Francis O’Donnell is an artist, author, filmmaker and explorer. He is an alumnus of the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he earned a BFA in Media Arts. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps, Francis has travelled the world extensively, visiting over sixty countries, and is a member of both the New Explorers Club and the Adventurers Club of Chicago. He has lectured about his exploits around the world in Libraries, Clubs, Universities, and Organizations. Most recently he spent four months at sea as 'Guest Speaker' aboard a Celebrity Cruise line ship.
His Emmy-nominated PBS documentary, as well as the companion book, In the Footsteps of Marco Polo, chronicle his historic two-year, 25,000-mile journey retracing the Venetian merchant’s thirteenth-century Travels along the fabled Silk road. Watch the Film, In the Footsteps of Marco Polo.
The following article he wrote a year ago for the on-line magazine "The Heretic"
MARCO POLO'S HERETICAL
TALES OF THE EAST
In a Venetian Palazzo, a short stroll from
the Rialto Bridge, the curtains were drawn in a dank and darkened room. People gathered, mulling about a reposed
figure, saying good-bye and paying respects.
Here lay, perhaps, the most famous man of his age. He was surely the most controversial. A true heretic, the quintessential dissident. His account about the lands of the East
ignited a fire storm of controversy that has lasted until this very day. He was ridiculed by some and disbelieved, yet
he stood firm, having experienced his tales of Asia first hand. He would share his stories about the wonders
of these largely unknown lands to anyone who would listen. For twenty-five years he did so in the face
of daunting societal pressure to
recant. Yet the book he wrote went on to
international fame, becoming a best seller.
It was transcribed into virtually every language in Europe. The information contained in it went on to
change the world! Now, with only hours to live he had given his last will and
testament, a priest sat by his side offering him salvation, if only he would
change his heretical stories of the East and retract his far-flung lies about
the riches and splendors of the Mongol Empire. According to legend, with this man's dying
breath, his last words were this ... "I haven't told you even half of what
I have seen" - Marco Polo …
Very little is truly
known about Marco Polo and his life. He
is a very enigmatic figure, wildly famous during his own lifetime, but not
always for his most important achievements.
To those of us looking back through the ages for clues, he has proven to
be extremely private and reclusive. Most
of what we do know comes from two sources, his book and his last will and
testament. The latter was written shortly before his death, one cold January
morning, in the year 1324. In it he left
the bulk of his estate to his wife Donata and their three daughters. He made significant provisions for the
church. This included his families parish of San Procolo, he also designated a
sum be paid to the convent of San Lorenzo, where he would be interred. Listed
amongst his most prized possessions was a set of Buddhist prayer beads, a
ladies golden tiara, inset with precious gems and pearls, and one golden tablet
of authority from the great Khan. Perhaps just as interesting as Marco's
ownership of that golden tablet was this instruction “... I release Peter the
Tartar, my servant, from bondage … “ Marco also bequeathed Peter 100
lire Venetian denari.” These two facts,
alone, do not prove Polo's stories to be true. However, in law there is
something called “The preponderance of
the evidence” where the “Burden of
Proof” is such that the sheer weight of even circumstantial evidence proves a
case. There is no record that exists
anywhere, either in China or in Europe that definitively proves the validity of
this, his heretical account. However,
Marco's words have been proven largely true by an army of scholars and
explorers. This is where 'yours truly'
fits into the story. Between the years
1993 and 1995, I, along with my colleague, Denis Belliveau, spent two years
retracing Marco Polo's entire Silk Road journey. Our effort was called 'The Return to Venice”
the 700th Anniversary Expedition 1295 -1995”. It would require us to travel more than
25,000 miles across the world largest landmass and back. Our expedition crossed the borders of some
twenty-two countries. We survived eight
war zones and were captured in Afghanistan. We traversed the world's most formidable,
frozen, and desolate landscapes, including mountains, deserts, and
jungles. Our self-imposed prerequisite
was absolutely no flying. Why? Why did
we do so? Curiosity, wanderlust, the
search for truth and knowledge? Like
doubting Thomas, whose Tomb in India Marco would be one of the first to
describe, it was to see for ourselves!
