Marco Polo Reaches the Court of Kublai Khan
A 17-year-old Venetian merchant's son begins a 24-year stay in Mongol China
Quick facts
- Traveler
- Marco Polo, Venetian merchant
- Departure age
- 17, in 1271
- Host ruler
- Kublai Khan, Yuan dynasty emperor
- Time abroad
- 24 years (1271-1295)
What happened
In 1271, at age seventeen, the Venetian Marco Polo set out with his father Niccolo and uncle Maffeo, both experienced merchants making their second journey to East Asia, traveling overland along routes across Persia, the Ilkhanate, Samarkand, and the Chagatai Khanate that later became known collectively as the Silk Road. Around 1275 the group reached the court of Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan and the Mongol ruler of China under the Yuan dynasty, who employed Marco as a foreign emissary and sent him on missions across the empire and into Southeast Asia over the following years. Marco Polo remained abroad for 24 years, not returning to Venice until 1295, the year after Kublai Khan's death, traveling home by a mixed land and sea route through Vietnam, Sumatra, Sri Lanka, and the Persian Gulf. Captured and imprisoned by the Genoese not long after his return, he dictated an account of his travels, known as The Travels, to a fellow prisoner.
Why it matters
The Travels became Europe's single most influential firsthand description of Mongol-ruled China and the peoples and goods along the road connecting it to the Mediterranean, shaping European geographic imagination and commercial ambition toward Asia for the next two centuries, including, eventually, motivating explorers seeking an alternative route there by sea.
How we know
Marco Polo's biography and journey are documented in the World History Encyclopedia's dedicated article, itself drawing on the surviving manuscript tradition of The Travels alongside the standard chronology of Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty reign.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Marco Polo · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Ages of Exploration, The Mariners' Museum and Park. Marco Polo · Reputable sourceexploration.marinersmuseum.org · The domain "exploration.marinersmuseum.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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