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Marco Polo
Marco Polo

Warm-Up
Warm-Up
Marco Polo travelled to Cathay (now China) when he was seventeen and spent most of his
life wandering. Read this story to know about different adventures he encountered during his
journey of 24 years.

It is difficult to imagine how hard and dangerous it was to travel from one country to another six or
seven hundred years ago. Men had to travel slowly as and when they got the chance. Villages and
towns were far apart. Many persons died on the way for lack of food and water. People had to travel
with large parties or caravans as they were called. Otherwise they could get lost.

Bands of robbers knew these routes too. They attacked caravans and looted them. Many travellers
were killed in the fighting that took place. Others died of hunger and thirst when everything they
had was stolen and taken away.

Travelling was so dangerous in those days that hardly anyone who went on a long journey was sure
of getting back home alive. Only persons of great courage could dare undertake long journeys which
led them into strange lands and sometimes took years to complete.

In the thirteenth century, Europe highly
valued its trade with the East. India and
China were believed to be rich beyond
dreams. Spices from the islands of

south-east Asia could be sold in Europe
at a great profit.
Marco Polo was a young man who lived
in Venice. He belonged to a family of
rich merchants and the city of Venice

was the greatest centre in Europe, of
trade with the East.

In 1271, seventeen-years-old Marco
Polo started on a journey to China, then
known as Cathay, with Niccolo Polo, his
father and Maffeo Polo, his uncle.
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