Post date: Dec 1, 2016 3:15:36 PM
Before I started The Travels of Marco Polo the only thing I really knew about him came from the show named after him on Netflix and that he mistook a rhino for a unicorn apparently.
Reading his travels though was an experience. The way the various places and people are shown to us creates an image of a magical, foreign and often times ethereal world. I was fascinated by how different cultures at the time were living, as well as how Marco Polo portrayed them in his writing.
On the one hand, the Travels of Marco Polo are very clinical, telling where things are in relation to others, describing what to expect when a traveler enters a city, and brief descriptions of the political, economical, and social layout. In most ways though, the writings fall prey to the cultural biases of both Marco and I'm assuming Rustichello, the co-author. Most foreign places, especially the non-Christian ones, are described in a way that makes them seem lesser. They rely on magic, worship idols, and have odd practices. The Tartars are portrayed as amazing conquerors but with otherworldly and somewhat (at least to my taste) barbaric practices, like that of drinking the blood of their horses while on long journeys. Whether or not that happened, or if it can even sustain a person, is irrelevant. What these descriptions do is create an Other out of different cultures and religions. This in one way captures the sense of foreignness felt by those who travel out of Christian Europe into the Middle East and Asia, like Marco is supposed to have done. It also solidifies the superiority and civilized nature of Christian Europe.
The book is a rare capture of the complexity of meeting new cultures, and having prejudices against those not like you. In this sense, Marco Polo's journeys capture that awe felt when confronted with new ideas as well as the bias that we all have that tells us our way is the best way.
Obviously Marco Polo takes it to a more extreme prejudice than what is commonly seen today, especially when travelling through the Muslim nations. But it's easy to understand why he would be biased against other religions that aren't Christianity, especially when they are Islam. The Crusades and their cultural impact would influence how Europe, and therefore Marco Polo would view Muslims, namely as the enemy and as heathens. He is also influenced by the very real idea that those who aren't Christian are condemned to hell.
Reading The Travels of Marco Polo helps see the contemporary complexities of traveling the world. On the one hand, the world is huge and full of amazing, new things. On the other, it's full of people and ideas that can sway a person away from their own beliefs, beliefs that are seen as right.