Marco Polo

            
             Marco Polo was an Italian he lived from 1254-1324? He was an a trader and traveler and became famous for his books which gave Europeans their earliest information about Cathay now called China telling the truth or not he was suspected of lying for saying how big the Country was. Marco Polo had a father and uncle whose names were Niccolo and Matteo Polo. These brothers arrived at Sudak and went on to Surai on the Volga River where they traded for a year. Then civil war broke out between Barka and his cousin Hulagu, which made it impossible for Niccolo and Matteo to return along the same route as they came. Therefore they decided to make a route to avoid the war and found themselves stranded for 3 years at Bukara. They were Venetian merchants who owned their own shop and traveled a lot and sometimes took Marco Polo with them (e.g. they took him to China). In 1995 Korcula celebrated the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo return from China to Europe.
             Marco Polo was brought up in a very well established family on the coast of Dalmatia his father and uncle had set up a trading out-post on the island of Curzola (just off the coast of Dalmatia). It is not certain whether Marco Polo was born there or the city of Venice. Marco Polo grew up in Venice, which was the center of commerce in the Mediterranian. Marco Polo had the usual education of a young man of this period. He had learnt much of Classical Authors, understood the text of the bible, and knew the basic Theology of the Latin Church. He had a sound knowledge of commercial French. From his later history we know that he was interested in natural resources, in the ways of people, as well as strange and interesting animals and plants. Marco Polo was six years old when his father and uncle went east on their first trip to China he was 15 years old when they returned to Venice, and his mother has already passed away. He remained in Venice with his uncle and father for a further two years then the three of them embarked on the most courageous journey to China for the second time.