The Travels of Marco Polo - Summary on a Map
The Travels of Marco Polo - Summary on a Map
In this second video about great explorers, let’s retrace the Travels of Marco Polo across Asia, accompanied by his father and his uncle.
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English translation \u0026 voiceover: Matthew Bates https://www.epicvoiceover.com/
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Original French version: • Le voyage de Marco Polo - Résumé sur …
Russian version: • Путешествия Марко Поло - на карте
Arabic version: • رحلات ماركو پولو
Spanish version: • Los viajes de Marco Polo - Resumen co…
Portuguese version (Brazil): Coming soon
Japanese version: • マルコ・ポーロの旅
German version: • Die Reisen von Marco Polo - Zusammenf…
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Music: Violet Vape - Cheel (YouTube Library)
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Software: Adobe After Effects
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Chapters
00:00 Context
00:41 The travel of Niccolo et Maffeo Polo (the father and the uncle of Marco Polo)
02:10 Departure from Venice and the meeting with the pope
03:10 Travel to China
05:03 Marco Polo in China
07:35 Back to Europe
08:50 “The travels of Marco Polo”
09:38 End of his life and consequences of his book
#geohistory #history #marcopolo #explorer #china #asia
Content
0.4 -> Marco Polo is born in 1254 in Venice into a
wealthy family of traveling merchants.
6.935 -> At this time, the Republic of Venice controls the main
maritime trade routes in the Mediterranean basin,
13.36 -> importing Asian products, among others.
16.244 -> Asia is still very much unknown in Europe,
19.244 -> despite that a few years earlier, the Mongol Empire, during its conquests,
24.185 -> had shaken all of Europe by moving rapidly across the continent.
28.671 -> The situation has since calmed down, and only a handful of Europeans have ventured as far as Karakorum,
35.857 -> the capital of the Mongol Empire, for diplomatic and religious missions.
40.836 -> When Marco Polo is born, his father Niccolo is probably unaware that he now has a son,
47.589 -> and stays in Constantinople with his brother Maffeo to do business.
52.233 -> When Marco Polo is 5 years old, his mother dies.
56.288 -> At the same time, Niccolo and Maffeo, seeing tensions rising between the Latins and the Greeks,
62.436 -> leave Constantinople and go to do business in Asia.
66.241 -> They enter the Golden Horde and reach the capital Sarai Berke,
where they sell jewels to the court of the Khan.
74.323 -> They then continue their journey and reach Bukhara, where they reside for several years.
80.091 -> The Great Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, hears about the two Venetians and wants to meet them.
87.416 -> They are escorted to him. Kublai Khan
entrusts them with a letter intended for the Pope,
93.712 -> inviting the pontiff to send Christian scholars to him.
97.376 -> The Polo brothers then leave for Europe, with the help of a Paiza,
101.386 -> that is to say a gold tablet that allows them to travel safely throughout the Mongolian empire,
107.596 -> obtaining free accommodation and food.
110.264 -> After 3 years of travel, they arrive in Venice, and Niccolo discovers his son Marco Polo, who is now 15 years old.
119.224 -> But the previous year, Pope Clement IV died, and the cardinals are slow in finding a successor.
125.866 -> After two years of waiting, while the election of the pope drags on,
130.568 -> the Polos give up their mission and leave again, so as not to keep the Great Khan waiting.
136.384 -> This time, Marco Polo accompanies them.
139.505 -> They reach Acre, from where they depart to Ayas in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, allied to the Mongol Empire.
147.436 -> But at the same time, in Viterbo in Italy, the cardinals finally agree to elect a new pope.
154.078 -> It is Teobaldo Visconti, who lives in Acre and who met the Polos.
159.264 -> Learning of his coronation, Visconti urgently sends a messenger to Ayas to catch up with them.
165.877 -> On their return, the new Pope, who will be renamed Gregory X,
170.432 -> gives them letters intended for the Great Khan, and two Dominican monks join the expedition.
176.952 -> The five men set out again to Ayas, but Cilicia is threatened by the Mamluks,
182.65 -> as the two powers compete on trade
between Asia and Europe.
186.828 -> Feeling insecure, the two monks decide to turn back.
190.822 -> The three Polo men continue alone and enter the Ilkhanate.
195.433 -> They pass by Tabriz, the capital.
198.244 -> Marco Polo is amazed by the markets in the city, and the numerous colored carpets.
204.062 -> They then continue on their journey
southward through arid zones to reach Hormuz,
209.266 -> whose port is a starting point towards the Indies and the Far East, from where spices and precious stones come.
216.595 -> The Polos planned to leave by sea, but they are not reassured by the Arab ships called dhows,
223.038 -> which to them seem too unstable to
face storms.
226.842 -> They therefore decide to continue on foot, via the land routes of the Silk Road.
232.282 -> They reach the high plateaus of Pamir, surrounded by immense mountains,
237.723 -> where they discover a variety of mouflon which is today called the Marco Polo sheep.
243.547 -> Arriving at Kashgar, they pass to the south,
246.771 -> in a short corridor between the Taklamakan Desert and the elevated Tibetan Plateau.
252.739 -> Then they reach the first Chinese city, Ganzhou, today called Zhangye.
258.188 -> They discover there Buddhism, which is completely unknown to them.
262.88 -> In a temple in the city is the largest reclining Buddha in China.
267.454 -> They stay there for a while, until an escort comes to get them.
271.662 -> Since the Polo brothers' stay in Karakorum eight years earlier, the situation has changed.
