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Blue = Contextualization

Orange = Sourcing

Purple = Stopping Point

Green = Cause and Effect

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Marco Polo was a Christian trader from Europe. Specifically Venice, Italy. He was born around 1254 CE. Marco Polo traveled to many regions throughout his life, most of them being on the path of the Silk Road. His cell-mate wrote his book turned friend, Rustichello de Pisa, to whom he told his story, and was later published.  During his travels, many new technologies were invented that helped him along his journey as well as the Crusades, which were wars between Christians and Muslims over holy sights. These Crusades brought trade connections and caused Europeans to travel more.

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Venice, Metropolitan City of Venice, Italy

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Throughout Marco Polo’s travels, he goes to many places with different religions than his own (Roman Catholic.) At this point in time, religious wars between Muslims and Catholics were occuring, known as the crusades. This meant that there was a large amount of disdain between the two groups. This is prevalent in Marco Polo’s source, because while it is a primary source it may not be reliable in parts where he refers to people who practice Islam. For example, when he was in Mosul he noted that people who were Saracens (followers of Islam) were a “warlike and ferocious people who frequently attack and rob merchants.” In this quote and others, Marco Polo’s point of view may have been affected by his biases due to the crusades. However, it is important to note that this source is still overall reliable, it is just important to not take some parts verbatim, especially when taking Polo’s point of view into account because of what was happening at this point in history.

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Via della Libertà, 30121 Venezia VE, Italy

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One cause of the silk road was the presence of large empires with rich citizens and kings who wanted luxury goods not readily available to them. This created demand which caused merchants to travel in order to fulfill this wish. Another cause of the Silk Road was the crusades, which were a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims. These wars greatly interconnected the Middle East, Europe and Southern/Eastern Asia to one another. One more cause of the silk road was the invention of paper currency, which allowed merchants to travel long distances without having to carry heavy, metal currency. A final cause of the Silk Road was the Mongols. The Mongols revitalized the silk road, and essentially brought it peace, which made it possible to trade in the first place

One short term effect along the Silk Road was the formation of diasporic communities, which were places for merchants to rest. These were important because they were crucial to the spread of religions in the long term through contagious diffusion, and this led to long term implications.Additionally, the Silk Road assisted in distributing wealth throughout this part of the world, which made the larger empires even larger.

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Turkey was a region that encompassed 3 different races, Turkomans, Armenians, and Greeks. The Turkomans practice Islam, and have many fine horses and mules. The Armenians and Greeks trade and craft, and one major trade commodity here is silks. The best known cities in Turkey at this time were Konya, Kaisarieh, and Sivas. The people here are under the rule of Tartar, the Mongol of the Levant, who sends noblemen to govern them.

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Mosul is a large kingdom, which is inhabited by many different races of men. There are Arabs who follow Islamic practices, and Eastern Orthodox Christians, meaning that they do not adhere to the traditional Roman Catholic teachings. One of the major trade goods in this area is muslin, which is woven from silk and gold thread. Likewise, there are rich merchants who trade very large quantities of rare spices. Furthermore, there are Kurds, who are Christian Nestorians, Jacohites, or Saracens.

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Baghdad is a humongous city where the Caliph of all Saracens lives. It is built on a large riven that leads into the Indian sea, which facilitates trade over the Indian Ocean trade route. A great number of materials are created in Baghdad including cloth of gold, silk, damask, brocade, and cramoisy. Additionally, a large number of pearls are imported from India and are pierced in Baghdad. The city is a center for the study of Islam, as well as the studies of necromancy, physics, geomancy, and physiognomy. Additionally, the Caliph of Baghdad owned the greatest collection of gold, silver, and precious objects to ever belong to one man at this time. Baghdad was the most important city in this part of the world at that time.

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Tabriz was a large city built in Iraq. They had every type of fruit that accompanied beautiful, vast gardens. The people there lived by trade and craft, as many did at this time and made lots of cloth of gold and valuable silk. Lots of merchandise was brought there from India, Baghdad, Mosul, and Hormuz, as well as many other places with large numbers of Latin traders coming to purchase merchandise. Many important deals occur here. The races here consist of Armenians, Nestorians, Jacobites, Georgians, and Persians. Many of the people here also practice Islam. Marco Polo also alludes to there being high numbers of crime. However, this may not be reliable due to his prejudices against Muslim people.

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To reach Hormuz you must journey 5 days to the south and decend 20 miles through dangerous paths that are overrun with brigands. At the bottom of the decent there is another plain called the plain of Hormuz containing fresh streams, date palms, and other fruits, parrots, and many other birds unbeknownst to us. The natives of Hormuz are dark-skinned and worship Mohammed, they don't eat the same food as us as it would make them ill, eating dates and salted fish. They have this diet hence the fact it suits their climate. Speaking of climate the summers heat and dust storms cause living on land all the time to be impossible.

