MARCO POLO & The Medieval Merchants
On the Silk Road
MERCHANT STATES BEGIN
* After the CRUSADES the EAST became a way to become RICH!
* MARITINE CITY-STATES (small "city-NATIONS", you might say) began to grow by making their WEALTH off of SHIPPING & TRADE
* ITALY- GENOA, PISA, and VENICE- became the strongest & wealthiest of these city-states.
* These cities were all in competition with EACH OTHER (for the CONSUMER MARKETS of Europe) and so they would constantly be on the look-out for a "GET-RICH-QUICK" scheme...(They wanted EUROPE'S TRADE under their CONTROL)
* During the late 1200s VENICE was the most POWERFUL of these city-states.
* CONSTANTINOPLE became VERY IMPORTANT TO EUROPEAN MERCHANTS who traded and shipped eastern goods to Europe...(Because of it's geographical location, and because it was a EUROPEAN/CHRISTIAN city)
*Constantinople (modern day ISTANBUL) was controlled then by VENICE.....this was one MAJOR reason VENICE was the most powerful.
*There was still constant fighting between the Eastern Europeans (christians) and the Middle Eastern (muslims)...this was going to be a problem for EUROPEAN MERCHANTS later....
*Thanks to MARCO POLO Europe was going to not only be "interested" in the East...but become INFATUATED with it...
MONGOL EMPIRE
*(1206)- Mongols had begun their conquest of Asia under the leadership of GENGHIS KHAN.
* By (1260) they controlled all of ASIA
* They divided the lands into small kingdoms (khanates) that were ruled by kings (khans) who answered to the "GREAT KHAN." This is what allowed control to such a large territory.
*(1241) Mongols attacked Eastern Europe; they invaded Kiev, Russia, Poland, Hungary, and came as far east as the border of what today is Austria,and southern Germany.
*Just as the Mongol army was on the verge of invading the rest of Europe (powerless against it), the "horde" suddenly stopped and returned to thier capital in China.
* The Khan had died and all the leaders of the armies wanted in on the selection (from the KHAN'S various children) of the new GREAT KHAN.
*Europeans used this time to try and form an alliance with the MONGOLS...
TWO REASONS for ALLIANCE:
1) hoped to stop a FULL invasion by Mongols
2) wanted them as a partner against their "common enemy" MIDDLE EASTERN MUSLIMS
MARCO POLO
*No alliance could ever be made between the Mongols and Europe (they didn't need Europe to take care of the Muslims)...but....
*In (1258) the Mongols conquered and plundered the Muslim capital city of BAGHDAD.
*After this defeat the Mongols opened trade routes from Europe to the East known as the SILK ROAD.
*Europeans had been blocked from this trade due to Muslim control of the Middle East...
NOW IT WAS OPEN TO EUROPEAN MERCHANTS
*The NEW KHAN...Kubli Khan was very interested in having knowledge of the WEST; he wanted his people educated in new things- "western things".....
It's also very possible he wanted to learn "inside" information about EUROPE- Maybe a chance to find a new way to take over and invade Europe...
*In (1271) a 17 year old merchant by the name of MARCO POLO traveled with his father and uncle from VENICE to the court of Kubli Khan.
*Marco Polo became a favorite of Kubli Khan and thus became very influencial in the his court. He became an ambassador for Khan, and for 17 years he traveled all over Asia and saw first-hand the ORIENT and all it's WEALTH.
*Marco & Co. return in 1295 to Venice
*In (1298) Marco is captured by a ship from GENOA during a naval battle between VENICE and GENOA. He is in prison from (1298-1299)
*while in prison he dictates his story to his prison mate, and it is written down.
*(1455) Gutenberg introduces the PRINTING PRESS
*(1477) Polo's book is first published, and another Italian merchant by the name of CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS purchases a copy and studies EVERY DETAIL of Polo's story...
HE IS INSPIRED....
Wanna Know More???
READ A BOOK...
The Travels of Marco Polo (The Venetian)
revised from Marsden's Translation edited by Manuel Komroff
OR
The Travels of Marco Polo
by Mary Hull
or
The GREAT WALL of CHINA
Back to AMERICAN HISTORY