1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:16,680 Speaker 1: I'm at a church Gibson, joined by staff writer J 4 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 1: mccrat hey, kids, Marco, Hello, Marcallo. I actually know where 5 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 1: Jane is. And we're not in a pool. We're talking 6 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:31,880 Speaker 1: about Marcus. We're talking about Marco follow because he is 7 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 1: our topic today and he's not only the namesake of 8 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: that very famous pool game, but he's also an established 9 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: author and traveler and some even say political advisor. Supposedly 10 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:46,440 Speaker 1: that's right. And he was sort of like the original 11 00:00:46,479 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 1: Indian in Jones. He he lived back when, um, basically 12 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 1: Europe didn't know a whole lot about the world around 13 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: it and for point of references about the thirteenth and 14 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: fourteen centuries. And he grew up in Italy, in Venice specifically, 15 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:05,720 Speaker 1: and his father Nicola, and his uncle Mafeo or Mafia, 16 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:07,840 Speaker 1: I'm not quite sure how it's pronounced in a f 17 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 1: f e o um. They were travelers and traders. They 18 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:16,319 Speaker 1: were very very shrewd businessmen, and they anticipated that there 19 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: is this changing political climate Constantinople that might enable them 20 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:22,200 Speaker 1: to get in on the gem trade and so they 21 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 1: hopped on board, and they were able to make a 22 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:26,839 Speaker 1: pretty good amount of money traveling back and forth along 23 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 1: the Silk Road, which was a series of trade routes 24 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:33,720 Speaker 1: that connected merchants from Central Asia to Europe. That's right. 25 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: And unfortunately, because his father was such a traveler, his 26 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: father and his uncle uh, they were gone for much 27 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,360 Speaker 1: of Marco Poe's life until he was about a teenager. 28 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: And uh. But when his father and uncle did come back, Uh, 29 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: they discovered that his mother was dead. Um. And but 30 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:54,240 Speaker 1: they decided to have Marco continue the family business and 31 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: uh in sorts so um. He actually ended up joining 32 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:00,720 Speaker 1: his father and uncle on their next back to China, 33 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: and the trip took them in total about twenty four 34 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: twenty five years. Historians debate that point, but seventeen of 35 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: those years were spent in the court of Kubla Khan. 36 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 1: And that was primarily the reason that they went back 37 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: to China, was because Kubla Khan had asked them to 38 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 1: bring back Christian missionaries and holy oil that have been 39 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,920 Speaker 1: blessed by the pope, and of course the polos obliged. 40 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:24,400 Speaker 1: I mean, how do you say you had to Kublican 41 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:27,399 Speaker 1: That's right, although they weren't totally successful in bringing back 42 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:30,840 Speaker 1: the religious men who were supposed to come back and 43 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: explain and defend Christianity to kahan Um. And when they 44 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:38,880 Speaker 1: tried the the Pope actually assigned to Friars to come 45 00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:42,400 Speaker 1: with the polos Um and Uh, pretty soon after the 46 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: Polo set out, the Friars were like, forget it, I'm 47 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:46,560 Speaker 1: heading back. This is too much for us. Well, it's 48 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: pretty intimidating because if you think about who Kuba Kan was, 49 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 1: you're at the Mongol leader and you remember probably another 50 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: famous Khan I've talked about before, Genghis Khan. And these 51 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: are people who essentially took over this part of China 52 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: and established theirn and fire and they were um formerly nomads, 53 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:05,640 Speaker 1: and then they realized that if they wanted to have 54 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 1: a successful empire, they were going to have to be 55 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:11,360 Speaker 1: rooted and stay in place and established themselves as merchants 56 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:14,239 Speaker 1: and traders and craftsmen, and so that's exactly what they did. 57 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 1: So they had this very wealthy establishment. But Kubla Khan 58 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: was interested in learning more about Christianity and also just 59 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:25,360 Speaker 1: business skills from outsiders. That's true, and it was pretty 60 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:27,959 Speaker 1: fortunate considering what you're saying about how important they were 61 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:30,919 Speaker 1: in their area, that they showed favor to the Polos. 