The Travels Of Marco Polo

The Travels of Marco Polo in the Historical Context

Marco Polo is regarded as one of the most famous travelers of all times and the account of his travels was a best-seller ' of the late Middle Ages that fascinated such famous travelers as Columbus and Vasco da Gama . Polo claims that he travelled to the Mongol empire and occupied important positions at the khan 's court , however , his reports have often been claimed as unreliable and fantastic , and Polo himself declared a liar . In fact , the only proof of his adventures are Polo

's own words Yet this does not mean that it is impossible to find out whether Polo did travel to Asia or not . His story should be examined in the historical and cultural context and compared to the facts known of Mongolia and China of the 13th century . In this I will attempt to place Polo 's s to such historical context in to determine whether his book can be used as reliable historical source , or it should be considered as one of the medieval fantastic adventure stories

Marco Polo includes much obviously fantastic evidence into his book . He writes that tartars were able to control weather and of glasses of wine that came spontaneously into his hands during celebration in the Khan 's palace . For sure , the latter can be attributed to Polo 's own alcohol intoxication . As regards the other unbelievable evidence like the stories of huge birds hunting sheep , they have to...