marco polo the boy who traveled the medieval world
in a life of ceaseless exploration marco polo pushed out the borders of his narrow medieval world . br born in venice in 1254 the young marco polo first met his father at age 15 when the elder polo returned from a trading expedition to the east . the fathers tales of the court of the kublai khan in china ignited a lifelong passion for adventure in the son . br the polos set out for china in 1271 traveling through the middle east across the gobi desert to khanbaliq in china . the journey took four years . kublai khan took a great liking to marco polo employing him as a spy throughout his vast empire . marco traveled and observed the cultures of sumatra sri lanka and india in this capacity . his notes later became one of the worlds great travel books the description of the world . br national geographic supports k 12 educators with ela common core resources . br visit www.natgeoed.org commoncore for more information .