62 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:34,080 Speaker 1: They were, you know, they saw them as like, oh, special, 63 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: special Europeans are coming and we're going to favor you, 64 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 1: and you need to tell us about your culture and 65 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:43,920 Speaker 1: and um have us learn about everything. And they really 66 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 1: like Margaret Polo, especially because he was young, and he 67 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: was bright, and he was witty, and apparently he was 68 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:52,320 Speaker 1: really good at picking up languages, and he just really 69 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:55,800 Speaker 1: appealed to Kubla Khan. And again this is debatable, but 70 00:03:55,960 --> 00:03:59,760 Speaker 1: he was either made a political advisor or some sort 71 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: of career low level government official buy Cublican, and he 72 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 1: was given a golden passport, which meant that he could 73 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:08,840 Speaker 1: travel to the ends of China and back, that's right. 74 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:11,320 Speaker 1: And because of that, he was able to see all 75 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: these things that no European had seen before and just 76 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:16,360 Speaker 1: go to the ends of their of the of the 77 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:18,960 Speaker 1: empire there and uh, that's why he was able to 78 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 1: write about so many amazing things later on. So he spent, 79 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:24,799 Speaker 1: like we said, about seventeen years in Kubla Khan's court, 80 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: and we know that as he and his uncle and 81 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:31,599 Speaker 1: father traveled from Venice back to China. They covered about 82 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:35,360 Speaker 1: twenty four thousand miles and they would have passed through 83 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:38,279 Speaker 1: the Middle East and Central Asia and then through China, 84 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:42,240 Speaker 1: and supposedly there were a lot of new goods that 85 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:45,160 Speaker 1: they discovered or that they saw for the first time 86 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:47,599 Speaker 1: along the way. That's right, And legend is didn't he 87 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:50,720 Speaker 1: take back pasta for the first time to introduce it 88 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:52,960 Speaker 1: to Italy? And a lot of people todays think that, oh, 89 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:55,840 Speaker 1: you know that originated in Italy. You know, they associate 90 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 1: spaghetti with with Italy. But um, but it was actually 91 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:03,039 Speaker 1: more Marco Polo who introduced it from China. Isn't that wild? 92 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: So in addition to pasta, he saw porcelain and silk 93 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:11,760 Speaker 1: and coal and his very first compass, and also paper money. 94 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:14,239 Speaker 1: And paper money turned out to be a real biggie 95 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:17,000 Speaker 1: because later on in his memoirs from people were debating 96 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:20,120 Speaker 1: whether he had actually seen all of the things that 97 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 1: he said. Um, they were asking, well, you know, you 98 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: were in China, where are the mentions of the Great 99 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:28,600 Speaker 1: Wall or of foot binding that practice, because he loved 100 00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:31,040 Speaker 1: those things out. Yeah, but he did mention paper money, 101 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:34,080 Speaker 1: and later on Europeans did see paper money, and they realized, 102 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:37,040 Speaker 1: oh well, then Marcot told us that this was coming, 103 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 1: and he was right. That's right. And even despite acquiring 104 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:43,720 Speaker 1: malaria or some other serious illness along the way, he 105 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:47,240 Speaker 1: was a hearty little trooper and once he got to 106 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:51,920 Speaker 1: Kublican's court he was not restless per se. But he 107 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:55,560 Speaker 1: wasn't just a sedentary European who came over to soak 108 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:58,359 Speaker 1: in the culture. He was very active and communicating with 109 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:01,600 Speaker 1: the people and traveling the land and trying to not 110 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 1: only discover what all was available out there, but also 111 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:08,560 Speaker 1: to keep the trade, the Polos trade alive, that business. 112 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 1: That's true, and they were pretty successful. They were able 113 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:12,680 Speaker 1: to get a lot of riches on the way. And 114 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:14,720 Speaker 1: like you said earlier, like he picked up on languages 115 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:17,760 Speaker 1: so well. Um, I read that the Khan actually sent 116 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:20,080 Speaker 1: him on like fact finding missions when he went off 117 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:22,080 Speaker 1: to the to the ends of the empire. And it 118 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 1: must have been a cool life, just like, hey, find 119 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:26,800 Speaker 1: out this for me and this crazy fact and he 120 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:28,920 Speaker 1: goes and he does it. I thought, pretty nice. I 121 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:31,839 Speaker 1: kind of like a position of that today. Um. But 122 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:35,360 Speaker 1: the thing is, after a while there was some unrest 123 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:38,800 Speaker 1: that started brewing between the Mongols and the Chinese and 124 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:41,039 Speaker 1: the Polos wanted too late because they saw that things 125 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 1: were about to get nasty. And not only that, but 126 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:46,799 Speaker 1: Kublai Khan was getting kind of old, and once he died, 127 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:49,760 Speaker 1: the Polos, you know, they had been shown favor with 128 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:52,719 Speaker 1: with the Kublai Khan, but once he left, you know, 129 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:56,120 Speaker 1: they would not be secured of any favor from the 130 00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:59,160 Speaker 1: next empire, definitely not. So they wanted to go ahead 131 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:01,479 Speaker 1: and get out of town. But Copa consent, no, and 132 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:04,159 Speaker 1: he was really insistent that they were going to stay. 133 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:06,599 Speaker 1: And you know, what were they to do? They were outnumbered. 