History Presentation

Hi! You know- I'm ANGELLA. I'll write a speech that I presentated at history class-

Hello everyone, My name is Angella, and I'll explain you how Marco Polo's book was published and the influence of the book. I'll talk about who is Marco Polo firstly, then, I'll let you know his book's informations. Thirdly, I'll introduce how his book became published. And, I'm going to explain the book's steps. Lastly, I'll talk about the influence of his book.

 Do you know who is Marco Polo? He was a Christian merchant from the Venetian Republic who wrote 2 Millione, which introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China. However, he lived in an interesting period in world history. Europe was awakening from the Dark Ages in a time of religious crusades that means that it was admitted a series of religiously military compaigns, and was quickly increasing trade areas. In contrast, Chinese civilization had very deep roots, but at the time was  under Mongol rule. The empire of Kubulai Kahn was one of the largest kingdoms to ever exist. Marco Polo was one of the very few people to know this period in traditional China through the eyes of a European. His book, a rare perspective on Asian cultures, is an important work on his period in China's history. He learned about trading while his father and uncle, Nicolo and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and met Kublai Khan. The three of them started on an enormous journeyto Asia, returning after 24years to find Venice at war with Genoa; Marco was jailed, and said his stories to a cellmate. He was released in 1299, became a wealthy merchant married and had 3children. He died in 1324, and was buried in San Lorenzo.

 The next one is about informations about Marco Polo's book, his fame today derives by a writer from Pisa named Rustichello. The book is not so much a diary of his travels as it is a book of observations about his journey, a gazetteer, that means a book or a part of a book which lists and describes places, of all that he saw. In Marco's day, the book was translated and copied by hand into several languages. Christopher Columbus often beencalled The Book Of  Travels. The Travels Of  Marco Polo. The Book Of  Ser Marco Polo, A Description Of  The World, and even, 2 Milione. This last was a nick- name given to Marco by critics of his million soties.

 Now, let's know about how his book came about. The book was written in old French by Da Pisa, a romance author of the time, who was reportedly working from accounts which he had heard from Marco Polo when they were jailed on Genoa having been captured while on a ship. A 1937 book titled "The History Of  The United States", by William B Guitteau, offers the following claim, "Returning home at last, Marco Polo later became a political prisoner in Genoa: and to while away the time wrote the story of his travels. This book was first printed in 1477: it was read critically by Christopher Columbus and a copy with unimportant notes by the great navigator may still be seen in the Columbia Library at Seville."

 There are some further exploration that is handwritten notes by Christopher Columbus on a Latin edition of Polo's book. See also : Age of  Discovery, Europeans in Medival China, and Rafael Perestello. Other lessor - known European explorers had already travelled to China, such as Giovanni Da Pian Del Carpine, but Polo's book meant that their journey was the first to be widely known. Christopher Columbus was inspired enough by Polo's description of the Far East to visit those lands for himself: a copy of the book was among his belongings, with handwritten annotations. Bento De Gois, inspired by Polo's writings of a Christian kingdom in the east, travelled 4,000 miles in three years across Central Asia. He never found the kingdom, but ended his travels at the Great wall of China in 1605, proving the Cathy was what Matteo Ricci called "China".

 In addition, the travels is devided into 4books. Book one describes the lands of the Middle East and Central Asia that Marco encounted on his way to China. Book two describes China and the court of Kublai Khan. Book three describes some of the coastal region of the East; Japan. India. Sri Lanka. Southeast Asia. and the east coast of Africa. Finally, book four describes some of the recent wars among the Mongols and some of the regions of the far north, like Russia.

 Lastly, I'll explain you about the influence of the book, which is the last part of my presentation. After Marco Polo published his book, 2 millione it became enormously influential and served in Europe as one of the primary sources of information about the Orient for many centuries. Christopher Columbus, for instance, took the book with him on his important voyage to the Americas. It also inspired a number of legends, brought the secrets of spaghetti, and ice cream with him back from China.

 So, I talked you about who is Marco Polo, how did his book come out, the other names of it, 2 Millione, steps of it ,and the infleunce of the book. Plus, my topic was "How did Marco Polo's book come out? And what was the influence of book?" Thank you for listening my presentation.

Marco Polo

Marco Polo's book