southern China. Effective assimilation of

11534-582: The city in the 15th century, and his crew called it 加剌哈 ( Taihu Wu : ka-la-ha; Hokkien : ka-lat-ha; Cantonese : gaa-laat-haa). Qalhat served as an important stop in the wider Indian Ocean trade network, and was also the second city of the Kingdom of Ormus . By 1507 when it was captured by Afonso de Albuquerque on behalf of the Portuguese Empire , the city was already in decline as trade shifted to Muscat . Covering more than 60 acres (240,000 m), Qalhat

11680-525: The convent of San Giovanni , San Paolo of the Order of Preachers , and a cleric named Friar Benvenuto. He ordered 220  soldi be paid to Giovanni Giustiniani for his work as a notary and his prayers. The will was not signed by Polo, but was validated by the then-relevant " signum manus " rule, by which the testator had only to touch the document to make it legally valid. Due to the Venetian law stating that

11826-553: The currency was convertible with silver and gold, and the government accepted tax payments in paper currency. In 1273, Kublai issued a new series of state-sponsored bills to finance his conquest of the Song, although eventually, a lack of fiscal discipline and inflation turned this move into an economic disaster. It was required to pay only in the form of paper money. To ensure its use, Kublai's government confiscated gold and silver from private citizens and foreign merchants, but traders received government-issued notes in exchange. Kublai Khan

11972-494: The daughter of Vitale Badoèr, a merchant. They had three daughters, Fantina (married Marco Bragadin), Bellela (married Bertuccio Querini), and Moreta. In 2022, it was found that Polo first had a daughter named Agnese (b. 1295/1299 - d. 1319) from a partnership or marriage which ended before 1300. Pietro d'Abano , a philosopher, doctor and astrologer based in Padua , reports having spoken with Marco Polo about what he had observed in

12118-462: 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 8 and 9 January 1324. Biblioteca Marciana , which holds the original copy of his testament, dates the testament on 9 January 1323, and gives the date of his death at some time in June 1324. An authoritative version of Marco Polo's book does not and cannot exist, for

12264-547: The death of his brother secret and continued the attack on Wuhan , near the Yangtze . While Kublai's force besieged Wuchang , Uryankhadai joined him. The Song minister Jia Sidao secretly approached Kublai to propose terms. He offered an annual tribute of 200,000 taels of silver and 200,000 bolts of silk, in exchange for Mongol agreement to the Yangtze as the frontier between the states. Kublai declined at first but later reached

12410-577: The drawing in his volume Conciliator Differentiarum, quæ inter Philosophos et Medicos Versantur . Marco Polo gave Pietro other astronomical observations he made in the Southern Hemisphere , and also a description of the Sumatran rhinoceros , which are collected in the Conciliator . In 1305 he is mentioned in a Venetian document among local sea captains regarding the payment of taxes. His relation with

12556-486: The dynastic name "Great Yuan" in 1271, and ruled Yuan China until his death in 1294. Kublai was the second son of Tolui by his chief wife Sorghaghtani Beki , and a grandson of Genghis Khan . He was almost 12 when Genghis Khan died in 1227. He had succeeded his older brother Möngke as Khagan in 1260, but had to defeat his younger brother Ariq Böke in the Toluid Civil War lasting until 1264. This episode marked

12702-405: The earlier dynasties. 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 traveller Ibn Battuta , who asked about the wall when he visited China during the Yuan dynasty, could find no one who either had seen it or knew of anyone who had seen it, suggesting that while ruins of

12848-445: The early manuscripts differ significantly, and the reconstruction of the original text is a matter of textual criticism . A total of about 150 copies in various languages are known to exist. Before the availability of printing press , errors were frequently made during copying and translating, so there are many differences between the various copies. Polo related his memoirs orally to Rustichello da Pisa while both were prisoners of

12994-464: The east and Abagha in the west. Meanwhile, Mentemu avoided any direct military expedition against Kublai's realm. The Golden Horde promised Kublai their assistance to defeat Kaidu whom Mentemu called the rebel. This was apparently due to the conflict between Kaidu and Mentemu over the agreement they made at the Talas kurultai. The armies of Mongol Persia defeated Baraq's invading forces in 1269. When Baraq died

