Marco Polo – one of the most important travellers of the Middle Ages celebrates his 770th birthday
Marco Polo was a merchant, adventurer, and probably the greatest explorer of his time. He celebrates his 770th birthday in 2024. To mark this occasion, we will take a brief look at the coins he encountered during his travels.
Marco left Venice at the age of seventeen in order to accompany his father and his uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, on their business journeys to China in 1271. They reached China in 1275 via Western Asia and the Silk Road. Once there, Marco encountered the mighty Kublai Khan, Great Khan of the Mongols, grandson of the legendary Genghis Khan and founder of the Yuan dynasty. The young Marco Polo quickly rose in the Great Khan’s estimation, travelling through the various regions of his empire in his service.
His journey took him through what is now Iran, where Marco described the impressive, colourful bazaars with exotic goods of various trade cities and oases such as Tabriz, Yazd and Kerman. His descriptions of Chinese cities such as Quinsai (Hangzhou), Khanbaliq (Beijing) or Shangdu, where Kublai Khan's summer residence was located, are similarly splendid. In his notes, he mentions the tax and monetary system and describes the use of paper money made from the bark of the mulberry tree.
The Polos remained at the Khan’s court for sixteen years before they embarked homewards in 1291. Marco left a detailed travel report to posterity. Its authenticity is hardly doubted any more today, even though he may have somewhat exaggerated in places. Marco’s notes provided the groundwork for many expeditions during the early modern era and continue to be a source of fascination and interest.
Image: China, Yuan dynasty, Shìzǔ (Kublai Khan) (r.1260–1294), 3 Cash, c.1285–1294
