Marco Polo

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Yet the ruthless methods brought a measure
of stability to the lands they controlled, opening up trade routes such as
the famous Silk Road. Eventually,the Mongols discovered that it was more
profitable to collect tribute from people than to kill them outright, and
this policy too stimulated trade(Hull 23).

Into this favorable atmosphere a number of European traders
ventured, including the family of Marco Polo. The Polos had long-
established ties in the Levant and around the Black Sea: for example, they
owned property in onstantinople, and Marco's uncle, for whom he was named,
had a home in Sudak in the Crimea(Rugoff 8). From Sudak, around 1260,
another uncle, Maffeo, and Marco's father, Niccolù, made a trading visit
into Mongol territory, the land of the Golden Horde(Russia), ruled by
Berke Khan. While they were there, a war broke out between Berke and the
Cowan of Levant, blocking their return home. Thus Niccolù and Maffeo
traveled deeper into mongol territory, moving southeast ...

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for adventure, a love of stories, and a desire to please or
impress(Li Man Kin 10).

Life's Work

In 1268, Pope Clement IV died, and a two- or three-year delay
while another pope was being elected gave young Marco time to mature and
to absorb the tales of his father and uncle. Marco was seventeen years old
when he, his father and uncle finally set out for the court of Kublai
Khan(Stefoff 13). They were accompanied not by one hundred wise men but
by two Dominican friars, and the two good friars turned back at the first
sign of adversity, another local war in the Levant. Aside from the pope's
messages, the only spiritual gift Europe was able to furnish the great
Kublai Khan was oil ...

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