13140-603: The eastern part of the Yuan dynasty. After Kublai's grandson Buqa-Temür crushed the resistance of the Drikung Kagyu , killing 10,000 Tibetans in 1291, Tibet was fully pacified. Kublai Khan invaded Goryeo on the Korean Peninsula and made it a tributary vassal state in 1260. After another Mongol intervention in 1273, Goryeo came under even tighter control of the Yuan. Goryeo became a Mongol military base, and several myriarchy commands were established there. The court of

13286-429: The emperor's lands for 17 years and seeing many things previously unknown to Europeans. Around 1291, the Polos offered to accompany the Mongol princess Kököchin to Persia; they arrived there around 1293. After leaving the princess, they travelled overland to Constantinople and then to Venice, returning home after 24 years. At this time, Venice was at war with Genoa . Marco joined the war effort on behalf of Venice and

13432-670: The empire, notably the Italian explorer Marco Polo in the 1270s, who was appointed to serve as Khan's foreign emissary throughout the empire and lived in the emperor's lands for 17 years. During the Southern Song, the descendant of Confucius at Qufu , Duke Yansheng Kong Duanyou fled south with the Song Emperor to Quzhou , while the newly established Jin dynasty (1115–1234) in the north appointed Kong Duanyou's brother Kong Duancao who remained in Qufu as Duke Yansheng. From that time up until

13578-590: The established view that Polo was in China, in response to Wood's book. The book has been criticized by figures including Igor de Rachewiltz (translator and annotator of The Secret History of the Mongols ) and Morris Rossabi (author of Kublai Khan: his life and times ). The historian David Morgan points out basic errors made in Wood's book such as confusing the Liao dynasty with the Jin dynasty , and he found no compelling evidence in

13724-471: The evidence supporting Marco Polo's credibility." Some scholars believe that Marco Polo exaggerated his importance in China. The British historian David Morgan thought that Polo had likely exaggerated and lied about his status in China, while Ronald Latham believed that such exaggerations were embellishments by his ghostwriter Rustichello da Pisa . Et meser Marc Pol meisme, celui de cui trate ceste livre, seingneurie ceste cité por trois anz. And

13870-400: The family property of his wife Donata. In 1323, Polo was confined to bed due to illness. On 8 January 1324, despite physicians' efforts to treat him, Polo was on his deathbed. 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 co-executrices . The church was entitled by law to

14016-487: The far south and Burma . They were highly respected and sought after in the Mongolian court, and so 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 Persia , sent representatives to China in search of

14162-474: The few omissions, Marco Polo's account is more extensive, more accurate and more detailed than those of other foreign travellers to China in this period. Marco Polo even observed Chinese nautical inventions such as the watertight compartments of bulkhead partitions in Chinese ships , knowledge of which he was keen to share with his fellow Venetians. In addition to Haw, other scholars have argued in favour of

14308-581: The first time, at the age of fifteen or sixteen. In 1271, Niccolò, Maffeo and Marco Polo embarked on their voyage to fulfil Kublai's request. They sailed to Acre , and then rode on camels to the Persian port of 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,

14454-568: The first time. 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. They sailed to Acre and later rode on their camels to the Persian port Hormuz . During the first stages of the journey, they stayed for a few months in Acre and were able to speak with Archdeacon Tedaldo Visconti of Piacenza . The Polo family, on that occasion, had expressed their regret at

14600-492: The following year. His summer capital was in Shangdu ( Chinese : 上都 ; lit. 'Upper Capital', also called Xanadu, near what today is Dolon Nor ). To unify China, Kublai began a massive offensive against the remnants of the Southern Song in 1274 and finally destroyed the Song in 1279, unifying the country at last at the Battle of Yamen where the last Song Emperor Zhao Bing committed suicide by jumping into

14746-488: The fourth brother, the Il-Khan Hulagu , opposed this. Kublai's ethnic Han staff encouraged Kublai to ascend the throne, and almost all the senior princes in northern China and Manchuria supported his candidacy. Upon returning to his own territories, Kublai summoned his own kurultai. Fewer members of the royal family supported Kublai's claims to the title, though the small number of attendees included representatives of all

