Kublai Khan and Marco Polo: The...
Charles River Editors
Aside from Genghis, the most famous of the Mongolian rulers was Genghis’s grandson, Kublai Khan, who was raised as Mongolian in the traditional way, but also exposed to Chinese culture. As Great Khan, Kublai Khan ruled the Mongolian Empire from his capital in modern-day Beijing, with a court that included Mongolians, Arabs, and Persians from throughout his empire. While Genghis may have been a warrior, Kublai was a man of culture, intellect and curiosity, and his court was a luxurious one rich in art, music, and goods. Under his reign, trade along the Silk Road was both easier and more efficient than ever before. Toll gates were removed, and traders could move freely from place to place. It was said that even women could travel safely with goods without fear of harm.
Kublai was clearly an influential ruler, but what helped his legacy endure was that he hosted the famous Italian traveler Marco Polo, who stayed in China for years and described what he saw in detail. When Marco Polo’s travelogue was published back in Europe, it immediately became one of the most famous works on the continent, and while modern historians still debate which parts were factual and fictional, there can be no question that Kublai Khan was a monumental leader in Asia.
Marco Polo was hardly the only European merchant or trader who traveled to the Far East, but it was his written account of his travels that would generate extreme interest in Asia. Having described such a rich land full of desired resources, Marco Polo’s travels became a source for European cartographers of the era, and they became the impetus for men like Christopher Columbus, who added his own annotations to Marco Polo’s account and used it as a reference for his own legendary expedition in search of the Far East. Centuries later, historians have scoured over the account and what was written in an effort to validate its authenticity, leading to sharp debates today.
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