The list of motivations is long.
It was clearly an opportunity to make a mark in the world and to do
something that had never been done before.
Denis and I, in our research, found there had been several failed
expeditions to retrace Polo's route before ours. Our plan was this, to take Marco's book and
use it the way a tourist uses a travel guide.
Then, search out all the places mentioned. We proceeded in chronological
order, and tried to find what Marco described in the places he visited over 700
years ago. The result was we found
nearly two hundred correlations, direct examples of passages. Often Marco's words would literally jump off
the pages of his book and come to life before our eyes. They covered the gamut of his diverse
account. Astounded, our judgment was that, Marco Polo had to have gone to China
and that his account is “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt“ overwhelmingly true. Using the criterion I mentioned above, Marco
would be found guilty in any court of law, of having traveled to Asia during
the thirteenth century. Our findings are
mostly chronicled in both our book and PBS Emmy nominated documentary, both
entitled “In the Footsteps of Marco Polo”
www.wliw.org/marcpolo
In his book "Description of the World" he reveals very little about himself or
personal life. Written as it were before
the advent of the printing press, and by scribes who were often priests or
monks. These scribes may have had
motivation to change Polo's words.
Clearly the church would not want any favorable insight about competing
doctrines being spread. One statement
which surprisingly slipped past the editors quill, was amazingly tolerant and
enlightened. When speaking of the life of the Buddha, Marco says, “For assuredly, had he been a Christian, he
would have been a great saint with our Lord, Jesus Christ!” If that is not grounds for persecution and
being brought up by the Holy Roman Church, on charges of heresy, I don't know
what is! Another less extreme example is
when he speaks of a certain friend he has made.
He says, “I had a Turkish companion named Zuficar, a man of great
intelligence, who spent three years in this province in the service of the
Great Khan, engaged in extracting salamander (asbestos). My companion told me the true facts.” Today this seems innocent enough but in 1244
B.C.E. Jerusalem had fallen to the Khawarerzemi Turks. The effect was
wholesale slaughter of priests and parishioners in the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The
believed burial place of Jesus Christ.
The population of the city was also ruthlessly decimated leaving only about two thousand people. This
triggered the Seventh Crusade. So, to
speak highly of the Turks, was a bit beyond the pale. Yet Marco's book reveals more secrets and
kind words for other traditions hiding in plain sight. Like when he describes the power and majesty
of the Mongol Emperor of China, Kublai, he says , “I will now tell you of the
great achievements of the Great Khan now reigning. The title Khan means in our language “Great Lord”.
And certainly he has every right to this title; for everyone should know
that this Great Khan is the mightiest man, whether in respect of subjects,
territory, or of treasure, who is in the world today or has ever been, from
Adam, our first parent down to the present moment. And I will make it quite clear to you in our
book that this is the plain truth, so that everyone will be convinced that he is indeed the greatest lord the world
has ever known. Here is my proof.” Marco
then goes on to describe Il Milione things to prove his point. First was how Kublai was a mighty warrior,
then of the splendor of his court, and of how he would gift his Knights and
Barons the sets of costly silken robes.
We learn that Kublai's hunting parties consisted of picking up and
moving virtually the entire Imperial court.
Twice a year it would travel with hundreds, if not thousands, of
retainers and handlers for the Khan's falcons and hunting dogs. This slow moving juggernaut traveled north,
leaving the oppressive heat of Khanbliq behind and headed to his fabled summer
capital of Xanadu , with its pleasure domes, made of movable bamboo, silken
covered palaces.
Returning to Venice, after having been away for over twenty years
in Asia, Marco was called into service as a Captain in the Venetian Navy. He was captured by Venice's rival, the
Genoese, during the battle of Cruzola, off the coast of Dalmatia. He was
imprisoned in Genoa about 1298.
This is where the legend begins.
