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Always find it interesting that Marco Polo, who 'discovered the east' in popular western culture, is a Venetian who's father set up shop in Constantinople soon
by cat199 6y ago
Always find it interesting that Marco Polo, who 'discovered the east' in popular western culture, is a Venetian who's father set up shop in Constantinople soon after it was sacked by the venetians in the 4th crusade, but yet clear evidence of active trade routes like this clearly existed long before - seems like a pretty clear case of historical revisionism to me..
- flohofwoe 6y agoI guess that only very rarely a person made the whole trip along the entire silk road, but knowledge about the foreign lands definitely travelled much earlier. For instance here's a Chinese description of the Roman empire from the 3rd century: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XdPodNwSGU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XdPodNwSGU
- Veen 6y ago> Always find it interesting that Marco Polo, who 'discovered the east' in popular western culture No one thinks Marco Polo "discovered the east", but he was one of the first medieval westerners to travel throughout some parts of east and, most importantly, write about it.
- prox 6y agoHis father and uncle and were the successful ones, Marco Polo learned their trade and travelled with them. The really interesting part is that they won the favour of the Kublai Khan, arguably the most powerful ruler of the time.
- 99_00 6y agoGoods could have passed through many intermediaries before they reached China.