Why Did Marco Polo Travel To China?
Did Marco Polo travel to China?
Have you ever told a story about yourself and each time you told that story, you might have changed a few details to become more suitable? On the other hand, have you ever told a story and left out several parts of it because you overlooked the details since it was not that interesting or funny to you, so you did not see it fitting to express it to others? Then eventually, people start wondering, did your story truly happen. Well, this is what happen to Marco Polo. The question is, did Marco Polo ever reach China? I believe that he did, but I do believe that several details that he talked about were over exaggerated and some information that he left out was not interesting to him.
First of all, I believe that …show more content…
Although, that does not mean that he did not travel to China. With his work translated in numerous different versions, words might have been changed and tampered with in the process. For example, the author stated that the original manuscript did not survive and they know this because Polo and Rustichello does not have their signature on the copies. “They expressed that there are problems of copyist's errors, which can be repeated or further confused in subsequent copying, and in every written culture there has been a long tradition of palaeographical search for accuracy” (). This shows that several mistakes could have happened in the process of translating. With translating language to another language, there can be problems that occur, such as names, buildings, and events being mixed up. The author states this, These combined with the lapse of time between the events, the compilation of the work and earliest surviving versions, have led to the extreme variation in the contents of the 143 or 150 manuscripts” (43). Not only did the language change, but the content itself was as well. People added more to his story to become more interesting such as the Ramusio's version. It was stated that he published one that was 200 years after Marco Polo's death and how he added more …show more content…
Merchants traveled majority of the time in history to produce money and do trade. His father and his uncle traveled before Marco was of age to travel. Once they came back, Marco was older, so they were able to take him with them. According to the book that Marco wrote, his father, his uncle, and him traveled to Khan's court in China and to the land of Silk (121). With having the roads open, they were able to travel to different places. In his writing, it is proven that it is written by a merchant instead of a creative writer (38). It was stated earlier, that he was not educated so he could not write an excellent book based upon historians' views of writing. He wrote this book with a view that he was selling it so he can gain more money. Even though he did it more for the money and the fame, his travels are probably not as known as Christopher Columbus
Have you ever told a story about yourself and each time you told that story, you might have changed a few details to become more suitable? On the other hand, have you ever told a story and left out several parts of it because you overlooked the details since it was not that interesting or funny to you, so you did not see it fitting to express it to others? Then eventually, people start wondering, did your story truly happen. Well, this is what happen to Marco Polo. The question is, did Marco Polo ever reach China? I believe that he did, but I do believe that several details that he talked about were over exaggerated and some information that he left out was not interesting to him.
First of all, I believe that …show more content…
Although, that does not mean that he did not travel to China. With his work translated in numerous different versions, words might have been changed and tampered with in the process. For example, the author stated that the original manuscript did not survive and they know this because Polo and Rustichello does not have their signature on the copies. “They expressed that there are problems of copyist's errors, which can be repeated or further confused in subsequent copying, and in every written culture there has been a long tradition of palaeographical search for accuracy” (). This shows that several mistakes could have happened in the process of translating. With translating language to another language, there can be problems that occur, such as names, buildings, and events being mixed up. The author states this, These combined with the lapse of time between the events, the compilation of the work and earliest surviving versions, have led to the extreme variation in the contents of the 143 or 150 manuscripts” (43). Not only did the language change, but the content itself was as well. People added more to his story to become more interesting such as the Ramusio's version. It was stated that he published one that was 200 years after Marco Polo's death and how he added more …show more content…
Merchants traveled majority of the time in history to produce money and do trade. His father and his uncle traveled before Marco was of age to travel. Once they came back, Marco was older, so they were able to take him with them. According to the book that Marco wrote, his father, his uncle, and him traveled to Khan's court in China and to the land of Silk (121). With having the roads open, they were able to travel to different places. In his writing, it is proven that it is written by a merchant instead of a creative writer (38). It was stated earlier, that he was not educated so he could not write an excellent book based upon historians' views of writing. He wrote this book with a view that he was selling it so he can gain more money. Even though he did it more for the money and the fame, his travels are probably not as known as Christopher Columbus