Marco Polo's Journey to China (1275)
by Christine Na
![Picture](/uploads/2/5/1/4/25144003/9421469.gif)
Marco Polo’s father and uncle started their journey in 1260. They visited Constantinople and met Kublai Khan. Kublai had an interest in the native’s land of merchants, so he sent the Polos back to the Pope as ambassadors with messages of peace and interest in converting areas of China to Christianity. Marco’s father brought him to Cathay also known as China today. In 1275 Marco arrives in China. His whole journey took 3 years. When he arrived to China, he net Kublai Khan and learned how to speak Chinese. His first mission from Kublai was to travel all around China. Since his went out so well, Kublai decided to make Marco work for him. China expanded in the arts and literature was very well respected. In 1295, Marco Polo returned to Venice but found out it was in war with Genoa. In 1298, he was captured. In prison, he met a writer and the writer wrote about Marco Polo’s journey. In 1324, Marco Polo died and many other explorers traveled the same path as Marco Polo including Christopher Columbus. In the picture shown below, it shows Marco Polo’s route to China.