Why Did Marco Polo Write his Book?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5944/etfiii.37.2024.39638Keywords:
Marco Polo; Mongol Empire; Euro-Asian Integration; Franco-Toluid Alliance; The Discovery of IndiaAbstract
This question has remained unanswered for over seven centuries. This article takes a closer look at the Mongol Empire for the purpose of advancing an understanding of Marco Polo’s book, an odd and unique cultural product. The proposal focusses on the content of the book, but as well on its context. This is as complex and difficult to decipher as it was for his own contemporaries who doubtless had to make a giant effort to imagine a geography that made sense of the political, cultural and economic unity created by the Mongols in the thirteenth century and to understand its implications on a truly global scale. The enquiry on the reasons for Marco Polo’s book challenges the very essence of whether modern scholarship has ever fully assumed this task.
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