In the Footsteps of Marco Polo

In the Footsteps of Marco Polo PDF Author: Denis Belliveau
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 0742557375
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
Did Marco Polo reach China? This richly illustrated companion volume to the public television film chronicles the remarkable two-year expedition of explorers Denis Belliveau and Francis O'Donnell as they sought the answer to this controversial 700-year-old question. With Polo's book, The Travels of Marco Polo, as their guide, they journeyed over 25,000 miles becoming the first to retrace his entire path by land and sea without resorting to helicopters or airplanes. Surviving deadly skirmishes and capture in Afghanistan, they were the first Westerners in a generation to cross its ancient forgotten passageway to China, the Wakhan Corridor. Their camel caravan on the southern Silk Road encountered the deadly singing sands of the Taklamakan and Gobi deserts. In Sumatra, where Polo was stranded waiting for trade winds, they lived with the Mentawai tribes, whose culture has remained unchanged since the Bronze Age. They became among the first Americans granted visas to enter Iran, where Polo fulfilled an important mission for Kublai Khan. Accompanied by 200 stunning full-color photographs, the text provides a fascinating account of the lands and peoples the two hardy adventurers encountered during their perilous journey. The authors' experiences are remarkably similar to descriptions from Polo's account of his own travels and life. Laden with adventure, humor, diplomacy, history, and art, this book is compelling proof that travel is the enemy of bigotry—a truth that resonates from Marco Polo's time to our own.

In the Footsteps of Marco Polo

In the Footsteps of Marco Polo PDF Author: Denis Belliveau
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 0742557375
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Get Book Here

Book Description
Did Marco Polo reach China? This richly illustrated companion volume to the public television film chronicles the remarkable two-year expedition of explorers Denis Belliveau and Francis O'Donnell as they sought the answer to this controversial 700-year-old question. With Polo's book, The Travels of Marco Polo, as their guide, they journeyed over 25,000 miles becoming the first to retrace his entire path by land and sea without resorting to helicopters or airplanes. Surviving deadly skirmishes and capture in Afghanistan, they were the first Westerners in a generation to cross its ancient forgotten passageway to China, the Wakhan Corridor. Their camel caravan on the southern Silk Road encountered the deadly singing sands of the Taklamakan and Gobi deserts. In Sumatra, where Polo was stranded waiting for trade winds, they lived with the Mentawai tribes, whose culture has remained unchanged since the Bronze Age. They became among the first Americans granted visas to enter Iran, where Polo fulfilled an important mission for Kublai Khan. Accompanied by 200 stunning full-color photographs, the text provides a fascinating account of the lands and peoples the two hardy adventurers encountered during their perilous journey. The authors' experiences are remarkably similar to descriptions from Polo's account of his own travels and life. Laden with adventure, humor, diplomacy, history, and art, this book is compelling proof that travel is the enemy of bigotry—a truth that resonates from Marco Polo's time to our own.

Did Marco Polo Go To China?

Did Marco Polo Go To China? PDF Author: Frances Wood
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429980620
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
We all ?know? that Marco Polo went to China, served Ghengis Khan for many years, and returned to Italy with the recipes for pasta and ice cream. But Frances Wood, head of the Chinese Department at the British Library, argues that Marco Polo not only never went to China, he probably never even made it past the Black Sea, where his family conducted business as merchants.Marco Polo's travels from Venice to the exotic and distant East, and his epic book describing his extraordinary adventures, A Description of the World, ranks among the most famous and influential books ever published. In this fascinating piece of historical detection, marking the 700th anniversary of Polo's journey, Frances Wood questions whether Marco Polo ever reached the country he so vividly described. Why, in his romantic and seemingly detailed account, is there no mention of such fundamentals of Chinese life as tea, foot-binding, or even the Great Wall? Did he really bring back pasta and ice cream to Italy? And why, given China's extensive and even obsessive record-keeping, is there no mention of Marco Polo anywhere in the archives?Sure to spark controversy, Did Marco Polo Go to China? tries to solve these and other inconsistencies by carefully examining the Polo family history, Marco Polo's activities as a merchant, the preparation of his book, and the imperial Chinese records. The result is a lucid and readable look at medieval European and Chinese history, and the characters and events that shaped this extraordinary and enduring myth.

The Travels of Marco Polo

The Travels of Marco Polo PDF Author: Marco Polo
Publisher: Cosimo, Inc.
ISBN: 1602068615
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
It was perhaps the first book to achieve best-seller status before the invention of the printing press-it was certainly the most controversial. Did Venetian trader and explorer MARCO POLO (1254-1324) actually reach the court of Kublai Khan, serve the emperor as his emissary, and journey the distant lands of Cathay for 17 years, as he relates in his Travels of Marco Polo? The question still hasn't quite been settled today... but whether Polo experienced firsthand the wonders of ancient China, retold tales he heard from Arab travelers along the Silk Road, or simply invented half his stories, this remains a delightful read for fans of history, adventure, and medieval literature. The new edition features illustrations from a 14th-century French version of Polo's manuscript.

