The Kid Who Left Venice

Marco Polo was 17 years old when he left Venice in 1271 with his father and uncle. Their destination: the court of Kublai Khan, the Mongol emperor who ruled the largest land empire in history. The journey took three and a half years across deserts, mountains, and plague-ridden towns.

Marco then spent about 17 years inside the Mongol Empire before the three Polos returned to Venice in 1295. After more than two decades away, the relatives who had stayed behind barely recognized the ragged travelers on their doorstep. The Travels of Marco Polo was dictated years later to a cellmate, