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The Venetian merchant and adventurer was in China from 1275
to 1291 and returned to Europe with extraordinary accounts
of his travels in Persia, China, Central Asia, Armenia, and
Southeast Asia among other places. [See a map
of Marco Polo's journey]
Read the following excerpts of Marco Polo's account of life
at Khubilai Khan's court. The text is from The Book
of Ser Marco Polo: The Venetian Concerning Kingdoms and Marvels
of the East, Volume 1, translated and edited by Colonel Sir
Henry Yule.
BOOK FIRST
• Chapter XLVI: Of
the City of Caracoron [pdf]
About the foundation of the city of Caracoron (Khara Khorum),
the first Mongol capital, and Marco Polo's own theory about
the rise of the Tartars (the Mongols)
BOOK SECOND, PART I
• Chapter VIII: Concerning
the Person of the Great Kaan [pdf]
A physical description of Khubilai Khan, and general descriptions
of his family, his court, and his concubines
• Chapter IX: Concerning
the Great Kaan's Sons [pdf]
Descriptions of Khubilai Khan's twenty-two sons
• Chapter X: Concerning
the Palace of the Great Kaan [pdf]
Description of Khubilai's palace at Cambaluc (Daidu/Beijing)
• Chapter XI: Concerning
the City of Cambaluc [pdf]
Detailed description of the layout of the city of Cambaluc
(Daidu/Beijing)
• Chapter XXII: Concerning
the City of Cambaluc, and Its Great Traffic and Population
[pdf]
Detailed description of the population and life in the city
of Cambaluc (Daidu/Beijing)
• Chapter XXIII: Concerning
the Oppressions of Achmath the Bailo, and the Plot That Was
Formed against Him [pdf]
Account of a plot against Achmath, upon whom Khubilai Khan
entrusted much, until he learned of his corrupt ways
• Chapter XXIV: How
the Great Kaan Causeth the Bark of Trees, Made into Something
Like Paper, to Pass for Money over All His Country
[pdf]
Description of paper money, as it was made and circulated
in Mongol China
• Chapter XXVI: How
the Kaan's Posts and Runners Are Sped through Many Lands and
Provinces [pdf]
Detailed description of the postal system in Mongol China
Marco Polo's Asia, by Leonardo Olschki (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1960).
"Did
Marco Polo Really Go To China?" by Morris Rossabi
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