Marco Polo played a pivotal role in introducing Western civilization to that of the East, specifically China, and vice versa. He traversed throughout Asia from 1271 to 1295 CE, and his travels along the Silk Road eventually guided him to the territory of the Yuan Dynasty (Mongols), who were under the reign of Kublai Khan at the entry of Polo. Polo arrived in Beijing, which was then known as Cambaluc, translated as “city of the Khan” (Boorstin). Polo was surrounded by pristine ideas and products unheard of in the West. Thus, Marco Polo’s travel to Cambaluc introduced new intellectual products in Europe, including paper currency, the imperial post office, and curfew, as well as advances in cartography and the stature of an affluent leader.
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There, Polo observed the role that postage stamps played in communication within the Yuan Empire. Discrepant stamps designated certain letters as either Top Priority, First-class, and Second-class, which aided in determining the method in which the mail was delivered, similar to how Americans can choose to mail items based on price and the time of arrival in the contemporary day (Silk Road Foundation). Additionally, postage stamps served as a source of revenue for the khan and provided jobs, which aided the economy. The intellectual bliss of the postage stamp helped create effective communication as well as a stable economic addition. Polo introduced the concept of stamps through his magnum opus The Travels of Marco Polo, which aided in the development of an improved postal system during the Renaissance Period in Europe.
Cambaluc served as the last destination of Polo’s travels eastward on the Silk Road, and the outlines of his journey aided in establishing reliable maps of the area, which helped other merchants travelling the Silk Road easily find their destinations: "He was the first traveler to trace a route across the whole longitude of Asia, naming and describing kingdom after kingdom” (Yule). The effective maps drawn from Polo’s description aided in exploration as well. Thus, Polo’s travel to Cambaluc was intellectually significant as it provided the West with maps to the East, promoting business and
Upon returning to Europe, Polo reported on Asian technologies that had been previously unknown of. These included the silk produced, astrolabe, the compass and the movable-block printing. These technologies became commodities in Europe of high demand. Therefore, much of Asia has a large export. This gained them respect on the European stage.
To begin, one factor that supported Mongols in their conquests was their capacity for foraging, allowing them to survive under harsh living conditions. According to Marco Polo, a Venetian traveler that journeyed to Asia stated "They are capable of supporting every kind of privation, and when there is
Accompanied by 27,000 men on 62 large and 255 small ships, the Chinese eunuch Zheng He, led 7 naval expeditions to Southeast Asia, Middle East and east coast of Africa in the span of 28 years during the Ming Dynasty. The scale of Zheng He’s fleet was unprecedented in world history. The large treasure ships used during the expeditions were purported to be 440 feet long and 180 feet wide (Dreyer, p. 102). Throughout his travels, Zheng He brought Chinese tea, porcelain and silk products to foreign countries and also brought back exotic goods to the Ming court such as spices, plants and leather. Although his voyages fostered commercial trades and cultural exchange between China and foreign countries, the goal of his expeditions stemmed from the political motivation to maintain the tributary system and his voyages had important political implication of causing Neo-Confucian opposition and suspension of the expedition.
Roles of the Catholic Church in Western civilization has been scrambled with the times past and development of Western society. Regardless of the fact that the West is no longer entirely Catholic, the Catholic tradition is still strong in Western countries. The church has been a very important foundation of public facilities like schooling, Western art, culture and philosophy; and influential player in religion. In many ways it has wanted to have an impact on Western approaches to pros and cons in numerous areas. It has over many periods of time, spread the teachings of Jesus within the Western World and remains a foundation of continuousness connecting recent Western culture to old Western culture.-
Marco attained many eastern technologies and introduced these innovations to Europeans. Marco Polo brought back a navigation device that was developed by the Chinese called a compass. This allowed the European to go navigate the world and explore in a more efficient way. Marco Polo also brought back “paper, paper currency, porcelain, raw silk, ivory, jade, spices, and noodles” (Historpedia). The most progressive innovation Marco Polo brought back was paper. With this technology, the Europeans developed a printing press. With paper money, people did not have to bring a large amount of coins with them.