14892-581: The head of his pacification commission in 1254. Some officials, who were jealous of Kublai's success, said that he was getting above himself and dreaming of having his own empire by competing with Möngke's capital Karakorum . Möngke Khan sent two tax inspectors, Alamdar (Ariq Böke's close friend and governor in North China) and Liu Taiping, to audit Kublai's officials in 1257. They found fault, listed 142 breaches of regulations, accused Han officials and executed some of them, and Kublai's new pacification commission

15038-468: The introduction of paper currency caused inflation. From 1273 to 1276, the war against the Southern Song dynasty and Japan made the issue of paper currency expand from 110,000 ding to 1,420,000 ding. Within Kublai's court, his most trusted governors and advisers appointed by meritocracy with the essence of multiculturalism were Mongol, Semu , Korean, Hui, and Han peoples. Because the Wokou extended support to

15184-606: The knowledge of Yuan dynasty rulers and merchants. Muslim physicians organized hospitals and had their institutes of Medicine in Beijing and Shangdu . In Beijing was the renown Guang Hui Si "Department of extensive mercy", where Hui medicine and surgery were taught. Avicenna 's works were also published in China during that period. Muslim mathematicians introduced Euclidean Geometry , Spherical trigonometry and Arabic numerals in China. Kublai brought siege engineers Ismail and Al al-Din to China, and together they invented

15330-481: The lack of details in his description of southern Chinese cities compared to northern ones, while Herbert Franke also raised the possibility that Marco Polo had not been to China at all, and wondered if he had based his accounts on Persian sources, in view of his use of Persian expressions. This is taken further by 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

15476-582: 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 , chopsticks , or footbinding . His failure to note the presence of the Great Wall of China was first raised in the middle of the 17th century, and in the middle of the 18th century, it was suggested that he had never reached China. Later scholars such as John W. Haeger argued that Marco Polo might not have visited Southern China, in view of

15622-452: The lamp in Jerusalem . 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

15768-573: The leading Buddhist monk in northern China, to his ordo in Mongolia. When he met Haiyun in Karakorum in 1242, Kublai asked him about the philosophy of Buddhism. Haiyun named Kublai's son, who was born in 1243, Zhenjin (Chinese: True Gold ). Haiyun also introduced Kublai to the formerly Daoist (Taoist) , and at the time Buddhist monk, Liu Bingzhong. Liu was a painter, calligrapher, poet, and mathematician, and he became Kublai's advisor when Haiyun returned to his temple in modern Beijing. Kublai soon added

15914-556: The long lack of a pope, because on their previous trip to China they had received a letter from Kublai Khan to the Pope, and had thus had to leave for China disappointed. During the trip, however, they received news that after 33 months of vacation, finally, the Conclave had elected the new Pope and that he was exactly the archdeacon of Acre. The three of them hurried to return to the Holy Land, where

16060-481: The naval techniques of the Han people allowed the Yuan army to quickly conquer the Song. In 1285 the Drikung Kagyu sect revolted , attacking Sakya monasteries . The Chagatayid Khan, Duwa , helped the rebels, laying siege to Gaochang and defeating Kublai's garrisons in the Tarim Basin . Kaidu destroyed an army at Beshbalik and occupied the city the following year. Many Uyghurs abandoned Kashgar for safer bases back in

16206-539: The new Pope entrusted them with letters for the "Great Khan", inviting him to send his emissaries to Rome. To give more weight to this mission he sent with the Polos, as his legates, two Dominican fathers, Guglielmo of Tripoli and Nicola of Piacenza. They continued overland until they arrived at Kublai Khan 's palace in Shangdu , China (then known as Cathay ). By this time, Marco was 21 years old. Impressed by Marco's intelligence and humility, Kublai appointed him to serve as his foreign emissary to India and Burma . He

16352-410: The next year, Kaidu took control of the Chagatai Khanate and recovered his alliance with Mentemu. Meanwhile, Kublai tried to stabilize his control over the Korean Peninsula by mobilizing another Mongol invasion after he enthroned Wonjong of Goryeo (r. 1260–1274) in 1259 on Ganghwado . Kublai also forced two rulers of the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate to call a truce with each other in 1270 despite

