The admiration must have been mutual as Marco was appointed a permanent and roving envoy of the Khan, a move in keeping with the Mongol ruler's policy of not using Chinese officials when possible.
In 1275 CE, after a three-and-a-half-year trek, the Polos finally reached the court of the Khan at his summer capital of Shangdu ( Xanadu). Sometimes they stopped at certain places for months on end while they recovered from fatigue, illness, or awaited fellow travellers to group and form an escorted caravan that might better withstand the dangers of travelling through wild country plagued by bandits. They went through Persia and the Ilkhan Empire, Samarkand and Turkestan, and then through the Chagatai Khanate. The Polos travelled on by land over the well-established and often ancient trade routes, including the Silk Road(s) that crossed the plains, mountains, and deserts that stretched from Europe to Asia. The group was accompanied by two friars, eager to travel as missionaries but, after the hardships of the journey, they only got as far as Armenia before turning back. In 1271 CE, then aged just 17, Marco accompanied his father and uncle, Niccoló and Maffeo, on what was the elder men's second journey to East Asia, visiting the court of the Mongol leader Kublai Khan in China. Marco Polo was born into a wealthy Venetian merchant family in 1254 CE his mother died shortly after giving birth to Marco. Even if doubts remain as to just where he travelled to and what he saw with his own eyes, Marco Polo continues to enjoy a reputation as one of the world's greatest ever explorers and his work provides invaluable insights into Mongol rule and Asia in general in the late 13th century CE. The work caused a sensation and was one of the principal factors in creating a lasting image in European minds that China was a fabulous land of wealth and exotica, almost too fantastic to be believed.
Polo's adventures are recounted in his own writings, The Travels, where he describes the peoples, places, and customs of the East, including the fabulous court of the Khan. Marco Polo (1254-1324 CE) was a Venetian merchant and explorer who travelled to China and served the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan (l.
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