author
Marco Polo
1254–1324
A Venetian merchant whose journeys across Asia became one of the most famous travel accounts in history, he helped introduce many European readers to places they had never imagined. The world described in his book still feels vast, strange, and full of wonder.
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 in Venice around 1254, he traveled with his father Niccolò and uncle Maffeo across Asia along the trade routes later known as the Silk Road. Accounts of his life say the family reached the court of Kublai Khan, and Marco Polo spent years in the Mongol world before returning to Venice in 1295.
His fame rests on The Travels of Marco Polo, a book that grew out of stories he told after his return. Whether every detail was exact has long been debated, but the work had an enormous impact: it gave European readers a vivid picture of cities, trade, customs, and imperial power far beyond their own experience.
He died in Venice on January 8, 1324. Centuries later, Marco Polo remains a compelling figure not just as a traveler, but as a storyteller whose name became almost synonymous with long-distance adventure and curiosity about the wider world.