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.

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.

A biography of the thirteenth-century Venetian explorer whose book about his travels across Asia and work for Kubla Khan helped to launch the Age of Exploration.

In this authoritative biography of one of the most fascinating figures in world history, Marco Polos incredible odyssey--along the Silk Road and through all the fantastic circumstances of his life--is chronicled in sumptuous and illuminating detail. Illustrated.

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.

This gorgeously illustrated oversized book brings the history and cultures of the Silk Road alive -- from its beginnings to the present day -- covering more than 5000 years.