Even these supposed events are up to debate. What is known, there he met
Rustichello of Pisa, a writer of Arthurian romances and other novels. This was relatively new and rare for the
time, writing books as entertainment for the average gentry. The thirteenth century was a world still lost
in the dark ages, where monsters, ghosts, and unicorns still existed. The reader of the day expected such oddities in
its stories. The horror of the Mongolian
conquest led to unrest sweeping throughout Europe and stories of the boogieman,
instilled fear. Most still believed the
planet to be flat. The knowledge held in books was retained by a select few,
those who were educated, and could read Latin or French, thereby giving them
power over the masses. There was no CNN,
or BBC, no freedom of information act, no first amendment. Rustichello must have become enamored with
Marco's tales of the East and convinced him to put his singular experiences
down on paper for posterity. We can
imagine the two prisoners sitting around a single candle in their rustic
chamber as Marco recited and Rustichello furiously jotted down notes, trying to
keep up. Although Marco had great powers
of observation, and a deep and abiding curiosity about the world and all things
in it, he was born into a merchant family and trained as a such. Facts and figures, numbers and accounting,
counted highly in the family business.
The tally of numbers, in part, lead to the nick-name he garnered after
the publication of his work. He became
known as “Il milione” meaning either, as some would have it, a liar, or as
others believed, the man with a “Million” far flung stories, because he spoke
of cities in China with millions and millions of people. This was at a time when Venice held only
about seventy thousand. He related
stories of untold riches and splendor that was greater than any European
potentate's treasury. In Hangzhou
otherwise known as Kinsi or “The City of Heaven”, he reported that its daily consumption of
pepper amounted to 43 cart-loads, each cart consisting of 223 lbs.! He goes on to say this about the population
of China, “Here at every hour of the day are crowds of people going to and fro
about their business, so that seeing such a multitude one would believe it a
stark impossibility that food could be found to fill so many mouths”. Again these numbers shocked his audience. He related stories of unknown peoples, and
their culture and customs, like of those who guild their teeth with gold,
others who make bread out of the pith of trees, go about completely nude, and
tattoo their bodies. He astounds by
telling us about a sect of magicians who would make drinking vessels levitate
and who could also cause bad weather to change above the Emperor's palace.
He spun frightening tales of marauding bandits who murdered or
sold into slavery all who were unfortunate enough to cross their path. These bandits would raise huge dust storms
that blotted the sun from the sky so that their victims could not escape. In an area that is still a 'No Mans Land',
between what is now Iran and Afghanistan he said, “In this plain there are a
number of villages and towns which have lofty walls of mud, made as a defense
against the banditti, who are very numerous, and are called Karaunas, this name
is given them because they are the sons of Indian mothers by Tartar
fathers. These Karaunas make a
plundering incursion, and have certain devilish enchantments whereby they do
bring darkness over the face of day, so that you can scarcely discern your
comrade riding beside you; this darkness they cause to extend over a space of
seven days' journey. They know the
country thoroughly, and ride abreast, sometimes to the number of 10,000, or
more. In this way they extend across the
whole plain and catch every living thing, man, woman, or beast, nothing can
escape them! The old men whom they take
are butchered; the young men and the women they sell for slaves in other
countries; thus the whole land is ruined, and has become a desert. I must add the fact that Messer Marco himself
was all but caught by their bands in such a darkness as that I have told you
of…Howbeit he lost his whole company except seven persons who escaped along
with him. The rest were caught, and some
of them sold, some put to death.”
In many ways Polo became
one of the western world's first ethnographers.
He delivered grandly on the promise set forth in the prologue of his
book. “Emperors and kings, dukes, marquises, counts, knights, and townsfolk and
all people who wish to know about the various races of men and the
peculiarities of the various regions of the world, take this book and have it
read to you. Here you will find all the
great wonders and curiosities of Greater Armenia and Persia, of the Tartars and
of India, and of many other territories.” (refer to our Gallery, “The Faces
and Places of Marco Polo's Asia”)
This “Book of Wonders” has never been out of print. There was even a copy chained to the Rialto
Bridge for all to read. Today there are
approximately one hundred of these ancient texts that have come down to
us. Sadly the original is long gone. Of the surviving texts the copy held in the
collection of the Bodleian Library in Oxford is most famous for its wonderful
illumination showing Polo's departure from Venice. The problem now looking back for the scholar
is to decipher and detect fact from fiction.
