Marco Polo - J-blanchard.org

Name_______________________Date________________________Marco PoloI. Background Informationa. Marco Polo was born in ____________, Italy in 1254.b. He learned to ______ and ______ and had an ____________ of manydifferent skills:i. ____________ii. foreign ____________iii. ____________ of the Christian ChurchII.III.IV.The ______ Brothersa. Marco’s father, ____________ and his uncle, ____________ weremerchants who began their first ____________ east in 1260.b. They visited __________________ and eventually made their way to thecapital of ____________ Khan’s ____________ Empire, Kaifeng.c. In 1269, Kublai Khan sent the Polo brothers back to Europe with a requestintended for the ______i. Khan hoped that the Pope would send ______ ____________ backto ______ in hopes of ____________ certain parts of the countryto Christianity.d. After arriving back in ____________, Niccolo discovered that his ______had ______, leaving their 15 year old son, ______ in his care.e. In 1271, the two ____________, as well as Marco, began to travel____________ and in 1275 returned back to Kublai KhanMarco Serves in Khan’s Courta. Marco became a favorite of ____________ and was appointed to highposts in his ____________b. He served at the Khan’s court and was sent on a number of ____________missions in ______, ____________, and ____________.i. Many places that Marco saw were not seen again by____________ until the last ____________c. Marco worked for Kublai Khan for a total of ____________ years beforereturning to his ____________.Returning to Italya. Upon his return to ______ in 1292, Marco Polo told of his findings.b. He brought back ______, ____________, ______, ______, and otherriches of ______.c. He also told about the Chinese use of ______, ____________, and____________.d. Three years after returning to Venice, Marco joined the ______ to fightagainst the city-state of ____________.

i. He was captured in 1298 and spent two years in a ____________prisonii. In prison he met a man named ____________ who was a writer of____________.iii. Marco began to ____________ the story of his travels toRustichello. This story became known as The Travels of MarcoPolo or The ____________ of the WorldV. The book- The Travels of Marco Poloa. The book became one of the most popular books in Europe. It was widely____________, ____________ into many languages, and thousands ofcopies were ____________.b. However, Marco’s book was received with ____________ and____________.i. Since his book exaggerates ____________ and ____________, hebecame known as the “man of a million ______”c. When Marco Polo was near his death in 1324, a ____________ enteredhis room and asked him to admit his stories were ____________. Instead,Polo replied, “ I do not tell ______ of what I saw because no one wouldhave ____________ me.”VI.Marco Polo’s contributionsa. Fiction or not, his Travels have ____________ readers throughout thecenturies.b. Marco Polo made a huge impact on ____________ exploration and was amajor influence on ____________ ____________.c. Polo’s descriptions of ______ made many ____________ curious and theybegan to ____________ goods from Asia, therefore, increasing ______between the two ____________.