The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, Concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East

The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, Concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East PDF Author: Marco Polo
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Asia
Languages : en
Pages : 812

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Book Description


Marco Polo's Adventures in China

Marco Polo's Adventures in China PDF Author: Milton Rugoff
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description


Marco Polo Didn't Go There

Marco Polo Didn't Go There PDF Author: Rolf Potts
Publisher: Travelers' Tales
ISBN: 1932361715
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
Marco Polo Didn’t Go There is a collection of rollicking travel tales from a young writer USA Today has called “Jack Kerouac for the Internet Age.” For the past ten years, Rolf Potts has taken his keen postmodern travel sensibility into the far fringes of five continents for such prestigious publications as National Geographic Traveler, Salon.com, and The New York Times Magazine. This book documents his boldest, funniest, and most revealing journeys—from getting stranded without water in the Libyan desert, to crashing the set of a Leonardo DiCaprio movie in Thailand, to learning the secrets of Tantric sex in a dubious Indian ashram. Marco Polo Didn’t Go There is more than just an entertaining journey into fascinating corners of the world. The book is a unique window into travel writing, with each chapter containing a “commentary track”—endnotes that reveal the ragged edges behind the experience and creation of each tale. Offbeat and insightful, this book is an engrossing read for students of travel writing as well as armchair wanderers.

Marco Polo’s Book

Marco Polo’s Book PDF Author: John Critchley
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351919970
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Marco Polo and his book may seem to have been well served by scholars, yet the majority have been concerned to write about his travels in Asia, what he did or did not see, and how useful he is as a source on the East. John Critchley’s subject, on the other hand, is the text of Polo’s book itself and the political and ideological context - the crusades, the Mongol missions, the French presence in Italy - in which it was put together by its author(s), and read by its audience. The homogeneity of the ’original’ Franco-Italian text and the accepted relationship between this text and the Latin recensions is tested by computer analysis. An examination of vocabulary and other textual features draws out the different attitudes and contributions of Polo himself and his various editors and translators. Critchley’s book will be of interest not only to those concerned with the history of later medieval Europe but also to specialists in medieval Asia, who will find it useful to know about the background and composition of so famous and frequently cited a work. On pourrait penser que Marco Polo et son livre ont été amplement débattus par les spécialistes en la matière, cependant la majorité a surtout écrit à propos de ses voyages en Asie, ce qu’il avait ou n’avait pas vu et sur son utilité en tant que source de références sur l’Orient. Le sujet traité par John Critchley par contre, est le texte même du livre de Polo, ainsi que le contexte politique et ideologique - les croisades, les missions mongoles, la présence française en Italie - dans lequel il a été composé par son ou ses auteurs et dans lequel ses lecteurs ont pu le lire. L’homogeneïté du texte franco-italien d’origine et le rapport accepté entre celui-ci et les révisions latines ont été analysés par ordinateur. Un examen du vocabulaire et d’autres caractéristiques littéraires fait transparaître les différences d’attitudes et de contributions entre Polo

Marco Polo's Silk Road

Marco Polo's Silk Road PDF Author: Marco Polo
Publisher: Watkins Publishing
ISBN: 9781780280158
Category : Asia
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In the late 1290s, an imprisoned Venetian merchant dictated an account of his amazing adventures in China. That book, The Travels of Marco Polo, was an instant success. Though scholars once derided Polo's tale, today's historians accept it as accurate. The original manuscripts are long lost, but now, for the first time, a modernized hybrid edition has been compiled from translations by William Marsden and Henry Yule. Comprising nearly 150 chapters, this superbly illustrated, silk-bound abridgement of this seminal work is a treasure worthy of its subject.--Publisher description.

The Travels of Marco Polo

The Travels of Marco Polo PDF Author: Marco Polo
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Asia
Languages : en
Pages : 800

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Book Description


Marco Polo's Travels on Asia's Silk Road

Marco Polo's Travels on Asia's Silk Road PDF Author: Cath Senker
Publisher: Heinemann-Raintree Library
ISBN: 9781403497512
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Book Description
How did Marco Polo manage to walk across all of Asia? Why did he become a favorite of fabled Mongol ruler Kublai Khan? Why was he not recognized on his return home? More than 700 years ago, merchants grew rich trading silks, spices, and glittering jewels between Europe and East Asia. Marco Polo decided to see for himself the mysterious lands of the East, and embarked on an expedition lasting 24 years. The account of his epic journey astounded people throughout Europe. Find out how Marco Polo braved bandits, sandstorms, mountains, pirates, and deadly diseases along the Silk Road and Spice Route. Discover how he became a spy for Kublai Khan, saw treasures beyond his dreams, brought riches home to Italy, and wrote one of the greatest travel books of all time.