author
Marco Polo
1254–1324
Known for one of history’s most famous travel books, this Venetian merchant described a long journey across Asia that shaped how Europe imagined the wider world. His stories of the court of Kublai Khan and the lands along the Silk Road have fascinated readers for centuries.
3 Audiobooks
The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1
by Marco Polo, da Pisa Rusticiano
The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 2
by Marco Polo, da Pisa Rusticiano
About the author
Born around 1254 in Venice and dying there on January 8, 1324, Marco Polo was a merchant, traveler, and writer whose name became almost inseparable from medieval travel. He journeyed with his father Niccolò and his uncle Maffeo from Europe to Asia in 1271, and later became famous for the account of those travels.
Sources such as Encyclopaedia Britannica and Wikipedia describe him as spending many years in the domains of Kublai Khan, with his travels stretching from 1271 to 1295 and about 17 of those years spent in China. The book known in English as The Travels of Marco Polo—also called Il Milione or The Book of the Marvels of the World—made him one of the best-known travel writers in history.
What still makes him compelling is the mix of commerce, adventure, and storytelling in his life. Whether readers come to him for history, exploration, or the sheer wonder of distant places, his work remains a vivid window into how medieval Europe encountered Asia.