16498-480: The old Mongol living traditions, and as his reign continued, these traditions would clash increasingly frequently with traditional Chinese economic and social culture. Kublai decreed that partner merchants of the Mongols should be subject to taxes in 1262 and set up the Office of Market Taxes to supervise them in 1268. After the Mongol conquest of the Song, the Muslim, Uighur and Chinese merchants expanded their operations to

16644-405: The places he mentioned in his itinerary, whether he had appropriated the accounts of his father and uncle or other travellers, and some doubted whether he even reached China, or that if he did, perhaps never went beyond Khanbaliq (Beijing). It has been pointed out that Polo's accounts of China are more accurate and detailed than other travellers' accounts of the period. Polo had at times refuted

16790-486: The product of a larger European (and Eurasian) literary and commercial culture", rather than questions of veracity of the account. The book opens with a preface describing his father and uncle travelling to Bolghar where Prince Berke Khan lived. A year later, they went to Ukek and continued to Bukhara . There, an envoy from the Levant invited them to meet Kublai Khan , who had never met Europeans. In 1266, they reached

16936-399: The rest of Yunnan. Duan Xingzhi, the last king of Dali, was appointed by Möngke Khan as the first tusi or local ruler; Duan accepted the stationing of a pacification commissioner there. After Kublai's departure, unrest broke out among certain factions. In 1255 and 1256, Duan Xingzhi was presented at court, where he offered Möngke Khan maps of Yunnan and counsels about the vanquishing of

17082-523: The same Marco Polo, of whom this book relates, ruled this city for three years. This sentence in The Book of Marvels was interpreted as Marco Polo was "the governor" of the city of "Yangiu" Yangzhou for three years, and later of Hangzhou . This claim has raised some controversy. According to David Morgan 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. In

17228-550: The sea and ending the Song dynasty . Most of the Yuan domains were administered as provinces, also translated as the "Branch Secretariat", each with a governor and vice-governor. This included China proper , Manchuria , Mongolia , and a special Zhendong branch Secretariat that extended into the Korean Peninsula. The Central Region ( Chinese : 腹裏 ) was separate from the rest, consisting of much of present-day North China . It

17374-684: The seat of Kublai Khan at Dadu , present-day Beijing , China. Kublai received the brothers with hospitality and asked them many questions regarding the European legal and political system. He also inquired about the Pope and Church in Rome. After the brothers answered the questions he tasked them with delivering a letter to the Pope, requesting 100 Christians acquainted with the Seven Arts (grammar, rhetoric, logic, geometry, arithmetic, music and astronomy). Kublai Khan requested also that an envoy bring him back oil of

17520-565: The somewhat more detailed Italian of Giovanni Battista Ramusio, together with a Latin manuscript in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana . Other early important sources are R (Ramusio's Italian translation first printed in 1559), and Z (a 15th-century Latin manuscript kept at Toledo, Spain). Another Old French Polo manuscript, dating to around 1350, is held by the National Library of Sweden. One of the early manuscripts Iter Marci Pauli Veneti

17666-425: The southern front, Kublai attempted a diplomatic resolution and sent envoys to Hangzhou , but Jia broke his promise and arrested them. Kublai sent Abishqa as new khan to the Chagatai Khanate . Ariq Böke captured Abishqa, two other princes, and 100 men, and he had his own man, Alghu , crowned khan of Chagatai 's territory. In the first armed clash between Ariq Böke and Kublai, Ariq Böke lost and his commander Alamdar

17812-522: The standard of scholarship that one would expect in a work of this kind. Her book can only be described as deceptive, both in relation to the author and to the public at large. Questions are posed that, in the majority of cases, have already been answered satisfactorily ... her attempt is unprofessional; she is poorly equipped in the basic tools of the trade, i.e., adequate linguistic competence and research methodology ... and her major arguments cannot withstand close scrutiny. Her conclusion fails to consider all

17958-524: The throne. Möngke dismissed Mahmud Yalavach, which met with resistance from Han Confucian-trained officials. In 1253, Kublai was ordered to attack Yunnan and he tried to ask the Dali Kingdom to submit. The ruling Gao family resisted and killed Mongol envoys . The Mongols divided their forces into three. One wing rode eastward into the Sichuan basin. The second column under Subutai's son Uryankhadai took

