The Travels by Marco Polo (Book Analysis)

This practical and insightful reading guide offers a complete summary and analysis of The Travels by Marco Polo. It provides a thorough exploration of the text’s content, characters and main themes, including travel and discovery. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time.

This clear and detailed 25-page reading guide is structured as follows:

• Biography of Marco Polo
• Presentation of The Travels
• Summary of The Travels
• Character study
  • Marco Polo
  • The Great Khubilai Khan
• Analysis of The Travels
  • The historical context of Europe and Asia in the 13^th century
  • Situation of utterance
  • The writing project
  • Travel writing
  • Summary of Marco Polo’s itinerary

About The Travels

The Travels was first published in 1298. It recounts the travels of Marco Polo with his father and uncle through much of Asia. The work is an account of the peoples and customs which were completely alien to much of Europe at the time. As a  result, the account was very significant in introducing much of Europe to Asia.

The Travels was written in Old French by Rustichello da Pisa, who based the account on stories Polo had told him when they were imprisoned together in Genoa.

About Marco Polo

Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant and traveller who was born in 1254. He travelled with his father and his uncle throughout Asia for 23 years, mainly to promote exchange between Europe and the Mongolian Empire. Among the countries he visited were Persia, India, China and Japan. He decided to record the marvels he had seen on his travels.

Marco Polo can be considered to be the first great travel writer. His story influenced many explorers who came after him, notably Christopher Colombus. Fra Mauro, an Italian cartographer, even draw up a map based on Polo’s writings. He is probably the most famous historical figure from Venice, as a result of which the city’s airport is named after him.