277.827 -> The Mongols are at war with the Song Dynasty that they are now conquering,
282.556 -> and Kublai Khan has founded the Yuan
Dynasty, moving his capital to Khanbaliq,
288.117 -> the city of the Khan, now known as Beijing.
291.971 -> Three hundred kilometers to the north is Xanadu, the summer capital.
296.678 -> In 1274, the Polo family arrives there,
and they stay in the sumptuous marble palace.
303.36 -> Marco Polo seems to have made a good impression on the Great Khan, who decides to hire him in his diplomatic service.
311.533 -> We don't know exactly what his function is, but we do know that he will travel to the farthest reaches of China.
318.59 -> In the capital, he discovers bills made from mulberry bark.
322.845 -> Once dried, blackened, and with the imperial seal, they are exchanged for gold and precious stones.
330.191 -> This is probably the first time that a European has discovered banknotes.
335.454 -> In one or more trips, he explores the Southwest.
339.335 -> He is quickly impressed by the highly developed road system.
343.608 -> Trees are planted all along the roads to make them visible from afar, to stop people from getting lost in winter,
350.673 -> and to protect them from the sun in summer.
353.406 -> Every 25 to 30 miles, an imperial post house provides lodging and horses
359.388 -> to the merchants and messengers of the Great Khan,
362.134 -> which make it possible to circulate information very quickly throughout the empire.
367.618 -> After crossing Sichuan and the Yunnan mountains, he reaches the Mekong River,
372.848 -> which forms the border with the Kingdom of Pagan.
375.922 -> The latter is defeated by the Mongols, who occupy the capital Pagan from 1287.
382.714 -> It might therefore be possible that Marco Polo went there
386.844 -> and saw the thousands of temples and Pagodas, which were covered with gold.
391.775 -> Marco Polo also explored the Southeast.
395.147 -> Here, after crossing the Yellow River, the landscape is flat, with huge expanses of water, allowing for massive rice production.
404.204 -> He arrives in Yangiu, where he says he had replaced the governor for three years.
409.985 -> Further south, he discovers Suzhou, a city with many canals, which is known as the City of Silk.
417.374 -> Finally, he arrives in Khinzai, the ancient capital of the Song dynasty.
423.011 -> The city is huge and very modern, with paved roads, which are still very rare in Europe,
429.106 -> and numerous stone houses in the center.
432.087 -> Marco Polo stays there for three years, and probably plays an important administrative role.
438.106 -> In any case, he has access to secret information such as the amount of taxes collected by the Great Khan,
445.462 -> especially from the salt trade.
447.42 -> Finally, he reaches Quanzhou, which he names Zaiton, and which is a huge international commercial port.
454.98 -> After 16 years in China, the three Polo men wish to return to Venice.
460.321 -> At the same time, an embassy sent by the Ilkhan asks Kublai Khan for a new wife to replace his deceased queen.
468.483 -> The latter accepts, and sends the princess Kökechin, accompanied by an embassy of 600 people.
475.93 -> The Polos take advantage of this and join the expedition, which leave Zaiton aboard 14 ships.
483.173 -> At Sumatra, they make a stopover for 5 months to await the end of the Monsoon.
488.758 -> Marco Polo sees elephants and Sumatran rhinoceroses, which he calls unicorns.
495.609 -> Finally, the embassy leaves and reaches Ceylon, which abounds in precious stones and pearls.
502.124 -> After sailing along the western coast of India, they reach Hormuz,
506.668 -> then go back to Tabriz to deliver the princess.
510.535 -> Once their mission is accomplished, the Polos set out again towards the West, until Trebizond,
516.318 -> where they are attacked and stripped of part of their wealth.
520.114 -> Finally, they set sail and reach Venice 24 years after their departure.
526.204 -> Their family, who thought they were dead, struggle to recognize them.
530.981 -> A few years later, a conflict breaks out between Venice and its great rival Genoa.
536.826 -> Marco Polo, during a battle, is made prisoner.
540.473 -> He is incarcerated with a certain Rustichello da Pisa, a writer and poet.
545.995 -> Marco Polo dictates to him in detail what he has observed in Asia,
551.065 -> and Rustichello takes notes and writes a book entitled “The travels of Marco
Polo”.
557.185 -> After the peace between Genoa and Venice, Marco Polo is released, and his book quickly becomes a big success.
564.872 -> It’s translated and copied manually dozens of times, probably resulting
in some errors or changes.
572.364 -> Europe discovers Asia, and is now passionate about the riches of this continent.
577.998 -> Marco Polo marries Donata, with whom he has three daughters, and dies in 1324 at the age of 69.
586.827 -> More than two centuries later, his book will still inspire many explorers,
591.812 -> such as Christopher Columbus who, during his travels in America,
595.878 -> thinking to be in Asia, has long sought to meet the Great Khan.
600.317 -> More recently, some question Marco Polo's journey,
604.287 -> especially as it lacks elements that today seem indispensable,
608.371 -> such as the Great Wall of China, tea, or
Chinese calligraphy.
612.609 -> On the other hand, Marco Polo sometimes describes in a very precise way certain details that he could not have invented,
621.105 -> and which seem to prove that he saw them with his own eyes.
624.485 -> Additionally, Marco Polo has not been found in Chinese archives,
629.007 -> but it’s very likely that he was known under another name.
632.92 -> Finally, some passages describe legends, or regions that he
could not have seen,
638.372 -> given his itinerary, but of which he may have heard, such as oil springs in
the Caucasus,
644.417 -> or Japan, which he named Cipango.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjJ381Wd9dI