Name
D O C U M E N T
Date
E X E R C I S E
CHANGE & CONTINUITY
Travels Of Marco Polo
[Excerpted from Marco Polo, The book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, concerning the kingdoms and marvels of the
East, Henry Yule, tr. (London, J. Murray, 1871)]
Thirteenth Century Eurasia was dominated by the greatest steppe empire in history, the Mongol Great Khanate founded
by Genghiz Khan. In a period of 40 years, the Mongols under Genghiz Khan and his successors conquered most of Eurasia
(including China, Korea, Central Asia, Persia, Iraq, Siberia, Russia, and much of Eastern Europe). They were stopped only
by the Mamluks in Lebanon, Japanese. For the next 50 years, most of Eurasia was under one rule. This allowed merchants
and missionary from western Europe to travel freely along trade routes previously dominated by Muslims. One of the
earliest European descriptions of Asia is that of Marco Polo, a Venetian who reputed served in the court of the last Great
Khan, Kublai Khan. While some scholars question the authenticity The Travels of Marco Polo, in nonetheless presents a
vivid picture of such far away places as Mongolia and Central Asia, Japan and South Asia, India and East Africa. Below
are excerpts from The Travels that describe these and other places.
BOOK THIRD: Chapter I: Of The Merchant Ships Of Manzi That Sail Upon The Indian Seas
Having finished our discourse concerning those countries wherewith our book has been occupied thus far, we are now
about to enter on the subject of India, and to tell you of all the wonders thereof.
And first let us speak of the ships in which merchants go to and fro among the Isles of India.
These ships, you must know, are of fir timber. They have but one deck, though each of them contains some fifty or sixty
cabins, wherein the merchants abide greatly at their ease, every man having one to himself. The ship has but one
rudder, but it has four masts; and sometimes they have two additional masts, which they ship and unship at pleasure.
Moreover the larger of their vessels have some thirteen compartments or severances in the interior, made with planking
strongly framed … The fastenings are all of good iron nails and the sides are double, one plank laid over the other, and
caulked outside and in. …
Each of their great ships requires at least two hundred mariners some of them three hundred. They are indeed of great
size, for one ship shall carry five thousand or six thousand baskets of pepper and they used formerly to be larger than
they are now. And aboard these ships, you must know, when there is no wind they use sweeps, and these sweeps are so
big that to pull them requires four mariners to each. Every great ship has certain large barks or tenders attached to it;
these are large enough to carry one thousand baskets of pepper, and carry fifty or sixty mariners apiece some of them
eighty or one hundred, and they are likewise moved by oars; they assist the great ship by towing her, at such times as
her sweeps are in use or even when she is under sail, if the wind be somewhat on the beam; not if the wind be astern,
for then the sails of the ship would take the wind out of those of the tenders, and she would run them down. Each ship
has two or three of these barks, but one is bigger than the others. There are also some ten small boats for the service of
each great ship, to lay out the anchors, catch fish, bring supplies aboard, and the like. When the ship is under sail she
carries these boats slung to her sides. And the large tenders have their boats in like manner.
Chapter VI: Concerning The Great Island Of Java
When you sail from Champa, one thousand five hundred miles in a course between south and southeast, you come to a
great island called Java. And the experienced mariners of those islands who know the matter well, say that it is the
greatest island in the world, and has a compass of more than three thousand miles. It is subject to a great king and
tributary to no one else in the world. The people are idolaters. The island is of surpassing wealth, producing black
pepper, nutmegs, spikenard, galingale, cubebs, cloves, and all other kinds of spices.
Key Concept 3.1: Expansion and Intensification of Communication and Exchange Networks
AP World History
This island is also frequented by a vast amount of shipping, and by merchants who buy and sell costly goods from which
they reap great profit. Indeed the treasure of this island is so great as to be past telling. And I can assure you the great
Khan never could get possession of this island, on account of its great distance, and the great expense of an expedition
there. The merchants of Zayton and Manzi draw annually great returns from this country.
Chapter XIV: Concerning The Island Of Ceylon
When you leave the Island of Andaman and sail about a thousand miles in a direction a little south of west, you come to
the island of Ceylon, which is in good sooth the best Island of its size in the world. You must know that it has a compass
of two thousand four hundred miles, but in old times it was greater still, for it then had a circuit of about three thousand
and six hundred miles, as you find in the charts of the mariners of those seas. But the north wind there blows with such
strength that it has caused the sea to submerge a large part of the island; and that is the reason why it is not so big now
as it used to be. For you must know that, on the side where the north wind strikes, the island is very low and flat,
insomuch that in approaching on board ship from the high seas you do not see the land till you are right upon it. Now I
will tell you all about this island.
They have a king there whom they call Sendemain, and are tributary to nobody. The people are idolaters, and go quite
naked except that they cover the middle. They have no wheat, but have rice, and sesamun of which they make their oil.
They live on flesh and milk, and have tree wine such as I have told you of. And they have brazil wood, much the best in
the world.
Now I will quit these particulars, and tell you of the most precious article that exists in the world. You must know that
rubies are found in this island and in no other country in the world but this. They find there also sapphires and topazes
and amethysts, and many other stones of price. And the king of this island possesses a ruby which is the finest and
biggest in the world; I will tell you what it is like. It is about a palm in length, and as thick as a man's arm; to look at, it is
the most resplendent object upon earth; it is quite free from flaw and as red as fire. Its value is so great that a price for it
in money could hardly be named at all. You must know that the great Khan sent an embassy and begged the king as a
favor greatly desired by him to sell him this ruby, offering to give for it the ransom of a city, or in fact what the king
would. But the king replied that on no account whatever would he sell it, for it had come to him from his ancestors.
The people of Ceylon are no soldiers, but poor cowardly creatures. And when they have need of soldiers they get
Saracen troops from foreign parts.
Questions
1. Explain how technology and empire facilitated trade in Eurasia under Mongol rule.
2. How did trade impact the societies involved in the Indian Ocean region?
3. When Marco Polo returned to Europe, his works were published and read by many elites. How would these
accounts shape people’s thoughts on the East?
Key Concept 3.1: Expansion and Intensification of Communication and Exchange Networks
AP World History