Editing Marco Polo (section)

=== Early life and Asian travel ===
{{See also|Niccolò and Maffeo Polo|Europeans in Medieval China}}

[[File:Marco Polo Mosaic from Palazzo Tursi.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Mosaic of Marco Polo displayed in the Palazzo Doria-Tursi, [[Genoa]], Italy]]
His father, [[Niccolò and Maffeo Polo|Niccolò Polo]], a merchant, traded with the [[Near East]], becoming wealthy and achieving great prestige.<ref name="Britannica571"/><ref name="WB">{{Harvnb|Parker|2004|pp=648–49}}</ref> Niccolò and his brother Maffeo set off on a trading voyage before Marco's birth.<ref name="WB"/><ref name="Italiani nel sistema solare">[https://books.google.com/books?id=TiTXdptskSsC&dq=marco+polo+15+settembre+1254&pg=PA67 Italiani nel sistema solare] di Michele T. Mazzucato</ref> In 1260,<ref>According to Marco Polo's biographer Alvise Zorzi, Niccolò and Maffeo had decided to leave Constantinople after the fall of the [[Latin Empire]] of Constantinople, therefore, after 1261. {{Cite book |title=La Repubblica del Leone. Storia di Venezia |trans-title=The Lion's Republic. History of Venice |last=Zorzi |first=Alvise |publisher=[[Bompiani]] |location=Milan |date=2001 |page=156 |isbn=88-452-9136-7 |language=it}}</ref> Niccolò and Maffeo, while residing in Constantinople, then the capital of the [[Latin Empire]], foresaw a political change; they liquidated their assets into jewels and moved away.<ref name="Britannica571">{{Harvnb|Britannica|2002|p=571}}</ref> According to ''The Travels of Marco Polo'', they passed through much of Asia, and met with [[Kublai Khan]], a Mongol ruler and founder of the [[Yuan dynasty]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Yule|Cordier|1923|loc=ch.1–9}}</ref> 

Almost nothing is known about the childhood of Marco Polo until he was fifteen years old, except that he probably spent part of his childhood in Venice.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=36}}{{sfn|Puljiz-Šostik|2015|p=24}}<ref name="Rugoff">{{cite book |title=Marco Polo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=if-BBgAAQBAJ |first=Milton |last=Rugoff |publisher=New Word City |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-61230-838-8}}</ref> Meanwhile, Marco Polo's mother died, and an aunt and uncle raised him.<ref name="WB"/> He received a good education, learning mercantile subjects including foreign currency, appraising, and the handling of cargo ships;<ref name="WB"/> he learned little or no [[Latin]].<ref name="Britannica571"/> His father later married Floradise Polo (née Trevisan).<ref name="Poljica">{{cite journal |title=Putopisac Marko Polo |trans-title=Travel writer Marco Polo |url=http://www.korcula.net/mpolo/mpolo_pav_text.htm |first=Anđelko |last=Pavešković |journal=Godišnjak Poljičkog Dekanata "Poljica" |issue=23 |year=1998 |pages=38–66}}</ref>

In 1269, Niccolò and Maffeo returned to their families in Venice, meeting young Marco for the first time.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=36}} In 1271, during the rule of [[Doge (title)|Doge]] [[Lorenzo Tiepolo]], Marco Polo (at seventeen years of age), his father, and his uncle set off for Asia on the series of adventures that Marco later documented in his book.{{sfn|Bergreen|2007|p=37}}