18104-543: The tribes who had not yet surrendered. Duan then led a considerable army to serve as guides and vanguards for the Mongol army. By the end of 1256, Uryankhadai had completely pacified Yunnan . Kublai was attracted by the abilities of Tibetan monks as healers. In 1253 he made Drogön Chögyal Phagpa of the Sakya school, a member of his entourage. Phagpa bestowed on Kublai and his wife, Chabi (Chabui), an empowerment (initiation ritual). Kublai appointed Lian Xixian (1231–1280)

18250-469: The truthfulness of the book and defined Marco as a "prudent, honoured and faithful man". In his writings, the Dominican brother Jacopo d'Acqui explains why his contemporaries were sceptical about the content of the book. He also relates that before dying, Marco Polo insisted that "he had told only a half of the things he had seen". According to some recent research of the Italian scholar Antonio Montefusco,

18396-670: The vault of the sky during his travels. Marco told him that during his return trip to the South China Sea , he had spotted what he describes in a drawing as a star "shaped like a sack" (in Latin : ut sacco ) with a big tail ( magna habens caudam ); most likely a comet . Astronomers agree that there were no comets sighted in Europe at the end of the 13th century, but there are records about a comet sighted in China and Indonesia in 1293. This circumstance does not appear in Polo's book of travels . Peter D'Abano kept

18542-485: The very close relationship that Marco Polo cultivated with members of the Dominican Order in Venice suggests that local fathers collaborated with him for a Latin version of the book, which means that Rustichello's text was translated into Latin for a precise will of the Order. Since Dominican fathers had among their missions that of evangelizing foreign peoples (cf. the role of Dominican missionaries in China and in

18688-438: The wall constructed in the earlier periods might have existed, they were not significant or noteworthy at that time. 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 China mentioned footbinding (it is however unclear whether he was merely relaying something he had heard as his description

18834-447: The work of Rustichello, who was giving what medieval European readers expected to find in a travel book. Apparently, from the very beginning, Marco's story aroused contrasting reactions, as it was received by some with a certain disbelief. The Dominican father Francesco Pipino was the author of a translation into Latin, Iter Marci Pauli Veneti in 1302, just a few years after Marco's return to Venice. Francesco Pipino solemnly affirmed

18980-456: Was Il libro di Marco Polo detto il Milione , which means "The Book of Marco Polo, nicknamed ' Milione ' ". According to the 15th-century humanist Giovanni Battista Ramusio , his fellow citizens awarded him this nickname when he came back to Venice because he kept on saying that Kublai Khan's wealth was counted in millions. More precisely, he was nicknamed Messer Marco Milioni (Mr Marco Millions). However, since also his father Niccolò

19126-623: Was 12. Kublai's father Tolui would serve as regent for two years until Genghis' successor, Kublai's third uncle Ogedei , was enthroned as Khagan in 1229. After the Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty , in 1236, Ogedei gave Hebei (attached with 80,000 households) to the family of Tolui, who died in 1232. Kublai received an estate of his own, which included 10,000 households. Because he was inexperienced, Kublai allowed local officials free rein. Corruption amongst his officials and aggressive taxation caused large numbers of ethnic Han peasants to flee, which led to

19272-599: Was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in The Travels of Marco Polo (also known as Book of the Marvels of the World and Il Milione , c.  1300 ), a book that described the then-mysterious culture and inner workings of the Eastern world, including the wealth and great size of

19418-440: Was a translation into Latin made by the Dominican brother Francesco Pipino  [ it ] in 1302, just a few years after Marco's return to Venice. Since Latin was then the most widespread and authoritative language of culture, it is suggested that Rustichello's text was translated into Latin for a precise will of the Dominican Order , and this helped to promote the book on a European scale. The first English translation

19564-495: Was abolished. Kublai sent a two-man embassy with his wives and then appealed in person to Möngke , who publicly forgave his younger brother and reconciled with him. The Daoists had obtained their wealth and status by seizing Buddhist temples . Möngke repeatedly demanded that the Daoists cease their denigration of Buddhism and ordered Kublai to end the clerical strife between the Daoists and Buddhists in his territory. Kublai called

