In 1271, a 17-year-old Venetian named Marco Polo set off with his father and uncle on a trading trip east. They wouldn’t see Italy again for 24 years. Marco crossed deserts, mountains and rivers, finally reaching the court of the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan in what is now China.
Kublai Khan liked Marco so much that he kept him in his service for years, sending him as a messenger across the empire. Marco saw cities ten times the size of any in Europe, machines no European had ever imagined, and customs that would seem like science fiction back home. He didn’t return to Venice until 1295.
A few years later, Marco was captured during a war between Venice and Genoa. From his prison cell, he dictated stories of his adventures to another prisoner, who wrote them into a book. Europeans were stunned by his descriptions of paper money, eyeglasses and coal - but many called him a liar. Today most historians think his stories were largely true.
