| In the footsteps of Marco Polo | |
 | |
| Itinerary type | Automotive |
|---|---|
Marco Polo was a Venetian traveler, today among the most famous in the world, who traveled to the East, following some of the routes of the Silk Road. Departed from Venice in 1271 and returned around 1295. His book The million, with the story of his travels, is still known after 700 years. William Dalrymple retraced the route in the 80s and wrote a book, In Xanadu, where he retraces the stages of his travels.
Introduction
Marco Polo owes his fame to a book he wrote after his return. At that time, there was an intense rivalry between the major trading cities of Venice, Pisa is Genoa. The Venetian Marco Polo and his co-author, Rustichello from Pisa, they were both prisoners of war in the jail of San Giorgio Palace to Genoa when they met and wrote the book.
The original title is The million, but travels and events are usually referred to as The travels of Marco Polo. It can be said that it was the first account of a trip to the East to be circulated in Europe, and it was the best reference onAsia from its publication around 1300 until the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama reached the East by circumnavigating theAfrica nearly 200 years later. Polo's stories about the riches of the East were part of the motive of Portuguese travel and also stimulated Christopher Columbus.
The book was the first in Europe to mention a number of things seen including oil in Iran, coal, paper money and window panes from China. Some argue that Polo introduced spaghetti in Italy, but this is strongly contested.
This itinerary is based on a version of the book downloaded from Gutenberg project. It is described as: "the third complete edition (1903) of the annotated translation of Henry Yule, revised by Henri Cordier; along with the subsequent volume of notes and additions by Cordier (1920). "All quotations are from that version.
There is considerable academic controversy over the book. It was written by two Italians, but the original was probably in medieval French, the commercial language of the day. The oldest known copies date back to a few decades later, as well as with several contrasting versions in French, Italian, and Latin. A later Italian version contains additional material, apparently based on Polo family documents. Polo has actually seen some of the things he talks about, but for others he repeats stories of other travelers. Which ones are they? How much did Rustichello "embellish" the story? Some critics argue that Marco never made it east of Kashgar and have only heard stories about China central: in fact he never mentions chopsticks, tea, tied feet or the Great Wall. Others cite Mongolian documents indicating that there was indeed someone named Polo.
Fortunately, various scholars have resolved most of these doubts. Here, we simply follow Yule and Cordier and discuss the path while ignoring the controversies.
The book generally uses Persian names for places. And the Mongolian names? Or the Chinese? What was lost in the various rewrites of the text? In the various wars? Is the city still there? Has it been renamed? We will write the name used by Polo and the modern name. For example, Kinsay (which Yule and Cordier call Hang-Chau-Fu) is Hangzhou.
Background
The brothers Nicolò and Maffeo Polo were Venetian merchants. One brother had a wife at home, but they worked mostly from Acres (a crusader city which today lies in the north of Israel) and Constantinople (the modern Istanbul), which Venice ruled at the time. From 1260 to 1269, the brothers took a trip to Far East. On their second trip, starting in 1271, they brought Marco, Nicolò's teenage son.
The family had strong ties to the Adriatic island of Korcula near Dubrovnik, which later became a Venetian possession. It seems likely that Marco was born there, although he grew up mainly in Venice. Korcula is trying to develop tourism and there are some museums and monuments related to Marco Polo. Of course, there are also some in Venice.
Some quotes from Yule and Cordier's commentary on the political and economic situation when the Polos left:
| “Christianity had recovered from the alarm it had been raised about 18 years earlier when the Tartar cataclysm threatened to engulf it. The fragile Latin throne of Constantinople still stood, but wavered until its fall. The successors of the Crusaders still held the coast of the Syria from Antioch to Jaffa. The jealousies of the Italian commercial republics increased day by day. Alexandria was still ... the great emporium of Indian goods, but the facilities provided by the Mongol conquerors who now held the entire stretch from the Persian Gulf the shores of the Caspian and the Black Sea, or nearly so, were beginning to give a great advantage to the routes of the caravans. In Asia and Eastern Europe barely a dog could bark without Mongolian permission, from the borders of the Poland... to the ... Yellow Sea. The vast empire that Chinghiz had conquered ... was splitting into several great monarchies ... and large-scale wars were already brewing. " |
"Chinghiz" is an alternate spelling for Genghis Khan. The "full-scale wars" involved his descendants fighting for power when the empire dissolved.
How to get
Stages
The first trip east
In the footsteps of Marco Polo: full screen map.The brothers left from Constantinople (the modern Istanbul) in 1260 and sailed across the Black Sea to Soldaia (now 1 Sudak) in Crimea. At the time Soldaia was largely a Greek city and habitually traded with various Mediterranean ports.
| “It belonged to the Greek Empire and had a sizeable Greek population. After the Frankish conquest of 1204, it apparently fell into the hands of Trebizond. » |
You can still take a boat from Istanbul to Trebizond in eastern Turkey; a variant of the itinerary from Istanbul to New Delhi by land uses it. There may also be ships to Sudak or the neighboring one Sevastopol.
| «It was taken by the Mongols in 1223 ... towards the middle of the century, the Venetians established a factory there ... Ibn Battuta ... tells about Sudak as one of the four great ports in the world. " |
Ibn Battuta was a Moroccan traveler who set out east in 1325 and also wrote about his travels.
| «The Genoese obtained Soldaia in 1365 and built powerful defenses, which are still visible. " |
In this period the large commercial cities of Genoa, Venice is Pisa they dominated the Mediterranean world. One of the tourist attractions of modern Sudak are the ruins of a Genoese fortress.
