Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus: Influence

Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus: Influence

Introduction/Overview

Marco Polo, born in one of the royal households of Venice in 1254 and Christopher Columbus, born in 1451, serve as famous names, which remain synonymous with discovery, as well as exploration. The duos were not only separated by centuries but also invested in exploring vastly different places or parts of the world. However, available evidence, including scholarly articles and books, shows that Polo had a far-reaching positive impact on Columbus’ later voyages (Charles River Editors 44; Olshon 14; Childress, 32; Orlic 21). In his Marco Polo Travels, Polo takes a comprehensive approach to formulate his perceptual encounter with the Eastern universe. This essay seeks to discuss Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus historical influences in various elements.

According to Polo, the newly discovered universe resembles the west because of its highly developed advancements. Polo’s travelogue provided Columbus with critical and inside information about the Eastern world. In essence, the book served as the most valuable, as well as a reliable resource for Columbus as it went a long way in prompting his ocean trip. In particular, the various geographical descriptions witnessed in Polo’s authorship played a leading role in generating the much-needed scientific computations by Columbus. Moreover, Orlic argues that Polo used expressed word pictures or visuals to describe Cathay and Cipangu and associated luxuries, creating a strong desire in Columbus to become one of the world’s first explorers in 1492 (25).

Polo’s Discovery and Europe

Polo’s travelogue comprised a long written history, which played a central role in enlightening the broader Europe with facts and ideas about the East. Europeans lacked cognition of the newly discovered universe because history books have acknowledged and appreciated the fact that even Alexander the Great had little to no information regarding his territories’ adjacent civilization (Orlic 26). Despite the presence of the historic Silk Road, which connected regions when it comes to trade and associated economic, political, and sociocultural activities, the west did not have a real idea about the existence of another advanced universe. During this time, Muslim states did not only surrounded European countries but also formed a curtain, separating the two worlds.

Having served the Great Kublai Khan, Polo returned to Europe with a wide range of fascinating and appealing narratives, including stories and depictions of the Mongol imperium. During his stay in present-day China, Polo had the rare opportunity of seeing a variety of different topographic points in the country and other parts of Asia (Childress 36). Moreover, he succeeded in gaining a great deal of experience with Asia’s cultural practices, values, and other aspects of civilization. Consequently, Polo takes a comprehensive approach to illustrate the geographic, faiths, clime, as well as people in deepness they deserve. For instance, he became the first European to advert the Mongolian dried milk’s unique formula (Orlic 24). Although massive alterations were made in Polo’s travelogue, his perceptual encounter with the Eastern geographic went a long way in influencing Columbus’ readings and readings.

Polos settled back in the various influential position in the Venetian trade community. Soon after his massive return, Marco served as the gentleman commanders of warships in trade’s war with Genoa and in 1296, was takes prison at battles in the Curzola. While in jail in Genoa he did meet another inmate from Pisa with the named Rustichello. He did tell his history of travel and the whole journey to the fellow inmate. When he was set freed Polo returned to Venice where he married and had three daughters.  The verbal memory of his travel was printed in 1298 as “Divestment Dou monde” meaning description of the world; they did gain him immediate notoriety all over the world.  However, most of the Polo’s publication reader did first consider the story narrative. However, the truth was later discoveries after his death that the information that was contained in the story was very accurate (Crawford, 37).

“The Travel of Marco Polo” as Marco Polo’s story is generally recognized and has been established to be of more significant meaningful impact on the following examination. Upon their exploration, the account which he told seemed quite fantastic to Europeans who had never been at any time been exposed to the details of central Asia. In his story, Polo did discuss animals and other forms unique customs that are fictional, and it is quite evident that he relates many other things that he did not even witness during the journey. Despite all this, most of the things which he described throughout his journey for publication were true. As time passed, most of what he did report became acknowledged as such. His publication did provide a new view of the world and even opened up new possibilities for trades and further exploration, especially in Asia (Orlic 24).

Christopher’s influence

The explorer Christopher Columbus made several trips across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain. His initial determination was to find the direct water route to Asia, but this did not happen. Christopher and his crew began to explore the western hemisphere together with his team. Christopher together and his team are remembered for being the first Europeans to discover the new world. The discovery brought a lot of rapid colonization by the western Europeans powers, trade commodities and new contacts between the two cultures(Orlic 28).

His discoveries undoubtedly changed the history by opening the lands for the Europeans imperial powers to colonize and therefore conquer. This signalled the end of western hemisphere civilizations that were later pushed to extinction, but the production of new products. For several months he sailed from island to island in search for precious stones like gold and silver and other objects.