134 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:10,560 Speaker 1: It was three against all the Mongols. But luckily fortune 135 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:14,640 Speaker 1: smiled on them because a Persian diplomat came over and 136 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:20,200 Speaker 1: said that Cohn's great nephew wanted a princess from the 137 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:23,520 Speaker 1: Mongol tribe to marry, and so con agree to let 138 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:26,680 Speaker 1: the Polos escort her back to Persia. So this was 139 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:29,360 Speaker 1: their ticket back to Italy afterwards. Yes, and once they 140 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 1: get out of China, they went ahead and went on 141 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:36,680 Speaker 1: him to Venice afterward. Yeah. I read one place. I'm 142 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:38,160 Speaker 1: not sure if this is true, but actually, as soon 143 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:41,600 Speaker 1: as they set foot on like Christian soil. Again, they 144 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 1: actually got robbed. The Polos got robbed of the riches 145 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 1: that they had spent you know, twenty years acquiring in China. 146 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:50,840 Speaker 1: And that must have been terribly disappointing, I'm sure sure, 147 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:55,120 Speaker 1: because they were representative of that culture and um, bringing 148 00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:57,400 Speaker 1: ideals to the Mongols. But at least he carried with 149 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 1: him what he saw there you go. And here's where 150 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 1: the story gets kind of fishy. And we've been saying, 151 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:05,640 Speaker 1: you know, words like supposedly and debatably, and the reason 152 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:09,480 Speaker 1: for that is because there are a lot of scholars 153 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 1: and historians, both contemporary to Marco Polo and today who 154 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:17,560 Speaker 1: debate the authenticity of his accounts. And we should mention 155 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:21,280 Speaker 1: that his accounts were titled The Description of the World, 156 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:25,240 Speaker 1: or ultimately titled The Travels of Marco Polo. And these 157 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:29,600 Speaker 1: were not slight books or a slight book whether it 158 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:32,880 Speaker 1: was a pretty hefty ton and Marco Polo didn't write 159 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:36,040 Speaker 1: it himself, that's right. He was actually imprisoned when he 160 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:39,320 Speaker 1: got back to Italy, which um it happened because he 161 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 1: got involved in the battle between the Venetians and the Genoese. 162 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: And at this time, you know, before Italy was unified 163 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:47,640 Speaker 1: or and everything like that. Uh, these were actually two 164 00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:50,240 Speaker 1: republics and they were rivals at the time. So he 165 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:52,959 Speaker 1: was imprisoned by the Genoese. And while he was in prison, 166 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:56,360 Speaker 1: he actually met up with a popular writer of the time. 167 00:08:56,360 --> 00:09:00,440 Speaker 1: He wrote romances and um, so he would dictate, would 168 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:03,280 Speaker 1: dictate his what he saw in China's travels, and the 169 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:05,839 Speaker 1: writer actually wrote down for him. And the writer's name 170 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:09,040 Speaker 1: was rest Cello, and he was a member of I 171 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:11,800 Speaker 1: think the French Court, and so he would have been 172 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:15,800 Speaker 1: writing to entertain nobles, and so some people think that 173 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:20,479 Speaker 1: he embellished market Pello stories and um. They were translated 174 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 1: first into French and then into I think a hundred 175 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:28,120 Speaker 1: fifty different languages, or disseminated disseminated to a hundred fifty 176 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:31,120 Speaker 1: different countries. And so you can imagine it's almost like 177 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:33,200 Speaker 1: that game of telephone that you play when you're a child. 178 00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:35,079 Speaker 1: A lot of secret from one year to the next. 179 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:36,319 Speaker 1: By the time you get back to the person who 180 00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:39,800 Speaker 1: originated the secret, it's been altered in somewhat and there's 181 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:43,200 Speaker 1: no original manuscript for which to grouper back to. And 182 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:45,600 Speaker 1: this is and this is even assuming that rosta Cello. 183 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:49,240 Speaker 1: Actually Um wrote down faithfully everything that Polo said. It's 184 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:51,480 Speaker 1: possible because he was such a you know, he was 185 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:54,160 Speaker 1: a writer of romances, that he might have embellished things 186 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:57,559 Speaker 1: that Polo said precisely. And so by the time I 187 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:01,360 Speaker 1: got through with several um different letters and translators, the 188 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:04,559 Speaker 1: story was not in its original form by any stretch. 189 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:07,240 Speaker 1: But then market Polo later on his deathbed, he was 190 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:11,160 Speaker 1: asked to retract the things that he had said, and 191 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:14,920 Speaker 1: he commented, I only tell half of what I thought, right. 