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Marco Polo was born in Venice in the year 1254.

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We do know that Marco Polo spent at least part of his childhood in Venice. He recieved a good education. Polo read many classical authors and was also schooled in the Christian teology of the Latin Church. Growing up in a merchantile family, he was taught subjects such as appraising, foreign currency trade, and the handling of cargo ships.

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Marco Polo’s mother died when he was just a child, after which he was taken care of by his aunt and uncle.

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In 1271, the Polo brothers embarked on a new journey, and this time the took Marco with them. They had finally been able to deliver the letter from Kublai Khan to the pope

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With them on their new journey east, the Polo family brought letters and gifts from the pope that they were to give to Kublai Khan, and they were also accompanied by two friars.

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The Polo family pushed on without them, traveling through Armenia, Persia, and Afghanistan, and following a route that went over the Pamir Mountains of Central Asia to get to China.

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The Polo family pushed on without them, traveling through Armenia, Persia, and Afghanistan, and following a route that went over the Pamir Mountains of Central Asia to get to China.

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Eventually, a Mongol ambassador arrived to Bukhara, asking the brothers to go to the Hulagu Khan who was interested in meeting the exotic foreigners. Consequently, the brothers started travelling even further to the east, via Samarkand and then through the dangerous Gobi desert. Passing through Turfan, Hami and Dunhuang, they finally got to the Hexi Corridor, and arrived to Beijing in 1266.

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Kublai Khan, fifth Khagan of the Mongol Empire and the would-be founder of China’s Yuan dynasty, was happy to see the foreigners and greeted them with great hospitality.

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He wanted to know a lot about Europe, and especially about the Pope and the Roman church. Niccolo and Matteo could communicate with him since they had learn Turkic dialects.