It was all of in the general direction that had been travelled by the remarkable Marco Polo…
In the meantime the election of a pope was retarded by so many obstacles, that they remained two years in Venice, continually expecting its accomplishment; when at length, becoming apprehensive that the Great Khan might be displeased by their delay, or might suppose it was not their intention to revisit his country, they judged it expedient to return to Acre, and on this occasion they took with them young Marco Polo.
    In 1296, following a sea battle between Venice and Genoa, a man from Pisa named Rustician found he had a new cellmate—a well-dressed articulate Venetian who said his name was Marco Polo. In the years that followed, Polo told Rustican of his adventures in the Far East and the latter wrote them all down, thus providing one of the greatest and most influential travel books of all time.
    Just how true the story was is open to conjecture, for there is no corroborating evidence at all. But it seems authentic, and anyway, if Polo did not make the journey, other men like him did and it is the best record we have of the opening of the trade routes between Europe and China.
    To these men the West owes paper and gunpowder and silk and many other things that we swiftly absorbed into our culture. It’s hard to say what China gained—maybe an inkling that Europe’s supposedly more advanced civilisation offered nothing that they wanted. Especially opium.
    In fact the journey was first made by Marco’s father and uncle, who were traders in the Black Sea area and wondered what possibilities lay beyond. They took young Marco along on their second journey, and the great Kublai Khan, like all of us, was fascinated by his story-telling ability.
    Marco became a close favourite of the Khan and was sent on many missions as an envoy. His rapid ability to adopt the language and customs of the Chinese was his greatest asset.
    After that, they went back and forth, trying to establish firm connections between the two worlds, but in the end, Marco finished up commanding a Venetian ship in the defeat at Genoa. When published, his story was not believed and it was fifty years after his death before his book began to be taken seriously. It was only when other travellers followed the route that the great achievements of these three brave men, so little regarded, their knowledge so little used, began to dawn.