Marco Polo and Ponce de Leon
My two explorers are Marco Polo and Ponce De Leon. Marco Polo was one of the most famous westerner travelers. He traveled across Asia. He sailed south from Venice, Italy in the Mediterranean Sea. He also explored an area south of Beijing and the coast of china which is now Vietnam. Ponce de Leon sailed for Florida in the Americas. The reason why Marco Polo did his exploration was to find all kinds of different goods to trade. He did this because he was learning about trading goods. He was able to find perfumes, jewels, porcelain, and silk garments. He made lots of money while he stayed in Khan’s court. Pone de Leon’s reason for his expedition was because he was hurt by the king’s action for making Columbus’ son governor so he sailed off. Also he reason was to find new lands and treasures. Another thing was the Fountain of Youth, which was a mythical spring that the Indians spoke of. The Fountain of Youth was believed to make older people young again. Some of Marco’s hardships came when he was traveling to the Gobi Desert. It was hard without camels and was very hot. It was also hard not having food or water. Some times Marco felt like he was in a dream because he would hear frightening sounds, he would see ghost figures of his friends, and was having weird illusions. Some of Ponce de Leon’s hardships that he faced where he was ambushed by the Calusa Tribe. He was ambushed by them on his way back to Florida to start a farming colony. He was shot in the thigh by an arrow and was seriously wounded, so they decided to sail back to Cuba. The result of Marco’s expedition was that he ended up in prison because he was in war against the Genous and was captured. The result of Ponce de Leon’s expedition was that he never found the gold or the mythical fountain. Also he died at 61 because of he serious