Where the brothers became bolder than most of the other traders was the fact of continuing beyond Soldaia, deeper into Mongolian territory. They went into the Caucasus in Saraj, the capital of this part ofMongol Empire, close to modern Astrakhan ', in Russia. Then a war broke out between Mongolian factions, preventing a return to the west.
Unable to go west, the brothers headed east to the great city of 2 Bukhara, which like every other city in Central Asia it had been conquered by the Mongols a generation earlier.
| “After passing the desert, they arrived in a very large and noble city called BOCARA ... The city is the best in all of Persia. ... until the conquest of Chinghiz, Bukhara, Samarkand, Balkh, etc., were considered to belong to Persia. " |
Chinghiz is Genghis Khan.
Today Bukhara e Samarkand I am city ofUzbekistan and Balkh is a city with some interesting ruins in the north ofAfghanistan. The Persian empire was once much larger than the modern Iran, including much of Central Asia. The brothers lived in Bukhara for three years and learned Persian fluently.
In Bukhara they also learned that the Great Khan, Kublai - grandson of Genghis and, at least in theory, lord of all Mongols - had never met a European and had expressed curiosity and kindness towards them. Then they went on, traveling for Samarkand, Kashgar, 3 Turfan is 4 Kumul o Hami (the northern branch of the Silk Road) to its summer capital Xanadu, northwest of modern day Beijing.
The Khans warmly welcomed them and sent them back west with letters to the pope, expressions of friendship, and requests from missionaries and scholars.
| «The Brothers arrived in Acre in ... 1269 and discovered that there was no Pope, because Clement IV had died ... and no new elections had been held. Then they returned home to Venice to see how things were after their absence for so many years. Nicolò's wife was no longer among the living, but she found her son Marco a handsome fifteen-year-old boy. " |
During the second trip, the brothers took young Marco with them.
The second trip
The brothers returned to Acre, this time with the young Mark, and then up the verse 1 Jerusalem to obtain some oil from the holy sepulcher that the Khan had requested. Then they left east without a papal response to the Khan's letters.
The news finally reached them that a pope had been elected and that he was their friend Theobald, papal legate in Acre. They returned to Acre, received the replies to the letters and headed back to the court of Kublai in late 1271. They had the letters from the Pope and two friars instead of the 100 scholars the Khan had requested, but the friars soon turned back. It is interesting to speculate on how the story could have been different if the Pope had sent the required 100 scholars or even if the friars had pointed it out. The Khan has also invited scholars and missionaries from other places - Tibetan Buddhists and Persian Muslims - and these have had a great cultural effect on the China.
Their route was indirect, starting from the Mediterranean from 2 Kayseri ed 3 Erzurum in present-day eastern Turkey, through parts ofArmenia and of Georgia until 4 Mosul in what today is theIraq:
| «Mosul is a great realm, where there are many generations of people, which I will count there uncontainable. And there are people who call themselves Arabs, who adore Malcometto; there are other people who hold Christian law, but not as the church of Rome commands, but they fail in many things. He is called nestorini and iacopi, he has a patriarch called Iacolic, and this patriarch makes bishops and archbishops and abbots; and do it for all of India and for Baudac and for Acata, as the Pope of Rome does [...] And all the silk and gold cloths that are called mosolin are made there, and the great merchants who are called mosolin are from that realm above. [...] " |
| (Postal Code. 23 Of the realm of Mosul) |
then in Persia (now known as Iran) Street 5 Tabriz, Yazd is 6 Kerman in Hormuz. The book is about Damascus is Baghdad, but there is doubt that they actually visited those cities.
Iran
Once in Persia, the current one Iran passed by the city of 7 Saveh that Mark calls Saba where according to tradition the Magi left to bring gifts to the baby Jesus, he also says that he also saw their tomb:
| «In Persia is the city which is called Saba, from which the three kings who will go to worship God when he was born will depart. In that city the three Magi are buried in a beautiful burial, and they are still all whole with beards and hair: one was named Beltasar, the other Gaspar, the third Melquior. Messer Marco asked several times in that city about those III kings: no one was able to tell him anything, except that they were III kings suppressed in ancient times. " |
| (Postal Code. 30 Of the great province of Persia: of the 3 Magi) |
The journey continues southwards traveling by caravan then passing by 8 Yazd.
| “Iadis [Yazd] is a very beautiful, large city of Persia, and of great merchants. Here they work drapes of gold and silk, which one (who) loves ias [d] i, and which are worn for many districts. He adore Malcometto. " |
| (The million chapter 33) |
After Yazd they continue in the direction of 9 Hormuz in Persian Gulf. Today the city has disappeared but the Strait of Hormuz still appears on the news due to geopolitical tensions. The nearest modern city is Bandar Abbas, capital of the Iranian province of Hormuzgan.
| "After two days, it is the Oziano sea and on the bank there is a city with a port, which is called Cormos [Hormuz], and there all inspections, gold cloths and (teeth of) come from India for ships. leophants (and) other merchants and a lot; and then the merchants bring them all over the world. This is a land of great trading; beneath her there is a lot of castles and towns, because she is the head of the (a) province; The king is named Ruccomod Iacomat. Here it is very hot; the earth is very sick, and if any merchant from another earth dies there, the king takes all his possessions. " |
| (The million chapter 36) |
The original plan was to take a ship east of Hormuz, but after reaching Hormuz they decided to move north instead. Later they would arrive in Hormuz by sea, taking the Silk Road on the return voyage.
| “Creman [Kerman] is a kingdom of Persia which used to have lord by inheritance, but after the Tartars took it, they will send you lord who they like. And there is born the stone called turchies [ch] and in great quantities, which are quarried from the mountains; e year [veins] of steel and of andan (i) co much. All knight things, brakes, saddles and all weapons and tools work well. Their women all work silk and gold, birds and beasts nobly, and they work very richly with curtains and other things, and blankets and pillows and all things. The best and most flying falcons in the world are born in the mountains of this district, and they are less than Pelegrin falcons: no bird lives in front of them. " |
| (The million chapter 34) |
Central Asia
The three men returned to Kerman and the eastern province of the gods Khorasan in Persia. This detour placed them on the main street of the Silk Road. The branch they took concerned the Northeast of 10 Balkh, capital of the Bactria. Marco also mentions of 11 Samarkand from where they probably then took the difficult road along the 12 Vacan corridor to reach what is now there Karakorum road, in the northern areas of today Pakistan which part 13 Kashgar in the eastern part of China in the region of Xinjiang.