Based on a few discrepancies there has always been debate surrounding
the authenticity of Polo's account. Most
recently Professor Frances Woods, in her book “Did Marco Polo Go to China?”
advances an extremely weak argument. Her
points of contention have long ago been debunked by her peers. Scholars like renowned Professor of Chinese and
Mongolian history, Morris Rossibi of Columbia University, author of “Kublai Khan: his life and times” or John Larner whose book called “Marco Polo and the Discovery of the World”
is a personal favorite. In both their
volumes they clearly laid out why it is impossible to disbelieve the bulk of
the information between the page of “The
Travels of Marco Polo”. Woods argues
that Polo traveled no further than Persia, theorizing the accounts of his
travels were related to him by other Silk Road travelers. Granted there are some deficiencies in
Marco's account, for example, he does not mention the Great Wall, chopsticks,
tea, foot-binding, or Chinese calligraphy, all significant omissions. Perhaps none more glaring than that of the
Great Wall, but we must look at this through the perspective of history. The construction of the Great Wall began
about 700 B.C. Later, the first Emperor
of China, Qin Shi Huangdi, founder of the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C. - 206 B.C.)
(famous for his extravagant burial tomb just outside the city of Xian, full of
thousands of life sized terracotta warriors) is often credited with the
construction, in truth he only connected and extended old fortifications. So, these walls along the Northern frontier
of China were old even to him. Built during turbulent times to stop invading
barbarian tribes, these man made barriers did little to stop the onslaught of
the Mongolian advance. Tens of thousand of Chinese conscripts and slaves lost
their lives in its construction. It was
hated, as so many families lost members too.
It was to them a wall of tears and pain.
Today it is a glowing symbol of an emergent China. When Marco traversed the Silk Road the wall
was old and all but forgotten, a crumbling ruin. It would have held little significance to
him, as a Mongol official. The Great
Wall as we know it today was largely built by the Ming Dynasty in the 14th
century, stronger due to superior construction methods, and the use of bricks
instead of the traditional rammed earth.
The fact that Polo fails to mention chopsticks, tea, foot-binding,
Chinese calligraphy, can all be easily enough explained away. Not having the facility to speak Chinese is understandable as well. Marco was a functionary in the Yuan
court. He would have both little need or
opportunity to either write or converse in Chinese. It is clear he had command of and was
literate in not only Persian which was the 'Lingua Franca' of the Silk Road, at
that time, but both Arabic and Turkish, which were major languages spoken along
the Silk Road.
Imagine again, we are in that prison cell with Marco and the most
infamous ghostwriter in history, Rustichello de Pisa. You can hear Rustichello
saying something like this, “Trust me, trust me, your memories and notes are
full of wonderful and amazing facts.
People will love them. I am a
skilled writer. I know what people want,
let me punch it up a bit here and there.
It will guarantee more people will read the account of your
travels. It will become a best
seller. Who will ever know? A little exaggeration never hurt a soul.” It has been proven by textual comparison that
several passages, especially those
regarding battle scenes, have in many cases been almost lifted verbatim from
previous volumes written by the Pisan.
These initial inconsistencies and subsequent omissions or embellishments
have corrupted and tarnished Marco's name and account in what has become a
Medieval game of telephone, stretched across the pages of various texts, down
through the ages. Perhaps innocently
enough, a scribe thinks, “Hum, let me
improve upon this and add the most current up-to-date knowledge,” so one adds
this and another subtracts that, and before you know it Marco Polo and his
story are altered, lost. We can only
guess, no I take that back, there is no way to truly appreciate the amount of
knowledge that has been lost, no more than we could fathom what treasured
ancient volumes were incinerated with the burning of the Library of Alexandria
or irreplaceable mathematical and scientific texts, destroyed with the Mongol
sacking of Baghdad.
