The Travels of Marco Polo Questions and Answers
The Travels of Marco Polo
What is the main message of The Travels of Marco Polo?
From a historical point of view, the message seemed to be one of self- glorification and spiking the age of exploration that ended up defining much of world history. Polo's writing reflects the...
The Travels of Marco Polo
How did luck help Marco Polo when the Emperor did not allow him to go back home?
By 1291, Marco Polo had, by his own account, been in the service of Kublai Khan, the Mongol Emperor of China, for over sixteen years. In his role, he had proved so useful that the Emperor was...
The Travels of Marco Polo
Why did Marco Polo travel to other parts of the world?
Marco Polo had multiple reasons for traveling as widely as he did, and this thirteenth-century explorer certainly put on the miles as he journeyed from his home in Venice through China, Central...
The Travels of Marco Polo
What does The Travels of Marco Polo tell us about religion in China at that time?
Marco Polo was in China for almost two decades. This was during the rule of Kublai Khan, the Mongolian emperor and grandson of Genghis Khan. During his time in the Mongol Empire, Marco Polo studied...
The Travels of Marco Polo
How many years did the Polos take to reach China in The Travels of Marco Polo?
To travel to China in the late 1200s was an adventure in and of itself. Marco Polo, his uncle, and his father followed what is now called the Silk Road, journeying from Venice, an important...
The Travels of Marco Polo
How did Kublai Khan receive the Polos?
Despite his fearsome reputation, Kublai Khan, great emperor of the Mongol Empire, shows himself to be a generous, welcoming host to the Italian explorer Marco Polo and his brother Maffeo when they...
The Travels of Marco Polo
How does Marco Polo describe the palaces at Shangdu?
It's fair to say that Marco Polo is mightily impressed by Kublai Khan's luxurious palace Shangdu, otherwise known as Xanadu. And with good reason, too. The palace has been built using nothing but...
The Travels of Marco Polo
How did Kublai Khan's postal system operate, according to The Travels of Marco Polo?
Marco Polo is suitably impressed by the ingenious postal system established by Kublai Khan, the great Mongol Emperor. On his orders, a vast network of post-houses has been set up. At an interval of...
The Travels of Marco Polo
How did Polo reach Peking in The Travels of Marco Polo?
Marco Polo had been spending time with Kublai Khan at his famous pleasure palace in the great city of Xanadu (modern-day Shangdu). The two men got along famously—so much so that Kublai Khan trusted...
The Travels of Marco Polo
How does the book reflect China at that time in a political context?
Descriptions of the Chinese political structure are plentiful in The Travels of Marco Polo; additionally, the rich history of Mongol rule in China is well documented. In the book, Kublai Khan, the...
The Travels of Marco Polo
Why did Marco Polo go to China the second time, even though the journey from Venice to Peking was both long and...
The idea that Polo ever explored as far as China is one of historical debate. Historians, however, tend to give his account the benefit of the doubt based on his knowledge of the workings of the...
The Travels of Marco Polo
I have to write a 7 page paper on my own thoughts on The Travels of Marco Polo and have absolutely no idea how or...
The main purpose of this sort of reading response paper is simply to see if you have read the book. Thus the request for your own thoughts means that the instructor isn't looking for some "correct"...