.jpg/220px-Kashgar_(23698764390).jpg)
| «Casciar was once a realm; agual is at the Great Kane; and they adore Malcometto. There are many cities and castles, and the largest is Casciar; and they are between greek and east. They live on merchandising and on arts. He has beautiful gardens and vineyards and very possessions and cotton wools; and there are many merchants who search the whole world. They are poor and miserable people, because they eat badly and drink badly. There live a number of Nestorian Christians, who have their law and their churches; and a language for them. " |
| (Postal Code. 50 Of the realm of Casciar) |
Nestorius he was archbishop of Constantinople in the fifth century. He taught that the human and divine aspects of Christ were two distinct, not unified natures. His teaching was condemned to Council of Ephesus in 431, but survived in the Assyrian church which was supported by the Persian empire as an alternative to the Byzantine church. The Nestorians were quite active as missionaries in the East, reaching as far as Korea. There are relics all over theCentral Asia and in China, in particular a stele a Xi'an.
From there, their path is not entirely clear; most likely they left Srinagar is Leh, then they took the pass north from there. In any case they have achieved Hotan in what is now it Xinjiang. The brothers had taken the northern branch of the Silk Road around the Kalimakan desert on the previous trip. Hotan is in the middle of the southern branch, so naturally they continued east on that branch.
Travel to China
They reached the capitals of the Khan and were warmly welcomed. The winter capital was then called Khánbálik or Canbulac, which means the Khan's camp; later it became Beijing. The summer capital was northwest of Beijing across the Great Wall, near a city called Kaimenfu. The palace itself was Shangtu or Xanadu. Much later, Polo's book will inspire Coleridge:
| «Kubla Khan made Xanadu A majestic decree on the dome of pleasure; Where Alph, the sacred river flowed, Through caves that cannot be measured by man Down in a sunless sea. " |
Yule and Cordier's summary of the situation in China at the moment is as follows:
| “For nearly three centuries the northern provinces of China had been ... subject to foreign dynasties; first the Khitan ... whose rule survived for 200 years, and gave rise to the name ... CATHAY, by which China has been known for nearly 1000 years. The Khitan ... had been displaced in 1123 by the Chúrchés ... of the same blood as the modern Manchu. Already in the life of Chinghiz himself the northern provinces of China's own, including their capital Beijing, had been torn up and the conquest of the dynasty was completed by Chinghiz's successor, Okkodai, in 1234. " |
"Chingiz" is Genghis Khan. China is still "Kithai" in modern Russian. Another Romanization of "Chúrchés" is "Jurchen".
| “Southern China still remained in the hands of the native Sung dynasty, who had their capital in the great city now known as Hang-chau fu. Their rule was still essentially intact, but his submission was a task to which Kúblái turned his attention before many years and which became the most important event of his reign. " |
The "Sung" are also called "Southern Songs". "Hang-chau fu" is Hangzhou.
| «Kúblái welcomed the Venetians with great cordiality and kindly took the young Marco, ... [and] began to employ him in public service. " |
By the time the Polos reached China for the second time, the Khans had subjugated southern China, which the book calls "Manzi". However, he needed officials to help him rule it, and he still didn't trust the newly conquered Chinese. Along with many others, Mark became an empire officer, a job that soon made him travel across much of China.
| “Apparently his first mission was the one that took him through the provinces of Shan-si, Shen-si and Sze-ch'wan, and the wild country in eastern Tibet, in the remote province of Yun-nan. " |
The provinces mentioned are modern Shanxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan is Yunnan. Marco visited many cities along the way; here are his comments on some places.
Taiyuan
.jpg/220px-The_Journey_of_Discovery_Beijing_(7108722517).jpg)
14 Taiyuan is the capital of Shanxi. The area has iron and coal and produces steel. Marco Polo also mentions the vast production of wine and silk.
| "And at the head of this province where we have come is a city called Tinafu (Taianfu), where there is a lot of merchandising and arts; and there many provisions are made which are needed as the host of the great sire. There he has a lot of wine, and for the whole province of Cattai he has no wine except in this city; and this provides all the surrounding Provinces. A lot of silk is made there, because there are many Moors and worms that make it. " |
| (Postal Code. 186, Of the realm of Taiamfu) |
Xi'an
.jpg/220px-Xi'an,_Drum_Tower_-_panoramio_(1).jpg)
15 Xi'an is the capital of Shaanxi as well as one of the towns along the Silk Road.
| "When man has ridden these 8 days, the man finds the noble city of Quegianfu, which is noble and great, and is the head of the realm of Quegianfu, which in ancient times was a good and powerful realm. The son of the Great Sire, whom Mangala is called, and crowns, is the lord of the same. This land is of great merchants, and there are many joys; Here, gold and silk drapes of many ways are worked, and all the supplies of a host. He has all the things that a man needs to live in great abundance, and for a great market. The villa is to the west, and they are all idols. And outside the earth is the palace of Mangala king, which is as beautiful as I will tell you. He is in a large plain, where there is a river and lake and marshes and many fountains. He has a wall that turns 5 miles well, and is all crenellated and well done; and in the middle of this wall is the palace, so beautiful and so great that it could not be better divided; he has many beautiful halls and beautiful rooms all painted with beaten gold. This Mangala maintains his realm well in great justice and reason, and is much loved. Here it is great sunshine to hunt. " |