The impact of his voyage to the Americas was very massive, and it showed that it was possible to sail the west from Europe across the Indian Ocean. This later led to many and more voyages of discovery and conquest by the Spanish as well as many other European nations. His primary determination was to look for the routes to the Spice Islands, his purpose was changed, and his main focus was to conquer. His voyages led to the enrichment of Spain, particularly with the funds coming as a result of his journey used to turn Spain into most prosperous power. In 1502, he was now cleared of the most serious charges but stripped of his noble titles, and the ageing explorer persuaded the Spanish to give one last trip across the Atlantic.  For the people he encountered in the Americas, the impact was, however, devastating (Crawford,48).

After landing into the new world, the lives of the Native Americans were substantially altered through the introduction of the Columbus Exchange. His discovery of the modern world also led to the development of the new world that sparked significant colonization of the Americas. From the introduction of weapons, alcohol and other Europeans things brought unpredictable features. The Europeans, therefore, encountered several sophisticated Indian cultures that owe their survival to the Natives.

It is believed that his journey kicked off centuries of exploration and exploitation on the Americas continent. The Columbian Exchange led to the transfer of people, food and animals and even diseases across cultures. He is greatly remembered as a daring and path-breaking explorer who entirely transformed the New World, and his actions also unleashed the changes that would eventually devastate the native populations that he encountered (Crawford, 37).

Influence on Columbus

Some historians have so far argued that Columbus produced a copy of Polo’s travelogue, which he carried and sailed to the Eastern universe with the sole purpose of meeting Khan’s descendants (Crawford 79). Although Columbus was unaware of then collapse or fall of the Mongol Empire, this claim is typical evidence that Polo’s work impacted him positively. According to Charles River Editors, the moment Polo’s impact on the readers of his book started taking one of its topographic points, Paolo Toscanelli, Polo’s trustee and a Florence’s physician, played a leading role in transforming the various Polo’s thoughts and viewpoints into the much-needed scientific inspirations, which influenced Columbus’ motives (45).

Having helped Polo by estimating the distance between Cipangu and Lisbon and Lisbon and Quinsay to be 300 and 500 miles, respectively, Toscanelli harmonized his computations, which, in turn, served as a source of knowledge to Columbus. With his firsthand experience with Polo, Toscanelli challenged workforces, including the ambitious Columbus to prepare for a change-driven expedition for hunting for one of the countries in the East, Japan. According to Toscanelli’s view and the already acquired knowledge, he described Japan as rich in minerals, especially gold (Olshon 67). Concisely, Toscanelli, Polo’s aide played a fundamental role in stimulating Columbus’ involvement in exploration, as well as the desire to discover more.

In response to the contributions of Toscanelli, Columbus proceeded to write to him as a way of gathering more comprehensive or additional information about Polo’s experiences and discoveries. According to Orlic, Toscanelli’s reply to Columbus included Polo’s computational chart, as well as aspirations (27). Available evidence shows that Columbus carried the map in question with him during the ocean trip. Using the clip, Columbus received the determination and willingness to not only arrange his ideas but also translate them into action. Because of his exploration of most areas of the East, these areas started having the Western culture.  He was also able to bring Eastern culture to the West (Crawford, 37).  However, he was not able to bring much of the Western culture to the East, and he brought the desire for the Europeans to start engaging in the Eastern interactions. Several forces led to this movement. Some of the troops were because of the curiosity to explore the East, the foreseen potential for the trade of technologies between these two cultures. However, the main force that led to this movement to his exploration movement was because of Marco Polo and “The Travels of Marco Polo”. By bringing the many stories from the East, he promoted curiosity of many future adventurers, including Christopher Columbus (Olson 49).

Columbus ended up making transparent and result-oriented computations. However, Crawford corroborates that most of these computations were characterized by the commission, technical, as well as omission errors (101). For instance, he used an incorrect version of the famous Italian maritime stat because he misconceived the grade in his computations. As a result, the category blended with other factors to make some of Columbus’ decisions to be wrong. Contrary to his previous conclusions based on the computations, Columbus realized that Japan was located on one of the acmes, which runs across or through Western Ontario, Western Cuba, Grand Rapids, as well as Chattanooga (Olson 116). Therefore, it is evident Columbus overlooked his underestimation of the universe’s size by up to 25 per centum.

Although Polo’s travelogue presented Columbus with rich information and data about the Eastern world, he failed to understand that voyages require the explorer to know and expect many more things on the way. In particular, Columbus’ computations failed a great deal to capture the American content, meaning the errors had a far-reaching effect on his ocean trip (Charles Reader Editors 74). Columbus ought to have known the possibility of another universe either on the West, South, or North. In his book, Polo acknowledged and appreciated the fact that whatever he presented in the travelogue was just half of what he saw and experienced at a personal level. However, with greater scrutiny of the actual report contained in the description which he did, the element of the truth in terms of exploration was established. Columbus did learn a lot from the travelogue, which opened the way for his further and even more, advanced investigation as the report from Polo served as a basis of his future exploration (Olson 112).

