The Travels of Marco Polo

I was highly impressed by this book. I had no prior knowledge of its existance untill I had to read it in order to complete this review and an essay. Marco Polo describes ever aspect of his travels in great detail. It was very interesting to see first hand reports of the daily way of life of people who lived 800 years ago on the other side of the globe. Iwould recommend this book to a fellow student. My generation doesn't read nearly enough so I would recommend any book that I have read to another student. It is a fantastic first hand account of the ancient world. It is well written and very fluent. It was not a bore, but rather more like hearing a collection of wonderful stories from a wise elderly family member who has seen an innumerable amount of things in their life. It is not a timeline or a history textbook, these are very interesting and intimate descriptions of ancient people, their customs and their homes.

I first read this book when a teacher lent it to me in 7th grade, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was fascinating to read his adventures. As he traveled along, he explained each town he went to, and the explanations and information were interesting to read, seeing what each town was like, who they were under the rule of, and so on. The middle part of the book explains some of his journeys and events while he was visiting the Great Khan, and the latter parts explaining his trip back to Europe by sea. This edition also includes footnotes, which the edition my teacher had didn't, correcting some of the mistakes and giving more context to the text. The language and construction of the sentences are a bit more formal and declarative than works one would more commonly read today, but it wasn't difficult to understand or comprehend. The beginning of the book focuses on Marco's first adventure to China with his father and uncle, and overall, the entire beginning was a bit hard to get through, but once you get past it, it becomes more enjoyable. Overall, I would recommend this book.

It has been a pleasure to revisit the travels of Marco Polo. I was transfixed by these stories of travel and adventure when I was a child, and never questioned the veracity of the narrative. I know today that the narrative has been corrupted over the centuries, that "The Travels" can scarcely be used as an historical reference, and that a more tantalizing and complete manuscript has probably been lost to the ages. Still, there are glimpses and insights within the narrative that could only have come from first-hand experience, and these describe an enormous, exotic world that titillates even today, while readers in the 13th and 14th centuries must have been enthralled. I was most keen this time around to Polo's descriptions of the cultures and wildlife he encountered, of the whales and lions and leopards and bears--he even describes a white bear, and the people who hunted it were surely of the group often called Eskimos. He describes dog-sledding in the far north and the cannibalistic practices of the people of Java far to the south, both of which are extant in our current era. There are also the fascinating observations of the Mongol Empire, of that group of nomadic people who somehow rose up, like an event in an Isaac Asimov novel, to conquer much of the known world. Somewhat depressingly, though, are Polo's observations of the tensions that existed between the Islamic and Christian worlds, tensions rooted in the competition for hegemony over trade in the Far East. Seven hundred years later, these tensions are still acting themselves out. This translation by Ronald Latham from 1958 includes an introduction that puts Marco Polo's life in context with events and includes footnotes to help the reader make sense of the myriad manuscripts that make up the travels of Marco Polo. This is a somewhat dry read; even Latham comments on the paucity of skill employed by Polo's chronicler. Once I put my mind in context with the narrative, however, I was able to roll with the repetition and sycophancy and enjoy the text.

This is a pleasurable read, many of the other editions are very academic, and the various footnotes and references can be so distracting. This, on the other hand, is sufficiently descriptive, that we can imagine in our mind's eye life in the court of Khan. There are colorful and informative descriptions of the pageantry of the court, the general social structure, the role of law as imposed by Khan in his efforts to create what was a functional society. He articulated his requirements and expectations on the part of the people, such as the development and required use of paper money to assure trade and commerce throughout the land on an "even" basis, so that each person could trust that his or her currency would be accepted equally. Even more impressive are the descriptions of birthday parties for the Emperor with 10,000 guests all dressed in silk robes, which went on for days, requiring a change of clothes every day...imagine the silk trade just to support that social event! Or Khan's hunting expeditions requiring 10,000 elephants marchingnacross the land to flush out tigers and other wildlife. A fun read, a good look into a time and place that would be unimaginable today.

