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Coming out of the Dark: 1000-1400
Marco Polo (1254-1324)
Every textbook of world history mentions the Venetian, Marco Polo, and his amazing 14th century travels in China. It is quite possible, however, that he never visited Asia at all. The accounts of his travels attributed to him may be simply very clever fiction. But it is more likely that when he was seventeen, Polo did indeed accompany his grandfather and uncle, successful jewel-merchants, on their second trading journey to China during the last quarter of the 13th century. While in prison, Polo apparently related the details of his journeys to a fellow prisoner,
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