Marco's book is comprised of four sections, or books. The first
section describes the lands of the Levant and Central Asia. Book Two describes
China and Kublai Khan's court. Book
Three describes most of coastal and eastern China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka,
Southeast Asia, and a large portion of coastal east Africa. Finally, Book Four
describes wars among the rival Mongol clans and regions of the far north, like
Siberia. Many fine scholars have agonized over the one hundred or so surviving
copies. Two giants in this quest were Giovanni Battista Ramusio, and Luigi
Foscolo Benedetto. Ramusio was the first to attempt collating the many diverse manuscripts
and provide a critical edition. He did so leaning heavily on a fourteenth
century Latin manuscript he considered to be "perfectly
correct", a view modern scholars do not share. Many beloved apocryphal tales start here with
Ramusio such as: the Polo's not being recognized upon their return home after
twenty-four years away because, “They
had the smack of their Tartar about them, having all but forgotten their native
language”. This was until they cut open
the lining of their cloaks and a fortune of gems came streaming forth. Even Marco's deathbed scene and utterances
may be a romantic fabrication. The oldest surviving Polo manuscripts are in an old
Franco-Italian dialect, spoken in Venice at the time. One group of manuscripts, called
"F", was favored by Benedetto as the basic
original texts. It was Benedetto who identified
Rusticello da Pisa as the original compiler. To my mind, Sir Henry Yule is Marco's redeemer. His translation and epic compilation is still
the 'Go To' book on Marco Polo. Yule was a Scottish Orientalist educated at
both the University of Edinburgh and the College of London. He published and edited many travel books,
“The Travels of Marco Polo”, being the most important. Henry was commissioned in the British army
and served in India. This began his
fascination with the people and the region.
Upon retirement he devoted his leisure time to medieval history and
geography of Central Asia. From his library he would research and send out
inquiries throughout the world, to statesmen, foreign diplomats, early
explorers, and soldiers in the field, anyone who might have a grain of
knowledge or new information. Many areas in China, especially the desert
regions, were being traversed for the first time by western scholars and
adventurers, since Polo himself. He
investigated each and every word and sentence of Polo's account. After sifting through this huge jigsaw
puzzle, he carefully notated every entry in his translation, along with the
various options. A monumental
undertaking, made by this amazing hero of the Marco Polo story. A. C. Moule,
Paul Pelliot, and Leonard Olschki are just a few of
the others who have made huge contributions in the field.
Since perspective is so important, let us go back again, this time
a bit further to the genesis of the whole story. Marco tells us that his father
and uncle, having traveled on a previous trading mission to the court of Kublai
Khan, returned home to Venice and the west now employed as emissaries of the
Great Khan. The text says that Kublai being an open minded ruler welcomed the
Pope to send him Holy oil from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem
and one hundred learned scholars in the seven arts, meaning educated priests.
He would then, it was said, judge for himself the worthiness of Christianity
visa vie the other religions vying for influence at his court.
The Polo family were not the first, or only, European travelers to
the Mongol Empire. Other European
travelers journeyed to the court of earlier Mongol Khans. A few examples are
Andre de Longjumeau, William of Rubruck, and Giovanni da Pian del Carpine. They all undertook either Papal missions or
missions for king and crown. In truth,
the Polo brothers, Niccolo and Matteo, Marco's father and uncle respectively,
may have already been double agents, working for the Catholic Church. There is no question that these earlier
embassies were sent at the very least as fact finding missions. Some were
outright attempts to make allies of these “Devil's Horsemen” in
the church's floundering crusades against Islam. They were mostly rebuffed, but
the information garnered during these reconnaissance missions were without
doubt useful. Tactics, troop strength, disposition, command structures, as well
as the personality and intent of its leaders, are all found in Marco's account
of the Mongol military. So, the two
elder Polo's on that first mission, without young Marco in tow, may well have
used their position as successful merchant traders as a cover. This, too, is
but an assumption, one hinted at by some scholars and held by me with some
conviction. What does this all mean and
where does it leave us? One thing for
sure Marco's account has left us a rich legacy of fanatical if not heretical
tales. Below I have included a few of my
favorites.