As told by the roman historian Cassius Dio, Silk was used in Caesar’s celebration. (doc. 1). When Dio talks about the silk he calls it a “device of barbarian luxury.” This proves that a well educated roman was oblivious to the advancements that the Chinese had made, including The Great Wall and Grand Canal. Not to mention that the Chinese have existed thousands of years prior to the Roman civilization. Secondly Sima Qian who wrote The Records Of the Grand Historian clearly hints that Zhang Qian may have started the Silk Road. According to the document, Zhang Qian travels several thousand li (1 Li is equivalent to a bit more than one third of a mile.) Zhang brings back crops such as wheat and rice, and even find out about wine and grapes. Zhang was the first person to bring a clear account of present day Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, claiming it was people settled on the
The Mongol and Spanish Empires had some similarities when considering their road to successful empire building. Trade was very important for both the Mongols and Spanish Empires. Because geography restricted access to resources, trade was the ideal mechanism to overt that problem. Both empires flourished because of trade networks that they created. The Mongols and Spanish Empires relied heavily on trade in order to gain access to resources that they did not have in their own locations. The Mongol Empire valued and encouraged trade because of their lack of resources. The Silk Roads were the primary trade network that was linked to the Mongol Empire. Trade was important to the Mongols because they were able tax it. Secure trade routes were a result of the Mongols which allowed for cities to flourish and prosper with the spre...
The Mongols conquered and then united China. This created peace among the country and led to other great things. One of these great things is the Silk Road. The Silk Road is a long trading route that was created when China was united as they had started
Zheng transported and controlled fleets; the largest group of naval vessels under one commander, organized for specific tactical or other purposes, and Marco polo traveled by ship; however, Zheng He’s fleet was able to carry around 400 sailors due to shipbuilding industry be at it’s height during his exploration. That shows the stronger the industry the more money backing his explorations by the Yongle emperor. However, Marco Polo did achieve great success in his studies and travels; even though, his empire where he was from wasn’t as skilled as the Chinese. Zheng He and Marco had a close relationship with a king or emperor. First, Marco Polo and his brother traveled to the Mongol Empire and he served on Kublai Khan’s court. Marco and his brother remained loyal to Khan and served again and brought his son with him. His relationship with Kublai gave Marco paved the way and opened Chinese trade to the rest of the world, and paved the way for more modern explorers such as Christopher Columbus. Zheng He had a quite interesting relationship with the Yongle emperor. The yongle emperor appointed Zheng He to command the treasure fleet. Zheng He was close with The emperor because the new Yongle emperor’s family adopted Zheng he into their family before the new Yongle emperor took the throne. Zheng He established long lasting ties with the places within Asia and
After receiving a job in a minor administrative position for the Mongol ruler, Marco Polo stayed in China for another seventeen years. Throughout this time he wildly traveled across the Chinese land and collected stories about his experiences in the foreign country. His book, The Travels of Marco Polo helped to shape Western European culture, though scholars question the legitimacy behind his stories since he left out many prominent features of the Chinese life.
Marco Polo Research Paper Marco Polo is inarguably one of the most famous Venice travelers and merchants in the 13th century in Europe. Driven by his curiosity, Marco Polo headed to the east to find the truth about the east for the Europeans. He wrote the famous book, a relatively comprehensive introduction of his trip to Asia, The Travels of Marco Polo despite some argument still struggles about whether Marco Polo had been to China because of some small details and over-exaggerated stories. In the book, he described his full experience about his trip to the east which innovated the inspiration of the European to explore China at that time.
The young, Venetian merchant, Marco Polo is best known for his early travels across Asia as unveiled by his famous book, Travels of Marco Polo. As a young boy, Polo was raised primarily by extended family due to the death of his mother at a young age. Marco’s father, Niccolo and uncle, Maffeo Polo had been partaking in a long trading expedition across Asia during a majority of Marco’s childhood. Niccolo and Maffeo’s travels brought them to Asia, where they were introduced to Kublai Khan, a powerful Mongol leader. Inspired by the realm of the Mongol empire and Khan’s interest in Christianity
It is not possible to think clearly about the Silk Road without taking into consideration the whole of Eurasia as its geographical context. Trade along the Silk Road flourished or diminished according to the conditions in China, Byzantium, Persia, and other countries along the way. There was also competition for alternative routes, by land and sea, to absorb long-distance
The Silk Road was one of the most transformative super highways as it was a significant bridge in the developing the civilisations between East and West such as economic, cultural exchanges and transmission of Buddhism. Zhang Qian was an imperial envoy to the world outside of China during the Han dynasty. The Central Asian sections of
Marco Polo, is probably the most famous Westerner who ever traveled on the Silk Road. He excelled all the other travelers in his determination, his writing, and his influence. His journey through Asia lasted 24 years with the help of his father, Niccolò and Maffeo. He became a confidant of Kublai Khan, and traveled the whole of China and returned to tell the tale, which became the greatest travelogue. Marco Polo was a great explorer, who wrote a book written about his travels which gave Europeans some of their earliest information about China and inspired many explorers including Christopher Columbus.