| (Chapter 110 De the city of Quegianfu) |
Chengdu
16 Chengdu located in southwestern China, it is the capital of Sichuan.
| «And the master city called Sardanfu, which was formerly a great city and noble, and fuvi within a very great and rich king; she went around well 20 miles. [...] And know that through this villa passes a great river of fresh water, and it is well half a mile wide, where there are many fish, and goes up to the Aziano sea, and is well from 80 to 100 miles, and is called Quinianfu. In this river there is a great number of cities and castles, and there are so many ships that one could hardly believe, whoever did not see them; and there is so much multitude of merchants that go up and down, that it is a great wonder. And the river is so wide that it looks like a sea to see, and not a river. |
| (Chapter 113 De Sardanfu) |
Tibet
Marco Polo also describes the region of 17 Tibet, writing that a different language is spoken than in China and astrology is practiced.
| “Thebeth is a very great province, and they have their language; and they are idols and border on Mangi and many other provinces. He is many great thieves. And it is so big, that there are 8 great realms, and a huge amount of cities and castles. In many places there are rivers and lakes and mountains where straw gold is found in large quantities. And in this province the coraglio is expanding, and it is very dear to you, but that he places it around the neck of their women and their idols, and he hangs it out for great joy. In this province there is a lot of giambellotti and gold and silk drapes; and there arises many spices that have never been seen in these districts. And there are the wisest enchanters and haterlogues in that country that he does such things for the works of devils that we do not want to count in this book, but that people would be too surprised. And they are badly dressed. He has very large dogs and mastiffs as large as donkeys, which are good to catch rescued beasts; he has even more manners than hunting dogs. And there are still many good pilgrim and well-flying falcons born there. " |
| (Postal Code. 115 Still from the province of Tebet) |
Yunnan
18 Yunnan is the province in the extreme southwest of China.
| "Quin'àe merchants and craftsmen. The law has many ways: who adores Mohammed [or] and who idols him, and who is a Nestorian Christian. And there is a lot of wheat and rice; and it is a very infirm district, so they eat rice. Wine is made of rice and spices, and it is very clear and good, and it is as intoxicating as wine. He spends for money white porcelains which are found in the sea and which are made into bowls, and they sift the 80 porcelane a silver sample, which are two large Venetians, and the eight fine silver sages sift a gold sample. up. He has many salt cellars, from which much salt is quarried and made, from which the whole district is supplied; of this salt the king has great gain. They do not care if one touches the female of the other, even if it is his will of the female. " |
| (Postal Code. 117 De the province of Caragian) |
From Yunnan he then returned making a loop towards Chengdu, probably through it Guizhou.
The last trips
Regarding Marco's other travels, Yule and Cordier write:
| «Marco moved quickly in favor ... but we gather few details on his uses. At one time we know that he held the government of the great city of Yang-chau for three years ... spending a year in Kan-chau in Tangut ... visiting Kara Korum, the ancient capital of the Kaan in Mongolia ... in Champa or in the south of Cochin in China and ... on a mission in the Indian seas, when he seemed to have visited several states of southern India. " |
Yang-chau is 19 Yangzhou in Jiangsu. The modern city of 20 Karakorum, southeast of the current capital of the Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, there are two ruined cities nearby, one the Mongol capital visited by Polo and the other the Uyghur capital of a few centuries earlier. Champa was a kingdom in what it is today Vietnam.
The Western Tangut or Xia were a people of predominantly Tibetan origin, originally from Sichuan western. For several hundred years before the Mongol conquest they had an independent Buddhist kingdom that paid homage to the emperor. It was centered on the present 21 Ningxia, but at its peak it was much larger than Ningxia and quite wealthy. It was the first non-Chinese kingdom he entered by going west on the Silk Road. There are tombs of the Tangut royalty close to Yinchuan, their capital. Much of the art in the Buddhist caves of Dunhuang comes from Western Xia.
Beijing
22 Beijing, the current capital of China was called by Marco Polo Canblau or Cambaluc. Not much of the then city (of the Yuan dynasty) survives in modern day Beijing. Most of the famous monuments were built by their successors, the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).
| The Chinese ships | ||
 a Chinese boat from the 1400s Marco describes the Chinese ships in detail:
They are much larger than European ships of the time, and the watertight compartment system was far ahead of known methods. The Chinese routinely sailed in India, Arabia and even inAfrica Eastern several hundred years before the great European explorers, and Arabs and Persians sailed for China. |
| "Since I have counted palaces, yes I will count the great city of Canblau, where these palaces are and why it was built, and as it is true that when he opened this city he had another great and beautiful one, and it had the name Garibalu, which means in our language 'the city of the lord'. It is the Great Kane, finding by astorlomia that this city had to rebel [and] give great trouble to the 'mperio, and therefore the Great Kane had this city built next to that, which there is in the middle only a river . And he had the people of that city extracted and put in this other one, which is called Canblau. This city is around 24 miles large, that is 6 miles on each side, and is all square, which is no more on one side than on the other. This city is walled with earth and the walls are 10 paces large and 20 high, but they are not so big above as below, because they are so thin that above they are 3 paces thick; and they are all crenellated and white. And there are 10 ports, and on each door there is a large palace, so that on each square there are 3 ports and 5 palaces. Again on each square of this wall there is a large palace, where the men who look at the earth stand. " |
| (Postal Code. 84 Still of a palace of the nephew) |
In the same city there is the Marco Polo Bridge which crosses the Yongding River and takes this name from our traveler who saw it and described it accurately. But the bridge visible today is not the original one because it was rebuilt in 1698 by order of the emperor Kangxi of the Qing dynasty, in its current 11-arch form.