“The Old Man of the Mountain” was an Islamic Sheik who Marco
informs us was considered a “Heretic”
by fellow Muslims. He was the founder of
a sect, the assassins, medieval terrorists, who did their master's bidding by
murdering whomsoever they were instructed to.
Villainous zombies who had been drugged into a stupor and promised an
eternity in Paradise should they die on their mission. This Paradise was built by the Old Man to
emulate the one promised by the prophet to all those who die for the faith, as
martyrs. This story of Marco's is based
on fact, and he goes on to tell us of its final outcome. “It came to pass, in the year of Christ's Incarnation, 1252,
that Alatu, Lord of the Tartars of the Levant, heard tell of these great crimes
of the Old Man, and resolved to make an end of him. So he sent a great army to that castle, and
they besieged it for three years. The Old Man was put to death with all his men
and the castle with its Garden of Paradise was leveled to the ground. And since that time he has had no successor;
and there was an end to all his villainies.”
“The Desert of Lop is so great it would take a year or more to
ride from one side of it to the other and at least a month to cross it where
narrowest. It is composed of hills of
sand, and not a thing to eat is to be found on it. There is a marvelous thing to relate of this
Desert. When a traveler at night lags behind or falls asleep, he will hear
spirits talking. Sometimes the spirits
will call him by name; and thus a traveler has often been led astray, never to
find his party. In this way many have perished.
Sometimes the stray traveler will hear … the hum of a great cavalcade
and will follow the sound; and you shall hear the sound of a variety of musical
instruments, and still more commonly the sound of drums. When day breaks they find that they are in an
ill plight.
Even during the daytime one hears those spirits
talking.” Can this echo of the past be
the origin of the childrens game played in a pool? Marco – Polo – Marco – Polo !
“It is a fact that all over China there is a kind of black stone
existing in beds in the mountains, which they dig out and burn like
firewood.” Continuing he says that they
will burn all night long and that they have access to other fuels but prefer these stones over wood because they
burn better and cost less.
“The real truth is that Salamander is no beast, as they alleged
in our part of the world, but is a substance found in the earth; it is not an
animal of nature who lives in fire. Once
extracted this substance is taken and crushed, and is divided into fibers. It is then washed, to remove all the earth
and leaves only fibers like wool. These
are then spun, and made into napkins.
Whenever they become dirty they are bleached by being put back into the
fire for a while they come out as white as snow. This is the truth about the Salamander, any
other account of the matter is fabulous nonsense!”
There is not one field
of study that Marco's account doesn't touch upon, be it, Geography, Geology,
Zoology, Gemology, Astronomy, Oceanography, Anthropology, Botany etc... With
him we travel through the art, culture, and histories of more than a dozen
nations. We learn about all of the world's major and secondary religions,
included but not limited to, Animism, Shamanism, and Zoroastrianism. Marco reveals and introduces us to most of
the human family.
The list goes on and
includes magic, myth, and fantasy. In
the plethora of this kaleidoscopic adventure we encounter a mixed bag of
absolutely correct facts and several
instances where he gets the facts slightly incorrect. For example his description of Kublai's
attempts to invade Japan, he mixes up events from two separate invasion fleets.
What he does, however, is to introduce us to the island nation for the first
time in history. Also, he added the word
kamikaze to our lexicon, as the Khan's fleet was lost to the 'Divine Wind' of
these storms. Aside from a few false
reports and misrepresentations, he more often than not tries his best to debunk
falsehoods. As he had in the story of
the “ Salamander” or when he explained that the unicorn was simply a
rhinoceros, and that the “Pygmies” sold to unwitting sailors are little more
than shaved monkeys. (Orangutans) The true wonders of Polo's book are the real things he
details for the first time in history, like a huge mountain sheep that
has come to bear his name, the “Marco Polo“ (Ovis ammon Polii) or the fact that
paper money was used as currency in China, unimaginable in a time when gold,
silver, and tangible goods were the only form of exchange. On those small slips of paper, he tells how
each one is designated separately according to its denomination, via a form of
printing, still hundreds of years off in Europe, again the list is long.
