Reopening the Silk road
4000 miles of road also sea routes
Trade established with Ancient Rome
But different rulers would tax and kill traders
1200’s Genghis Khan reopened the Silk Road - that trading brought the Eastern advances
Arts, ideas, medicine, begins to bring Europe out of the Middle Ages
Enables citystates to develop especially in Italy which was the hub for trade
Florence, Venice, Genoa form independent governments
1271 Marco Polo
Travels with his father/Uncle on the Silk Road Jewelry was their merch
Meet Kublai Khan
He likes them so much- they stay for 20 years
Marco Polo returns to Italy with all his stories
Imprisoned in Genoa and his cell mate writes down all these stories
He tells about sewage systems and roads between cities.
Inspires others to travel
Insipire art, architecture advancement from China
Marco Polo is the first to write these stories telling everyone what China was like