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In Afghanistan there is a province called Badakhshan where the people worship Mohammed. It is ruled by a heredittary dynasty derived from Alexander the Great. Beautiful and very valuable rubies are mined here deep in the mountains and only the king has the right to mine them and anyone caught stealing them is put to death immediately. Further there are more mountains containing large deposits of silver, copper, and lead. The king will also trade the rubies for gold and silver. There is also wildlife such as Saker and Lanner falcons and there is some of the best wheat here and they cannot get olive oil so they use sesame oil and nut oil. Some of the finest horses were bred here some decended from Alexander the Great's horse with a small horn on their heads.

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Kashgar:
Kashgar is a kingdom in China ruled by The Great Khan. Before his rule, it was an independent kingdom. The citizens of Kashgar follow Islam. The livelihood of the people is kept by trade and crafts. Large quantities of Cotton, flax, and hemp are grown here, and many merchants from around the world take their goods to trade in this city. When traveling it takes 5 days to cross this region, There are also some Nestorians that reside here. They have their own church and religious laws and The language spoken here is particular to the country.

Samarkand:
Samarkand is a vast and noble city where the majority of the population are Christians and Saracens. This region is ruled by the Great Khan's nephew who often rebels against him. There are many languages and religions practiced in this city, and there are diasporas from all over the world. Diasporas are small trading communities/neighborhoods within the region. There are small communities of Jewish, Muslim, and Christians in the area. Merchants travel back and forth from here and across the world to trade.

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To go to Sukkur, it is a 10-day journey through the inhabited countryside until you reach the province of Su-chau. Su-chau is the biggest town, with many castles and cities. The citizens of this region are Christians and idolaters. They all follow the rule of the great Khan. Rhubarb grows in the mountainsides which is a key trade good to this region, and merchants take it all over the world to trade. The people are known to live off of the land and don't concern themselves with trade.

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Malabar Coast, Vallarpadam, Kochi, Ernakulam, Kerala

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Leanna: The Kingdom of The Malabar Coast, Kerala

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Leanna: The Kingdom of The Malabar Coast, Kerala

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The malabar coast was a huge western kingdom, with a king and its own native language. There are lots of pirates on the Malabar coast who rob merchants' ships. The main goods were pepper,ginger, many other types of spices, coconuts , cinnamon, buckram cloth and more. Ships came from everywhere , particularly the region of Manzi, for trade. Goods from the malabar coast were exported all around the world.

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Guiding Point (on the way to madagascar)

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Guiding Point (on the way to madagascar)

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In 1187 The Mongols elected a man by the name of Genghis Khan a wise man and valiant soldier. After his election Tartars from everywhere came to acknowledge him as their ruler. Genghis seeing this equipped them with bows and other arms and sent them out to conquer other kingdoms ammasing a large kingdom in the process, though he did not attack the inhabitants or take their land he simply sent his men. And when other counquered kingdoms saw he meant no harm, they followed him and joined his army. Mongols weapons consisted of bows arrows swords and cudgels most commonly using just bows and arrows. They wore armor of buffalo skin and other tough hides. They are excellent fighters and some of the most resilient warriors in the world they can spend an entire month with nothing to sustain them but mares milk and whatever they can catch, they value their lives so little they will expose themselves to any danger. They have groups of 10 and each 10 people have a commander going up until they reach the king. The troops have the strategic knowledge to send 200 men to all sides with 18 horses per man. They can live drinking a paste that when mixed with water turns to milk. Each man carries 60 arrows, 30 to wound the enemy.

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At the end of this journey you will find the salt mountains, these contain some of the finest salt in the world which people traverse months of travel for 30 days to reach. This salt was so hard it had to be hacked at with iron picks but there was so much the world could be supplied forever. From here there is a three day ride through a well populated and beautiful countryside containing fruit, cereal, and vines. The people are evil bloodthirsty and worship Mohammed. They drink and eat a lot and boil their wine to get around religous customs. They wear a cord on their heads and they are clothed by cured skins.

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Gujarat was a large kingdom, that was ruled by a king and had its own native language. Although it was very large and successful, it was infested with the worst pirates in the world. Thiese pirates would harras and steal from merchants, make them do horrible things, and steal all their goods. The main goods of gujarat were vast amounts of pepper, ginger, indigo, cotton. Leather was a very popular good of gujarat since there were lots of leather produced. There were buffalo hides, deerskins, and much more. There was so much  leather ships were laden with it, and it was taken to many places all over the world.