Une relation archi détaillée des périgrinations de l'immense Marco Polo.. Agrémentée de centaines de "footnotes" ( notes de bas de page.)..Difficile de garder son attention, totalement en éveil .. D'autant que si l'on en croit une autre des notes de l'auteur, cette relation de ses voyages exploratoires n'a pas été écrite par Marco Polo lui même, mais il l'aurait dictée- pendant qu'il était en prison- à un compagnon de cellule , parait il porté à l'exagération.. L'homme qu'a vu l'homme qu'a vu l'ours ? Ah bon... Il n'empêche, certaines pages sont bien intéressantes

Excellent read and a good way to rethink the connecting routes between Europe and Asia. Marco Polo narrates the story of his travels through a mediator, Rustichello da Pisa, complicating further notions of authorship and textual authenticity (the original manuscript has gone lost). But does it really matter? What I enjoyed the most is the mapping of mercantile interests of the late Middle Ages, the inventories of commodities as well as local customs and artifacts. But also recognizing the names of cities that in the course of history, and particularly our recent history, have had such a tragic fate (e.g., Iraq's Mosul).

All of us have read history as part of our curriculum, rarely, if ever, have we thought of the sources out of which historical narratives emerge. So, it was thrilling novelty reading Marco Polo's travelogue is an invaluable source, perennially referenced. That was an added incentive to read it. Marco Polo's narratuon of encounters, at times bizarre and previously unheard of , with varied peoples and ethnic groups all along the ancient silk route ,his acute observations of their social traditions in the thirteenth century is fascinating and immersive. As it is rendered in modern English reading is facile, fluid , and the cornucopia of anecdotes touching a very broad sweep of diverse cultures keeps readers hooked. Copious footnotes immensely help understanding. An authentic slice of medieval history that readers with a historical bent of mind must read.

The Travels of Marco Polo may be perhaps the most challenging travelogue ever put together. While Marco Polo was not the first to write about lands distant and alien to one’s own, he wrote of a journey of immense challenge and difficulty. Difficulty that is difficult to appreciate in our modern world. First of all, the most notable controversy; was Maro Polo a fraud? This reader disagrees. While some regard it as suspect that he traveled to Yuan Dynasty China and did not mention the largely Han practice of foot binding, one needs to remember that he was employed in the court of Kubilai Khan, a Mongol Emperor who headed a very multicultural court. While this reader is not a first class scholar of medieval China, the narrative through which Marco Polo describes the China of then corresponds somewhat to the cultural mosaic of today. While in the Southwest of China, he describes people of rather relaxed sexual practices, which have an eery similarity to the Naxi of Yunnan Province, he describes a religious mosaic that regularly alternates between either Christian, Muslim or, as he terms it, idolatory, he describes funerary practices, the choice of clothing, and dietary practices. Therefore, this reader rules favorably in the authenticity of Marco Polo’s account. The book in itself is mainly a travelogue, and describes everywhere from Armenia and the Caspian Sea region, China, India, the Middle East, and in the final chapter, Russia. Toward the end, the book becomes something of a commentary of the then current affairs, describing a conflict in what was then an area close to Russia’s frontier, and earlier parts of the book describe the conflict and intrigue in the court of the Great Khan. However, the book, for the most part, is a travelogue. The book is an immensely entertaining and readable account. With just simple relaxation and the right approach, one feels themselves there with Marco Polo, exploring unknown lands, and traveling a greater distance traveled by no man since the creation, in the words of the introduction. Marco Polo’s Travels, or to give it it’s actual title, Il Milione, is a timeless classic. A timeless work of inquiry and observation that is both intriguing and fascinating, and a pleasure for the soul.

I think that many of us, at one time or another, have wondered about what marvelously interesting lives some of the greats of history have experienced, and felt somewhat diminished by the every day everyday of our own lives. A read of Marco Polo's travels will provide all of the, 'escape into the great unknown', that anyone could ever desire, amid page after page of why we should be careful what we wish for...... We may get it! It is a fascinating read, and well worth the lector's voyage, however, don't be surprised if, among the strange strangeness, the reader (and Marco Polo) seem to become somewhat bored with the trip and just want to tap one's ruby slippers together and go home. This too is part of Marco Polo's tale. He left Italy as a pie-eyed adolescent, and grew to manhood amid Persian caravansari, Tamerlane's glory that was Samarquand, the endless bleakness of the Taklamakand Desert, the fantasies of the Mongol court of China, and the palace life of the south seas. How does one return from a trip like that, especially when it has literally made one into what one has become. Such is the nature of Marco Polo's post voyage travel log. It opens panaramas in time and space before the reader and allows one to see them with the eyes of a child awakening to adulthood. Curiousity becomes a way of life, and every thing learned is one more chance to survive on the road to the next adventure. The weakness in this work is the shoddy quality of the historical plates of nonsense interpretations of what Marco Polo saw, as seen through the eyes of an Italian engraver who never traveled further than the next Italian town. High quality plates of well researched historical images of what Marco Polo saw would have been far more interesting. Baring that, no images would have improved it.