| "Here (ndo) the man leaves Canbalu, near there at 10 miles, a river is found, which is called Pulinzaghiz, which river goes as far as the Ozean sea; and then passes many mercata (n) you co much mercatantia. And on this river there is a very beautiful stone bridge. And yes I tell you that in the world it is not so done, because he is 300 paces long and eight wide, that it is okay for 10 riders to go side by side; and there are 34 arches and 34 morelle in the water; and it is all of m [a] rmore and columns, so made as I will tell you. From the head of the bridge there is a column of marble, and under the column there is a lion of marble, and above another, very beautiful and large and well made. And a step away from this column, neither more nor less made, with two lions; and from one column to the other it is closed with marble boards, so that none of them could fall into the water. And so it goes from length to length throughout the bridge, so that it is the most beautiful thing to see in the world. " |
| (Postal Code. 104 From the province of Catai) |
Jinan
23 Jinan capital of the Shandong.
| «Ciangli is a city of Cathay. It is are idols and at the Great Kane; and a year of paper money. [...] This district is of great [valiant] in the Great Kane, because through the earth goes a great river, where always goes a lot of silk merchants and a lot of junk and other things. " |
| (Postal Code. 129 Di Cia (n) the) |
Suzhou
24 Suzhou is a city of the Jiangsu, along the shore of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Lake Taihu. The city is famous for its stone bridges, pagodas and beautiful gardens.
| “Sugni is a very noble city. It is are idols and at the Great Kane; coin a year of cards. They have a lot of silk and live on merchandising and art; many silk drapes make, and are rich merchants. She is so great, that she turns 60 miles, and there are so many people that no one could know the number. And yes I tell you that if Mangi were men of arms, they would conquer the whole world; but they are not men of arms, but they are wise merchants of any thing and yes they are good † ... † and natural and wise whistleblowers. And know that this city has 6,000 stone bridges, which would pass under either a galley or [2]. And again I tell you that in the mountains of this city rebarbero and zezebe are born in great abundance, because for a big Venetian there would be 40 pounds of fresh zezibere, which is very good. And under it there are 16 very large cities with a great deal of merchandising and art. " |
| (Postal Code. 147 From the city called Sugni) |
Hangzhou
Marco Polo spends many words for this city. Quinsai is 25 Hangzhou is Eat è il termine di Polo per il sud della Cina, conquistato dai mongoli qualche anno prima. Hangzhou fu la capitale della dinastia Sung e rimase importante dopo che quella dinastia fu deposta dalla conquista.
| « Di capo di queste tre giornate, si truova la sopranobile città di Quinsai, che vale a dire in francesco ’la città del cielo’. E conteròvi di sua nobiltà, però ch’è la piú nobile città del mondo e la migliore; e dirovi di sua nobiltà secondo che ’l re di questa provincia scrisse a Baian, che conquistò questa provincia de li Mangi [...] La città di Quinsai dura in giro 100 miglia, e à 12.000 ponti di pietra; e sotto la maggior parte di questi ponti potrebbe passare una grande nave sotto l’arco, e per gli altre bene mezzana nave. E neuno di ciò si maravigl[i], perciò ch’ell’è tutta in acqua e cerchiata d’acqua; e però v’à tanti ponti per andare per tutta la terra. " |
| (cap. 148 Di Quinsai) |
Polo in effetti non esagera molto. Yule e Cordier citano molti visitatori successivi - persiani, arabi e gesuiti - con opinioni abbastanza simili.
| « Anche vi dico che verso mezzodie àe un lago che gira ben 30 miglia, e tutto d’intorno à be’ palagi e case fatte meravigliosamente, che sono di buoni uomini gentili; ed àvi monisteri e abadie d’idoli in grande quantità. Nel mezzo di questo lago à due isole: su ciascuna à uno molto bel palagio e ricco, sí ben fatto che bene pare palagio d’imperadore. E chi vòle fare nozze o convito, fàllo in questi palagi... » |
| (cap. 148 Di Quinsai) |
The Lago dell'ovest, nel centro della città, è ora un patrimonio mondiale dell'UNESCO.Polo fornisce una descrizione abbastanza dettagliata della città ma soprattutto dei suoi costumi:
| « L’usanza de li Mangi sono com’io vi dirò. Egli è vero, quando alcuno fanciullo nasce, o maschio o femina, il padre fa scrivere i(l) die e ’l punto e l’ora, il segno e la pianeta sotto ch’egli è nato, sicché ognuno lo sa di sé queste cose. E quando alcuno vuole fare alcun viaggio o alcuna cosa, vanno a loro stérlogi, in cu’ ànno grande fede, e fannosi dire lo lor migliore. Ancora vi dico, quando lo corpo morto si porta ad ardere, tutti i parenti si vestono di canivaccio, cioè vilmente, per dolore, e vanno cosí presso al morto, e vanno sonando stormenti e cantando loro orazioni d’idoli. Quando (sono) làe ove ’l corpo si dé ardere, e’ fanno di carte uomini, femini, camelli, danari e molte cose. Quando il fuoco è bene aceso, fanno ardere lo corpo con tutte queste cose, e credono che quel morto avràe ne l’altro mondo tutte quelle cose da divero al suo servigio; e tutto l’onore che gli è fatto in questo mondo quando s’arde, gli sarà fatto quando andrà ne l’altro per gl’idoli. |