The 15th-century Europe, according to Charles Reader Editors, was an era or age characterized by a great deal of search, find, and expedition (92). During this time, the desire to explore and gain a deeper understanding of the East increased among individuals every day. In particular, commercial activities with Indies, commonly known people of this period as the Eastern Asia, not only thrived or flourished but also motivated Columbus to emphasize on making more or further discoveries. Referring to Polo travel’s unique history and associated facts, Columbus established that Spain and Portugal, countries in which he spends a considerable amount of time, purchased a wide range of spices and other goods from the East: silk, aromas, as well as gold (Childress 68). Columbus learned that the identified goods were transported via rail from Asian countries, including West Indies to Constantinople, leading to their redistribution throughout the various European nations. Equally important, Columbus discovered that the monetary value of these products was low due to the lengthy, as well as complicated procedures involved when it comes to handling and transporting the goods.

Following his adventure, Columbus sought to establish new and the shortest possible paths, which could a long way in speeding the whole process of importing the identified valuables from one region to another. Besides his quest to identify a shorter transportation path, Columbus, in collaboration with other explorers, made tireless efforts to inquire about India and different continents, such as Africa (Charles Reader Editors 71). Despite his repeated attempts to explore Africa and its other aspects, Columbus concluded that the content’s path would be considerably difficult to use when it comes to visiting or travelling to the Indies. With this decision, he intended to model the direction followed by Polo, which presented the voyager with the opportunity to reach China or the East quickly and with a great deal of ease (Childress 89). Having failed to achieve this, Columbus decided to go westwards, with his secret plan becoming a success following the enlargement of individuals or people in his clip.  Ultimately, it is evident from Columbus’ projects and experiences that Polo had a direct influence on how he made his decisions regarding which direction to go, what to observe, and challenges he would expect throughout the adventures.

In Columbus’ effort to make his expedition a reality, he employed a variety of strategies as a way of converting or convincing the affluent Portuguese Princes to provide him with the resources, money, and equipment, necessary for accomplishing the mission. Unfortunately, the country’s commission rejected his request although he had become a merchandiser in Portugal (Childress 112; Crawford 87). Following his rejection, Columbus moved to Spain, where he invested in his six-year persuasion. However, he faced high-level difficulties in his petitions, compelling to refer to Polo’s work, ideas, directions, and suggestions. Relying on the alluring descriptions by Polo about Cipangu, present-day Japan, he narrated how the empire was rich and luxurious, its civilization the most advanced (Charles River Editors 134). He talked of how Cipangu had a vast amount of gold at its disposal, with the Kingdom having the roof of one of its castles roofed with pure, fine gold. With the descriptions adapted from Polo’s Travels, Columbus sounded convincing to his audience, including the King and Queen of Spain.

Using Polo’s book, Columbus proceeded to make statements, which revolved around spiritual, logical thinking. According to Columbus, the Crusades’ failures served as a shame on the opinion held by Christians on Europe, including their many efforts tasked with the responsibility of recovering control of the historic and widely explored Holy Land (Orlic 25). Moreover, Columbus relied on Polo’s descriptions to argue that the Europeans were wrong to still build on the Mongol imperium even after it had become a ruin. By making this statement, Columbus was challenging European leaders to reconsider their views of the East, including the wealthy Khan and his empire in the Eastern universe as described by Polo’s travelogue. For instance, he referred to Polo’s assertion that Khan would assist capable individuals not only to populate but also labour and make the empire more productive (Olson 163). With these persuasive arguments, the King and Queen of Spain accepted his proposal, which, in turn, led to a change-driven geographic expedition by Columbus. Concisely, Polo impacted how Columbus expressed himself, his goals in life, in addition to influencing how he perceived the world

Conclusion

In summation, it is evident that Polo had a direct influence on Columbus, his travelogue serving as a critical footing for the ambitious and future-driven and young explorer. In particular, Columbus learned of the newly discovered Eastern universe from Marco Polo’s Travels, which provided insight into the developed and advanced status of empires or countries in the East. During this time, none of the Europeans, including their kings and questions, knew of the existence of another continent besides Europe. Moreover, the Ocean, as well as Muslim states, created a difficult-to-penetrate barrier between these two worlds.

Having served as one of the workforces under Toscanelli, Polo’s trustee and Florence’s physician, who also transformed the various Polo’s thoughts and viewpoints into the much-needed scientific inspirations, Columbus’ motives were triggered to make more explorations. Without Polo’s work, Columbus would likely lack the capacity and ability to formulate an explicit theory of the sophisticated world. On the same note, he would not be in a position to present convincing arguments to the princes, as well as King and Queen of Spain. Without Polo, Columbus would not have discovered America. Ultimately, Polo’s influence did shape not only Columbus accomplishments but also the Discovery Age.