Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in The Travels of Marco Polo, a book that described the then-mysterious culture and inner workings of the Eastern world, including the wealth and great size of the Mongol Empire and China under the Yuan dynasty, giving Europeans their first comprehensive look into China, Persia, India, Japan, and other Asian societies.
Marco Polo is the fourth serial of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC TV in seven weekly parts from 22 February to 4 April 1964. It was written by John Lucarotti and directed largely by Waris Hussein; John Crockett directed the fourth episode. The story is set in Yuan-era China in the year 1289, where the Doctor, his granddaughter Susan Foreman, and her teachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright meet the Italian merchant-explorer Marco Polo and Mongolian Emperor Kublai Khan.
Ahmad Fanākatī, alternatively rendered as Ahmad Banākatī was a Persian Muslim from the Qara Khitai who served as chancellor and finance minister of the Yuan dynasty during Kublai's reign. He became known as a chief minister under Kublai and is credited with successfully establishing the financial system of the Yuan dynasty. He was considered to be a "villainous minister" in dynastic histories because of his perceived corruption.
Kaidu was a grandson of the Mongol khagan Ögedei (1185–1241) and thus leader of the House of Ögedei and the de facto khan of the Chagatai Khanate, a division of the Mongol Empire. He ruled parts of modern-day Xinjiang and Central Asia during the 13th century, and actively opposed his uncle, Kublai, who established the Yuan dynasty. Medieval chroniclers often mistranslated Kadan as Kaidu, mistakenly placing Kaidu at the Battle of Legnica. Kadan was the brother of Güyük, and Kaidu's uncle.
Benedict Wong is an English actor. He began his career on stage before starring in the film Dirty Pretty Things (2003), which earned him a British Independent Film Award nomination, and the BBC sitcom 15 Storeys High (2002–2004). This was followed by roles in the films On a Clear Day (2005), Sunshine, Grow Your Own, and Moon (2009), and the CBBC series Spirit Warriors (2010).
The Adventures of Marco Polo is a 1938 American historical adventure film directed by Archie Mayo and starring Gary Cooper, Sigrid Gurie, and Basil Rathbone. It was one of the most elaborate and costly of Samuel Goldwyn's productions.
Marco Polo is a 1982 American-Italian television miniseries originally broadcast by NBC in the United States and by RAI in Italy. It stars Kenneth Marshall as Marco Polo, the 13th-century Venetian merchant and explorer. The series also features appearances by Denholm Elliott, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, Burt Lancaster, Ian McShane, Leonard Nimoy, and others. It was originally broadcast in four episodes, where episodes 1 and 4 were twice as long as episodes 2 and 3. The series is sometimes divided into six equally long episodes.
The Journeyer is a historical novel about Marco Polo, written by Gary Jennings and first published in 1984.
Bayan of the Baarin, or Boyan, was an ethnic Mongol general of the Yuan dynasty of China. He was known to Marco Polo as "Bayan Hundred Eyes". He commanded the army of Kublai Khan against the Southern Song dynasty, ushering in the Southern Song collapse and the conquest of southern China by the Yuan dynasty.
Four major military campaigns were launched by the Mongol Empire, and later the Yuan dynasty, against the kingdom of Đại Việt ruled by the Trần dynasty and the kingdom of Champa in 1258, 1282–1284, 1285, and 1287–88. The campaigns are treated by a number of scholars as a success due to the establishment of tributary relations with Đại Việt despite the Mongols suffering major military defeats. In contrast, modern Vietnamese historiography regards the war as a major victory against the foreign invaders.
Ancient Journeys: A Vision of the New World is an album by German cross-cultural new-age band Cusco, released in 2000. Released three years after the previous album, this one peaked at #2 on the Billboard Top New Age Albums chart.
Kublai Khan, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder and first emperor of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China. He proclaimed the dynastic name "Great Yuan" in 1271, and ruled Yuan China until his death in 1294.
Niccolò Polo and Maffeo Polo were Italian traveling merchants from the Republic of Venice, best known as the father and uncle, respectively, of the explorer Marco Polo. The brothers went into business before Marco's birth, established trading posts in Constantinople, Sudak in Crimea, and in a western part of the Mongol Empire in Asia. As a duo, they reached modern-day China before temporarily returning to Europe to deliver a message to the Pope. Taking Niccolò's son Marco with them, the Polos then made another journey through Asia, which became the subject of Marco's account The Travels of Marco Polo.
The Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) was a dynasty of China ruled by the Mongol Borjigin clan. Founded by Kublai Khan, it is considered one of the successors to the Mongol Empire.
La Fabuleuse Aventure de Marco Polo or Marco the Magnificent is a 1965 international co-production adventure film directed by Denys de La Patellière and Noël Howard. Raoul Levy committed suicide in December 1966 after losing most of his fortune financing this film.
John Anthony Garnet Man is a British historian and travel writer. His special interests are China, Mongolia and the history of written communication.
Marco Polo is an American drama television series inspired by Marco Polo's early years in the court of Kublai Khan, the Khagan of the Mongol Empire and the founder of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). The show premiered on Netflix on December 12, 2014. The series was created by John Fusco and stars Lorenzo Richelmy in the title role, with Benedict Wong as Kublai Khan. It was produced by The Weinstein Company. On January 7, 2015, Marco Polo was renewed by Netflix for a 10-episode second season, which premiered on July 1, 2016.
In the Footsteps of Marco Polo is a 2008 PBS documentary film detailing Denis Belliveau and Francis O'Donnell's 1993 retracing of Marco Polo's journey from Venice to Anatolia, Persia, India and China. The movie documents the first quest "to visit and document every region Marco Polo claimed to have traveled" using only land and sea methods of transportation. Mike Hale of The New York Times writes that the documentary includes how Belliveau and O'Donnell "encountered Mongol horsemen and hostile Chinese security officers and survived a firefight between Afghan factions. In the spirit of Polo's journey -- and to prove a point regarding the authenticity of his account -- they disdained airplanes, traveling by foot, on horses and camels and by jeep, boat and train." A text by the same name as the video, In the Footsteps of Marco Polo, written by Belliveau and O'Donnell, and published by Rowman & Littlefield, serves as a companion to the documentary film. In the Footsteps of Marco Polo has been used by Belliveau to create a unique interdisciplinary educational curriculum that he presents at schools and libraries across the United States and internationally.
Nayan was a prince of the Borjigin royal family of the Mongol Empire. He raised a noteworthy and serious rebellion against Kublai Khan, the Mongolian Khagan. He was a Nestorian Christian. Much of what is known of Nayan was recorded by the Venetian traveller Marco Polo.
Marco is a 1973 American-Japanese historical musical adventure film directed by Seymour Robbie and starring Desi Arnaz Jr., Jack Weston and Zero Mostel, which depicts the 13th century journey of Italian merchant and explorer Marco Polo along the Silk Road and his meeting with Kublai Khan.
