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Who was Marco Polo? |
Marco Polo was an Italian adventurer who lived from 1254 – 1324. Only about two hundred years before Columbus began centuries of explorers heading west from Europe, Marco Polo went east. He was a trader. His family made its money by trading and selling with people from the continent of Asia.
The world was nowhere near as connected as it is today. The only way to get items like silks and teas was to actually go to places like China and Persia (which is today’s Iran).
Marco Polo didn’t even meet his father until he was 15 or 16 years old because his father was on a very long trip to the Middle East, trading. When his father returned, he stayed around for only about two years before setting off again, and this time, he took Marco with him. It wasn’t a short trip. It lasted 24 years!
Marco Polo was able to explore lands that are now countries like India, Iran, Afghanistan, Mongolia, and China, where he spent 17 years of his trip. He met emperors and princesses, and he learned more about Asia than most Europeans knew at that time.
When he finally returned to his home in Venice, the city was fighting with Genoa, another city in Northern Italy. Marco Polo was taken prisoner! He probably wouldn’t be as famous as he is today if it wasn’t for a man he met while in prison. The man was Rustichello, who was a pretty well-known writer of the time. He wrote down Marco Polo’s travel stories, which became a book called Il Milione, which means “the million”. The book spread quickly in Italy, and Marco Polo was made famous as an adventurer!
Marco Polo
Marco Polo is also the name of a game people play in the pool. One person is “it”, just like in a game of tag. That person closes his or her eyes and tries to find the other players to tag them. To help find the other players, the person who is it will shout out “Marco.” All the other players then shout “Polo”, so the “it” person knows where they are.
How is this game like exploring a place you’ve never been before? The pool may seem very different when you can’t use your eyes to see. Do you move slower because you don’t want to bump into any obstacles? You really are like an explorer!
Of course you should never go into a pool or play Marco Polo without having a grown-up that you trust there to watch you.
