Marco Polo's Influence on Christopher Columbus...

Marco Polo's Travels formulated in Europe of the fourteenth and fifteenth century a new perception of the Eastern world, a world just as advanced and sophisticated as that of the West. Yet, another two centuries were needed for a significant change to take place; this was Christopher Columbus' voyage. For Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo's travelogue was a valuable and solid resource that contained the necessary details of the East. The geographical descriptions in his writing generated a basis for Columbus' scientific calculations for his expedition and the explicit depictions of the luxury of Cipangu and Cathay, flawed though they were, created a strong motivation for Columbus. In the 12th of May 1492, Christopher Columbus, accompanied by the writings of Marco Polo, sets sail to change history forever.

Marco Polo's travelogue was the only written account to have enlightened the European world with details of the Eastern world. In the year 1254, when Marco Polo was born in a noble family of Venice, the public knowledge of the East was close to nothing.

Map of Marco Polo's travels.

English: Marco Polo travelling, Miniature from the...

Travels of Marco Polo

Ever since the years of Alexander the Great, Europe had scarce information about its neighboring civilization. Although basic trade routes were present along the Silk Road, "no one in the West seems to have had any notion of the country from which it had come or those through which it had passed." Islamic countries that surrounded Europe, along with the Atlantic Ocean created a natural barrier, isolating the Europeans from the rest of the world. Even the vigorous merchants of Venice, Genoa, and Constantinople could not penetrate beyond the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. "The religion and commerce of Islam were flourishing throughout that continent" after the first Crusades. Due to this strong "Islamic curtain", the Europeans were unaware of the existence of the Mongol empire gradually rising...