[[File:Caravane Marco Polo.jpg|thumb|A close-up of the [[Catalan Atlas]] depicting Marco Polo travelling to the East during the ''[[Pax Mongolica]]'']]
They sailed to [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] and later rode on their camels to the Persian port [[Hormuz, Iran|Hormuz]]. During the first stages of the journey, they stayed for a few months in Acre and were able to speak with Archdeacon [[Pope Gregory X|Tedaldo Visconti of Piacenza]]. The Polo family, on that occasion, had expressed their regret at the long lack of a pope, because on their previous trip to China they had received a letter from Kublai Khan to the Pope, and had thus had to leave for China disappointed. During the trip, however, they received news that after 33 months of vacation, finally, the [[Conclave]] had elected the new Pope and that he was exactly the archdeacon of Acre. The three of them hurried to return to the Holy Land, where the new Pope entrusted them with letters for the "Great Khan", inviting him to send his emissaries to Rome. To give more weight to this mission he sent with the Polos, as his legates, two [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] fathers, Guglielmo of Tripoli and Nicola of Piacenza.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.treccani.it//enciclopedia/beato-gregorio-x_(Enciclopedia-dei-Papi)|title=GREGORIO X, beato in "Enciclopedia dei Papi"|website=treccani.it}}</ref>

They continued overland until they arrived at [[Kublai Khan]]'s palace in [[Shangdu]], China (then known as [[Cathay]]). By this time, Marco was 21 years old.{{cn|date=October 2024}} Impressed by Marco's intelligence and humility, Kublai appointed him to serve as his foreign emissary to [[Delhi Sultanate|India]] and [[History of Myanmar#Bagan dynasty (849–1297)|Burma]]. He was sent on many diplomatic missions throughout his empire and in Southeast Asia, (such as in present-day [[Indonesia]], [[Sri Lanka]] and [[Vietnam]]),<ref name=Rongguang/><ref name=Kleinhenz/> but also entertained the Khan with stories and observations about the lands he saw. As part of this appointment, Marco travelled extensively inside China, living in the emperor's lands for 17 years.<ref name=WorldAtlas/>

Kublai initially refused several times to let the Polos return to Europe, as he appreciated their company and they became useful to him.{{cn|date=October 2024}} However, around 1291, he finally granted permission, entrusting the Polos with his last duty: accompany the Mongol princess [[Kököchin]], who was to become the consort of [[Arghun Khan]], in Persia.<ref name="Igor"/><ref name="ShaanxiChronicles">{{cite web | title=二、欧洲 |trans-title=Volume 1 - Foreign affairs, Chapter 4 - Before 1840, 4.2 Europe | website=Office of Shaanxi Local Chronicles | url=http://dfz.shaanxi.gov.cn/sqzlk/xbsxsz/szdyl/wsz/201107/t20110715_701024.html | quote=在中国住过十七年之久的马可·波罗一行，久游思乡。恰巧波斯汗阿鲁浑派使臣进谒忽必烈，告以妃子死去，请求赐婚。忽必烈命以阔阔真公主下嫁阿鲁浑汗。马可·波罗奉使陪送公主去波斯，从泉州出发经陆上道路，于1294或1295年左右回到威尼斯故乡。 |access-date=13 Oct 2024}}</ref><ref name="Zhang">{{cite web | title=馬可孛羅是誰？ | trans-title=Who is Marco Polo?| last=Zhang |first=Jinxian | website=中國文化研究院 | date=18 September 2020 | url=https://chiculture.org.hk/en/node/266 | access-date=13 October 2024 | quote=馬可孛羅三人居留中國十七年，多次請求回國，沒有獲准。後來伊兒汗阿魯渾的王妃病逝，忽必烈便遣派闊闊真公主下嫁阿魯渾。阿魯渾的使者 … 請求大汗派他們一同護送闊闊真。忽必烈答應這一要求，同時命馬可孛羅等回歐洲，轉送他致羅馬教皇和英、法等國國王的信件。1291年，馬可孛羅等人乘船從泉州啟程，經爪哇、印度洋，到達波斯灣沿岸的伊兒汗國。當時阿魯渾已死，闊闊真按照蒙古風俗嫁給阿魯渾之子合贊。馬可孛羅等人 … 1295年回到故鄉威尼斯。}}</ref> When the Polos arrived to Persia, they learned that Arghun Khan died, and Kököchin eventually became a wife of his son [[Ghazan]]. After leaving the princess, the Polos travelled overland to Constantinople. They later decided to return to their home.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

They returned to Venice in 1295, after 24 years, with many riches and treasures. They had travelled almost {{convert|15000|mi|-3}}.<ref name="WB"/>