Nadie

MARCO POLO
Marco Polo was born in the year 1254 to a wealthy Venetian merchant family. Much of his childhood was spent parentless, and he was raised by an extended family. Polo's mother died when hewas young, and his father and uncle, successful jewel merchants Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, were in Asia for much of Polo's youth.  

Their journeys brought them into present-day China, where theyjoined a diplomatic mission to the court of Kublai Khan, the Mongol leader whose grandfather, Genghis, had conquered Northeast Asia. In 1269, the two men returned to Venice, and immediately startedmaking plans for their return to Khan's court. During their stay with the leader, Khan had expressed his interest in Christianity and asked the Polo brothers to visit again with 100 priests and acollection of holy water. 

Khan's Empire, the largest the world had ever seen, was largely a mystery to those living within the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. A sophisticated culture outside the reachesof the Vatican seemed unfathomable, and yet, that's exactly what the Polo brothers described to confounded Venetians when they arrived home.

Journey to China
In 1271, Niccolo and Maffeo Polo setout for Asia again, but this time they brought young Marco with them. Unable to recruit the 100 priests that Khan had requested, they left with only two, who, after getting a taste of the hard journeyahead of them, soon turned back for home. The Polos' journey took place on land, and they were forced to cut through challenging and sometimes harsh territory. But through it all, Marco reveled in theadventure. His later memory for the places and cultures he witnessed was remarkable and exceptionally accurate. 

As they made their way through the Middle East, Marco absorbed its sights andsmells. His account of the Orient, especially, provided the western world with its first clear picture of the East's geography and ethnic customs. Hardships, of course, came his way. In what is now...