According
to the text Marco was in the employ of the Great Khan for his entire seventeen
years stay. He acted as an ambassador to the court, charged to reporting back
on all he had observed. Now, after years of faithful service the Polos
repeatedly asked for permission to return to their homeland but were refused,
because as Marco put it the Great Khan held him in such esteem and showed him
such favor that the other lords were moved to envy, saying in third
person, “This, then, is how it came
about that Messer Marco Polo observed more peculiarities of this part of the
world … because he traveled more widely in these outlandish regions than any
man who has ever been born!” With
Kublai's now advanced age and the envy inspired at court, the Polos were in a
tenuous position. The Khan finally
acquiesced and charged them with one last mission. This was to deliver a
Mongolian princess to a cousin in Persia.
This return would be by sea, via Southeast Asia and both the Indian
Ocean and Arabian Sea. This route would
establish Marco not just as a pioneer of the Silk Road, but a trail blazer of
the 'Spice Route' as well. As a young
man during his outward journey Marco references and speaks of Alexander the
Great who loomed large in his mind. In
many ways it is as if he is retracing Alexander's route, at least until he passed
through Central Asia. Now a middle aged
man, Marco has been away from his homeland most of his entire adult life. We can imagine him standing at the helm of
his Chinese vessel, looking out into the blue vastness, wondering what was in
store for him, in the last chapters of his life.
What is 'Marco
Polo's Legacy'? Why is Marco Polo important?
Marco Polo seems to not have been very self
absorbed, as many of us are today.
His “15 minutes of fame” probably
took him by surprise and made him uncomfortable. Today Marco Polo and
his story are more relevant than ever, witnessed by the popularity of the new
Netflix mega series "Marco Polo" and the most recent announcement by
Paramount Pictures production of a big budget feature on the same subject. Notwithstanding
the evidence of popular culture, Marco looms large on the International
stage. He is the quintessential
Ambassador between East and West. Current events show us his importance, be it
the rise of China as an economic superpower, the ongoing war in Afghanistan,
nuclear negotiations with Iran, issues of Tibetan independence, or the lack
thereof. On balance his account is one
of understanding and tolerance, in an age when that was rare. It is a lesson
that we all need to learn from today. So revolutionary was his account, it was the equivalent to a
medieval communication satellite or the internet, an information superhighway of thought. Cross cultural exchange sped up on the Silk
Road, in part because of Polo's account. It had always been an avenue that had fostered trade in
ideas. He was truly interested in
the new people and cultures he met. He
came to them with curiosity and an open heart and tried to document them, so
that others too could learn and understand.
In one passage he goes on to say
“I believe that it was God's will that we should return so that men
might know the things that are in the world” Unlike the explorers that he inspired,
those who followed, he never planted a flag for crown and king, nor did he ever
try to change or convert those he encountered to his religion. Marco Polo's account is so rich and diverse
that no one can truly claim to be a master of it all. Like Sir Henry Yule, I have immersed myself
in the subject for over twenty years, still Marco surprises, teaching me
something new everyday. Of all of his
contributions, it is geography that is perhaps the greatest. For better or worse, he opened up a whole new
world for Europe and the West, ushering in the age of discovery and
enlightenment. A world that without his
lead may have stayed dark and closed for many years yet to come. It is a fact that Christopher Columbus
carried with him a well worn copy of Marco Polo's book. It even had his hand written notes in the
margin, highlighting Polo's exquisitely
descriptive passages on India. While searching for Marco's India, Columbus
bumped into the Americas, accidentally.
The rest as they say is “History”.
Exalted or belittled, Marco Polo endures. As long as civilization exists his name will
be remembered and spoken. Perhaps just
by little kids playing a silly game of tag in a backyard pool. Perhaps as the focus of a frivolous debate
between culinary experts on whether he brought spaghetti back from China, or
one of greater merit in hushed libraries by scholars. Regardless of the conversation it is time
that Marco Polo took his rightful place as the world's “Greatest Explorer”
because no one man, before or since has changed and influenced global history,
as did Marco Polo, my favorite heretic.
Like him before me … “I haven't told
you half of Marco Polo's story”
“FIN”