| (cap. 148 Di Quinsai) |
Fuzhou
26 Fuzhou è la capitale della provincia cinese del Fujian posta sull'estuario del fiume Min sullo stretto di Formosa.
| « [O]r sapiate che questa città di Fugiu è capo del regno di Conca [...] E per lo mezzo di questa città vae un fiume largo bene un miglio. Qui si fa molte navi che vanno su per quel fiume. Qui si fa molto zucchero; qui si fa mercatantia grandi di pietre preziose e di perle, e portal[e] i mercatanti che vi vengono d’India. E questa terra è presso al porto di Catun, nel mare Ozeano: molte care cose vi sono recate d’India. Egli ànno bene da vivere di tutte cose, ed ànno be’ giardini co molti frutti, ed è sí bene ordinata ch’è maraviglia. " |
| (cap. 152 Della città chiamata Fugiu) |
TO Mawei, appena fuori Fuzhou, si costruiscono ancora navi. I francesi distrussero il luogo e gran parte della marina cinese che vi era ormeggiata alla fine del XIX secolo.
Il viaggio di ritorno
Dopo alcuni anni, i Polo furono pronti per tornare a casa. Come dicevano Yule e Cordier:
| « In ogni modo essi stavano raccogliendo ricchezza e dopo anni di esilio iniziarono a temere ciò che sarebbe potuto avvenire dopo la morte del vecchio Kublai e desideravano trasportare i loro averi e le loro teste canute al sicuro nelle lagune. L'anziano imperatore ringhiò un rifiuto a tutti i loro accenni, ma per avere una felice opportunità avremmo potuto perdere il nostro Erodoto medievale. " |
A quel tempo, i mongoli governavano gran parte dell'Asia e il Gran Khan aveva vassalli in vari luoghi. Uno di questi dominava la Persia, oggi nota come Iran.
| « Arghún Khan di Persia, pronipote di Kublai, nel 1286 aveva perso la moglie preferita... e... prese provvedimenti per adempiere alla sua morte secondo cui il suo posto doveva essere occupato solo da una donna della sua stessa famiglia. Gli ambasciatori furono spediti... per cercare una tale sposa... la scelta ricadde su Kokáchin, una fanciulla di 17 anni. La strada terrestre da Beijing to Tabriz non era solo di portentosa lunghezza per una persona così delicata, ma era messa in pericolo dalla guerra, quindi gli inviati desideravano tornare via mare. I tartari in generale erano estranei a tutta la navigazione; e gli inviati... implorarono il Khan di avere il favore di inviare i tre Polo come compagnia. Egli acconsentì con riluttanza, ma, dopo aver accettato, preparò nobilmente il gruppo per il viaggio, dando ai Polo dei messaggi amichevoli per i potenti d'Europe, incluso il re d'Inghilterra. " |
Durante il viaggio, visitarono diversi porti importanti della Via della seta marittima.
Il grande porto di Zaiton
Nel 1292 navigarono con una flotta di 14 navi con 600 passeggeri da Zaiton nella provincia del Fujian. Si pensa che Zaiton sia l'attuale 27 Quanzhou, anche se alcuni studiosi sostengono possa essere Xiamen. Si pensa che la parola satin (raso) derivi da "Zaiton", la località originale della sua esportazione. Fu da questo porto che salpò la spedizione sfortunata di Kublai Khan contro il Japan.
La descrizione di Polo della città è lunga e dettagliata. Eccone alcuni punti salienti:
| « Di capo di queste 5 giornate si truova una città ch’à nome Zartom, ch’è molto grande e nobile, ed è porto ove tutte le navi d’India fanno capo, co molta mercatantia di pietre preziose e d’altre cose, come di perle grosse e buone. E quest’è ’l porto de li mercatanti de li Mangi, e atorno questo porto à tanti navi di mercatantie ch’è meraviglia; e di questa città vanno poscia per tutta la provincia de li Mangi. E per una nave di pepe che viene in Alesandra per venire in cristentà, sí ne va a questa città 100, ché questo è l’uno de li due p[o]rti del mondo ove viene piúe mercatantia. " |
| (cap. 153 Di Zart[om]) |
| « E sapiate che ’l Grande Kane di questo porto trae grande prode, perché d’ogne cose che vi viene, conviene ch’abbia 10 per 100, cioè de le diece parti l’una d’ogne cosa. Le navi si togliono per lo’ salaro di mercatantie sottile 30 per 100, e del pepe 44 per 100, e del legno aloe e de’ sandali e d’altre mercatantie grosse 40 per 100; sí che li mercatanti danno, tra le navi e al Grande Kane, ben lo mezzo di tutto. E perciò lo Grande Kane guadagna grande quantità di tesoro di questa villa. " |
| (cap. 153 Di Zart[om]) |
Il viaggio durerà due anni e costerà molte vite. Il libro dice che sopravvissero solo 18 passeggeri, ma tutti e tre i Polo e la sposa erano tra questi.
Il Giappone
Polo non si è recato in visita in Japan, ma ha fornito un resoconto abbastanza dettagliato di Cipangu or Zipangu e del fallito tentativo di invasione di Kublai Khan.
| « Zipangu è una isola in levante, ch’è ne l’alto mare 1.500 miglia. L’isola è molto grande. Le gente sono bianche, di bella maniera e elli. La gent’è idola, e no ricevono signoria da niuno se no da lor medesimi. Qui si truova l’oro, però n’ànno assai; neuno uomo no vi va, però neuno mercatante non ne leva: però n’ànno cotanto. Lo palagio del signore de l’isola è molto grande, ed è coperto d’oro come si cuoprono di quae di piombo le chiese. E tutto lo spazzo de le camere è coperto d’oro grosso ben due dita, e tutte le finestre e mura e ogne cosa e anche le sale: no si potrebbe dire la sua valuta. Egli ànno perle assai, e son rosse e tonde e grosse, e so’ piú care che le bianche. Ancora v’àe molte pietre preziose; no si potrebbe contare la ricchezza di questa isola. " |
Giava
Si fermarono a Ciamba, un regno in Indocina per rendere omaggio al Khan. Non è del tutto chiaro dove si trovasse, probabilmente da qualche parte nel 28 Vietnam moderno.