19710-608: Was also strictly forbidden. Thirty Muslims served as high officials in the court of Kublai Khan. Eight of the dynasty's twelve administrative districts had Muslim governors appointed by Kublai Khan. Among the Muslim governors was Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar , who became administrator of Yunnan . He was a well-learned man in the Confucian and Daoist traditions and is believed to have propagated Islam in China . Other administrators were Nasr al-Din (Yunnan) and Mahmud Yalavach (mayor of

19856-482: Was an uprising in the old capital Karakorum that he barely contained. Kublai's actions were condemned by traditionalists and his critics still accused him of being too closely tied to Han Chinese culture. They sent a message to him: "The old customs of our Empire are not those of the Han Chinese laws ... What will happen to the old customs?" Kaidu attracted the other elites of Mongol Khanates, declaring himself to be

20002-678: Was at war with the Republic of Genoa . Polo armed a galley equipped with a trebuchet to join the war. He was probably caught by Genoans in a skirmish in 1296, off the Anatolian coast between Adana and the Gulf of Alexandretta (and not during the battle of Curzola (September 1298), off the Dalmatian coast, a claim which is due to a later tradition (16th century) recorded by Giovanni Battista Ramusio ). He spent several months of his imprisonment dictating

20148-479: Was captured by the Genoans. While imprisoned, he dictated stories of his travels to Rustichello da Pisa , 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 in Venice . Though he was not the first European to reach China , Marco Polo was the first to leave a detailed chronicle of his experience. His account provided

20294-510: Was considered the most important region of the dynasty and was directly governed by the Zhongshu Sheng at Dadu. Tibet was governed by another top-level administrative department called the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs . Kublai promoted economic growth by rebuilding the Grand Canal , repairing public buildings, and extending highways. However, his domestic policy included some aspects of

20440-423: Was in a position to look beyond China. However, Kublai's costly invasions of Vietnam (1258) , Sakhalin (1264) , Burma (1277) , Champa (1282) , and Vietnam again (1285) secured only the vassal status of those countries. Mongol invasions of Japan (1274 and 1281), the third invasion of Vietnam (1287–88) , and the invasion of Java (1293) failed. At the same time, Kublai's nephew Ilkhan Abagha tried to form

20586-598: Was killed at the battle. In revenge, Ariq Böke had Abishqa executed. Kublai cut off supplies of food to Karakorum with the support of his cousin Kadan , son of Ögedei Khan . Karakorum quickly fell to Kublai's large army, but following Kublai's departure it was temporarily re-taken by Ariq Böke in 1261. Yizhou governor Li Tan revolted against Mongol rule in February 1262, and Kublai ordered his Chancellor Shi Tianze and Shi Shu to attack Li Tan. The two armies crushed Li Tan's revolt in just

20732-434: Was lifted straight out of an 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. Latham believed that many elements of the book, such as legends of the Middle East and mentions of exotic marvels, might have been

20878-468: Was nicknamed Milione , 19th-century philologist Luigi Foscolo Benedetto was persuaded that Milione was a shortened version of Emilione , and that this nickname was used to distinguish Niccolò's and Marco's branch from other Polo families. His father, Niccolò Polo , a merchant, traded with the Near East , becoming wealthy and achieving great prestige. Niccolò and his brother Maffeo set off on

21024-656: Was sent on many diplomatic missions throughout his empire and in Southeast Asia, (such as in present-day Indonesia , Sri Lanka and Vietnam ), but also entertained the Khan with stories and observations about the lands he saw. As part of this appointment, Marco travelled extensively inside China, living in the emperor's lands for 17 years. Kublai initially refused several times to let the Polos return to Europe, as he appreciated their company and they became useful to him. However, around 1291, he finally granted permission, entrusting

21170-606: Was solemnly baptised at the Second Council of Lyon . At the council, Pope Gregory X promulgated a new Crusade to start in 1278 in liaison with the Mongols. Since its publication, some have viewed the book with skepticism. Some in the Middle Ages regarded 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

21316-515: Was surrounded by fortified walls that contained houses and shops. Very little remains of the ancient city, save for the now dome-less mausoleum of Bibi Maryam. Artifacts from as far away as Persia and China were found on-site. Recently, a research conducted by geoarchaeologists of the University of Bonn conclude that earthquake activity along the most prominent structural element, the Qalhat Fault,

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