Marco Polo

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the celebrated Venetian explorer Marco Polo. In 1271 Polo set off on an epic journey through Asia. He was away for more than twenty years, and when he returned to Venice he told extraordinary tales of his adventures. He had visited the court of the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan, and acted as his emissary, travelling through many of the remote territories of the Far East. An account of Marco Polo’s travels was written down by his contemporary Rustichello da Pisa, a romance writer he met after being imprisoned during a war against the neighbouring Genoese.The Travels of Marco Polo was one of the most popular books produced in the age before printing. It was widely translated, and many beautifully illustrated editions made their way to the collections of the rich and educated. It was much read by later travellers, and Polo’s devotees included Christopher Columbus and Henry the Navigator. For centuries it was seen as the first and best account of life in the mysterious East; but today the accuracy and even truth of Marco Polo’s work is often disputed.

→ Play on BBC Sounds website

Guests

• Frances Wood 10 episodes
  Lead Curator of Chinese Collections at the British Library
• Joan Pau Rubies No other episodes
  Reader in International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science
• Debra Higgs Strickland No other episodes
  Senior Lecturer in the History of Art at the University of Glasgow

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Programme ID: b01hxpxh

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01hxpxh

Auto-category: 915.04 (Travel and exploration in Asia)

Hello (First sentence from this episode)

Hello. One morning in 1271, two merchants boarded a ship in the port of Venice and set sail for the east.