Polo descrive l'isola di 29 Giava, ma non è chiaro se l'abbia effettivamente visitata.
| « Quando l’uomo si parte di Cianba e va tra mezzodie e siloc ben 1.500 miglia, si viene a una grandissima isola ch’à nome Iava. E dicono i marinai ch’è la magior isola del mondo, ché gira ben 3.000 miglia. È sono al grande re; e sono idoli, e non fanno trebuto a uomo del mondo. Ed è di molto grande richezza: qui à pepe e noci moscade e spig[o] e galinga e cubebe e gherofani e di tutte care spezie. A quest’isola viene grande quantità di navi e di mercatantie, e fannovi grande guadagno; qui à molto tesoro che non si potrebbe contare. Lo Grande Kane no l’à potuta conquistare per lo pericolo del navicare e de la via, sí è lunga. E di quest’isola i mercatanti di Zaiton e de li Mangi n’ànno cavato e cavano grande tesoro. " |
| (cap. 159 Dell'isola di Iava) |
Si fermarono in una città che Polo chiama Malaiur che si trovava nell'area della moderna Singapore is Malacca, ma non sembra essere stato nessuno dei due luoghi.
Sumatra
Successivamente, trascorsero diversi mesi a 30 Sumatra, probabilmente aspettando la stagione dei monsoni.
| « Ed io Marco Polo vi dimórai 5 mesi per lo mal tempo che mi vi tenea, e ancora la tramontana no si vedea, né le stelle del maestro. È sono idoli salvatichi; e ànno re ricco e grande; anche s’apellano per lo Grande Kane. Noi vi stemmo 5 mesi; noi uscimmo di nave e facemmo in terra castella di legname, e in quelle castelle stavavamo per paura di quella mala gente e de le bestie che mangiano gli uomini. Egli ànno il migliore pesce del mondo, e non ànno grano ma riso; e non ànno vino, se non com’io vi dirò. Egli ànno àlbori che tagliano li rami, gocciolano, e quell’acqua che ne cade è vino; ed empiesine tra dí e notte un grande coppo che sta apiccato al troncone, ed è molto buono. L’àlbore è fatto come piccoli datteri, e ànno quattro rami; e quando lo troncone non gitta piúe di questo vino, elli gittano de l’acqua al piede di questo àlbore e, stando un poco, el troncone gitta; ed àvine del bianco e del vermiglio. Di noci d’India à grande abondanza; elli mangiano tutti carne e buone e reie. " |
| (cap. 163 Del reame di Samarra) |
Sri Lanka
La spedizione visitò anche le isole 31 Andamane e Nicobare e lo 32 Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in rotta verso l'India.
| « Quando l’uomo si parte de l’isola de Angaman e va 1.000 miglia per ponente e per gherbino, truova l’isola di Seilla, ch’è la migliore isola del mondo di sua grandezza. [...] È vanno tutti ignudi, salvo lor natura. No ànno biade, ma riso, e ànno sosimain, onde fanno l’olio, e vivono di riso, di latt’e di carne; vino fanno degli àlbori ch’ò detto (di sopra). [...] Sapiate che (’n) quest’isola nasce li nobili e li buoni rubini, e non nasciono in niuno lugo del mondo piúe; e qui nasce zafini e topazi e amatisti, e alcune altre buone pietre preziose. E sí vi dico che ’l re di questa isola àe il piú bello rubino del mondo, né che mai fue veduto; e diròvi com’è fatto. [...] La gente è vile e cattiva, e se li bisogna gente d’arme, ànno gente d’altra contrada, spezialemente saracini. " |
| (cap. 169 Dell'isola di Seilla) |
Marco considera l'isola la più bella del mondo e si sofferma sulle pietre preziose, infine ci informa della presenza di musulmani che erano giunti nell'isola nel X secolo.
India
.jpg/220px-Happy_Madras_Day,_Chennai_turns_375_this_week!_(14966846872).jpg)
In India, ha visitato diversi luoghi sulla costa orientale tra cui la tomba di San Tommaso vicino a 33 Chennai.
| « Lo corpo di santo Tomaso apostolo è nella provincia di Mabar in una picciola terra che non v’à molti uomini, né mercatanti non vi vengono, perché non v’à mercatantia e perché ’l luogo è molto divisato. Ma vèngovi molti cristiani e molti saracini in pellegrinaggio, ché li saracini di quelle contrade ànno grande fede in lui, e dicono ch’elli fue saracino, e dicono ch’è grande profeta, e chiàmallo varria, cio(è) «santo uomo». Or sapiate che v’à costale maraviglia, che li cristiani che vi vegnono in pellegrinaggio tolgono della terra del luogo ove fue morto san Tomaso e dannone un poco a bere a quelli ch’ànno la febra quartana o terzana: incontanente sono guariti. E quella terra si è rossa. " |
| (cap. 172 Di santo Tomaso l'apostolo) |
Marco racconta anche un aneddoto divertente per cui nel 1288 il possedente di quelle terre fece riempire tutte le case dei pellegrini di riso, impendendo quindi il pellegrinaggio al santo. Una notte egli sognò il santo che con una forca lo minacciò di morte se non avesse sgomberato le case, cosa che fece il giorno dopo. Ma egli racconta anche degli abitanti del luogo:
| « Sapiate che fanciugli e fanciulle nascono neri, ma non cosí neri com’eglino sono poscia, ché continuamente ogni settimana s’ungono con olio di sosima, acciò che diventino bene neri, ché in quella contrada quello ch’è più nero è più pregiato. Ancora vi dico che questa gente fanno dipigne(r) tutti i loro idoli neri, e i dimoni bianchi come neve, ché dicono che il loro idio e i loro santi sono neri. " |
| (cap. 172 Di santo Tomaso l'apostolo) |
Sulla costa occidentale, la prima tappa è stata naturalmente 34 Calicut sulla costa di Malabar, ora chiamato Kerala, quindi lungo la costa fino a 35 Thane vicino a Bombay is 36 Khambhat in Gujarat.