192 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: He stuck to his story, he did. And not only that, 193 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:19,640 Speaker 1: he said, you know, if I had told you really 194 00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:21,560 Speaker 1: what I had seen, you guys wouldn't have believed me 195 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:23,559 Speaker 1: anymore than you believe what I did tell you. And 196 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:27,120 Speaker 1: that's true because you think about the fact that China 197 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:29,599 Speaker 1: was such a mystery to the Europeans, not only with 198 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:32,280 Speaker 1: that far away, but they were isolated by a treacherous 199 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:35,600 Speaker 1: terrain and mountains and oceans, and they had no idea 200 00:10:35,679 --> 00:10:38,640 Speaker 1: what was going on over there except for the goods 201 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:40,599 Speaker 1: that they saw come down. This it's true, and it 202 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:43,360 Speaker 1: should you know, like Um sort of to defend Polo, 203 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:46,440 Speaker 1: but also to explain maybe some inaccuracies in his story 204 00:10:46,520 --> 00:10:49,959 Speaker 1: was that he didn't talk about everything he saw, Like 205 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:51,720 Speaker 1: everything he wrote in the book wasn't weren't things that 206 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:54,679 Speaker 1: he personally saw, but he got secondhand descriptions of from 207 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:57,839 Speaker 1: people he met there um and so if those were wrong, 208 00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:00,440 Speaker 1: he wouldn't have known. But he told his his side 209 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,400 Speaker 1: of the story. Would he knew right? And whether or 210 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:07,079 Speaker 1: not it is true all of the accounts, it forever 211 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:11,080 Speaker 1: changed how Europe regarded China. It gave rise to the 212 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:14,080 Speaker 1: first maps that you're made of of parts of Asia 213 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:17,960 Speaker 1: and of China, and even influence later explorers like Christopher 214 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:20,480 Speaker 1: Columbus who was trying to find the Orient based on 215 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:24,000 Speaker 1: the descriptions and coordinates that marcat Polo gave, and in 216 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:26,480 Speaker 1: fourteen two, I think we all know where he ended up. 217 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:30,160 Speaker 1: That's right now, the Orient. So and one of my 218 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 1: favorite parts of the marcat Polo story is a little 219 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:37,360 Speaker 1: bit um juicy and tawdrey and pulpy, really, because we 220 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: know from most accounts that he married a Venetian woman 221 00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:42,960 Speaker 1: named Donata and he had three daughters, but there are 222 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:46,360 Speaker 1: some accounts or some legends rather that say he didn't 223 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:49,600 Speaker 1: marry an Italian woman. He married a woman that he 224 00:11:49,679 --> 00:11:53,080 Speaker 1: met in Kubla Khan's court, actually his daughter how Dong, 225 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:56,360 Speaker 1: and supposedly how Dong traveled with him and his uncle 226 00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:59,680 Speaker 1: and father and then returned with Marcot to Venice, and 227 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:02,560 Speaker 1: she was ostracized by the people because she was so different, 228 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:05,440 Speaker 1: so she would lock herself in her room and singing, 229 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:08,280 Speaker 1: which was her only comfort. She had a beautiful singing voice. 230 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:11,559 Speaker 1: And then we know that Marco came to be arrested, 231 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:13,800 Speaker 1: and in this version of the story, he wasn't arrested 232 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:17,240 Speaker 1: for leading uprising against the Genoese. He was arrested because 233 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:19,840 Speaker 1: he'd married a Christian and the Catholic Church of an eyeballing. 234 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:24,840 Speaker 1: It gets even more even more scandalous because then supposedly 235 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:28,680 Speaker 1: his sister Lucia lied to how Dong and said that 236 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:31,439 Speaker 1: he had died, and she was so upset that she 237 00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:34,280 Speaker 1: set her clothes on fire and hurled herself into the canals. 238 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:38,480 Speaker 1: So if you're in Venice today, um, you can hear her. 239 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:40,800 Speaker 1: This is a story there, it's a good story. Yeah, 240 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:45,920 Speaker 1: you can hear her singing by the canal. Yeah, exactly that. 241 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:48,040 Speaker 1: I'm actually on my way right now. So we're gonna 242 00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:51,320 Speaker 1: have to cut this short. The point being, you know, 243 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:54,520 Speaker 1: we we don't know definitively whether or not mercant Polo's 244 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 1: accounts were true, and we don't know definitively all the 245 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 1: details of his biography. So we've done a quick history 246 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:01,839 Speaker 1: of Marco Polo, and it only takes a click of 247 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:05,000 Speaker 1: amounts to uh go to our website and learn about 248 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,120 Speaker 1: anything from Marco Polo, history of China, or anything under 249 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:11,240 Speaker 1: this one, even Genghis Khan, the man who started all 250 00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:17,720 Speaker 1: before before Kubla t That's on how stuff works dot com. 251 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,320 Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, isn't 252 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:23,600 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. Let us know what you think. 253 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:33,320 Speaker 1: Send an email to podcast at how stuff works dot com.