| « Canbaet si è ancora un altro grande reame, ed è simile a questo di sopra, salvo che non ci à corsali né male genti. Vivono di mercatantia e d’arti, e sono buona gente. Ed è verso il ponente, e vedesi meglio la tramontana. " |
| (cap. 182 Del reame di Canbaet) |
Descrive il 37 Sindh in Pakistan ma non sembra essersi fermato. Descrive anche diverse province interne dell'India meridionale.
Oceano Indiano
.jpg/220px-Ile_aux_nattes,_Madagascar_(26067878865).jpg)
Descrive ragionevolmente bene l'isola di 38 Socotra nell'Oceano Indiano, poi continua a parlare del 39 Madagascar anche se probabilmente non lo ha mai visitato:
| « Mandegascar si è una isola verso mezzodí, di lungi da Scara intorno da 1.000 miglia. Questi sono saracini ch'adorano Malcometo; questi ànno 4 vescovi – cioè 4 vecchi uomini –, ch'ànno la signoria di tutta l'isola. E sapiate che questa è la migliore isola e la magiore di tutto il mondo, ché si dice ch'ella gira 4.000 miglia. È vivono di mercatantia e d'arti. Qui nasce piú leofanti che in parte del mondo; e per tutto l'altro mondo non si vende né compera tanti denti di leofanti quanto in questa isola ed in quella di Zaghibar. E sapiate che in questa isola non si mangia altra carne che di camelli, e mangiavisene tanti che non si potrebbe credere; e dicono che questa carne di camelli è la piú sana carne e la migliore che sia al mondo. " |
| (cap. 186, Dell'isola di Madegascar) |
In un celebre passaggio, Polo menziona un uccello gigantesco, simile al mitologico Roc:
| « Dicommi certi, che v'ha uccelli grifoni, e questi uccelli apariscono certa parte dell'anno; ma non sono così fatti come si dice di qua, cioè mezzo uccello e mezzo leone, ma sono fatti come aguglie e sono grandi com'io vi dirò. È pigliano lo leonfante, e portalo suso nell'àiere, e poscia il lasciano cadere, e quegli si disfà tutto, e poscia si pasce sopra di lui. Ancora dicono, coloro che gli hanno veduti, che l'alie loro sono sì grande che cuoprono venti passi, e le penne sono lunghe dodici passi » |
| (Marco Polo, Milione) |
altri viaggiatori arabi che avevano visitato il Madagascar potrebbero aver visto l'Aepyornis, un uccello di oltre tre metri di altezza. Tuttavia, è anche appurato che in Madagascar non ci sono mai stati elefanti.
.jpg/220px-Mursi_Woman,_Mago,_Ethiopia_(16621078954).jpg)
Parla anche di 40 Zanzibar su cui scrive diverse inesattezze. Presumibilmente stava ripetendo i racconti di altri viaggiatori. Descrive anche l'Abissinia, la 41 Somalia and the42 Eritrea, ma non è chiaro se ci sia andato.
| « Nabascie si è una grandissima provincia, e questa si è la mezzana India. E sappiate che ’l maggiore re di questa provincia si è cristiano, e tutti li altri re de la provincia si sono sottoposti a lui i quali sono 6 re: 3 cristiani e 3 saracini. Li cristiani di questa provincia si ànno tre segnali nel volto: l’uno si è da la fronte infino a mezzo il naso, e uno da catuna gota. E questi segni si fanno con ferro caldo: che, poscia che sono battezzati ne l’acqua, sí fanno questi cotali segni; e fannolo per grande gentilezza, e dicono ch’è compimento di batesimo. I saracini si ànno pure uno segnale, il quale si è da la fronte infino a mezzo il naso. " |
| (cap. 188 Della mezzana India chiamata Nabasce) |
Discute anche di 43 Aden, una città dello Yemen che all'epoca era la capitale di un impero che comprendeva la Somalia e l'Eritrea, ma non è chiaro se l'abbia visitata.
| « Ed in questo porto caricano li mercatanti loro mercatantie e mettole in barche piccole, e passano giú per uno fiume 7 giornate; e poscia le traggoro de le barche e càricalle in su camelli, e vanno 30 giornate per terra. E poscia truovano lo mare d’Alexandra, e per quello mare ne vanno le genti infino in Allexandra, e per questo modo e via si ànno li saracini d’Allesandra lo pepe ed altre ispezierie di verso Aden; e dal porto d’Aden si partono le navi, e ritornasi cariche d’altre mercatantie e riportale per l’isole d’India. " |
| (cap. 190 Della provincia d'Aden) |
Le ultime tappe
Approdarono a 44 Qalhat in Oman e alla fine raggiunsero Hormuz e proseguirono via terra fino a Tabriz per lasciare la sposa. Nel frattempo lo sposo morì, sicché la sposa dovette maritarsi con il figlio.
I Polo tornarono quindi a casa, salpando da 45 Trebisonda (Trabzon) sul Mar Nero a Costantinopoli (46 Istanbul) e poi verso 47 Venice, che raggiunsero nel 1295.
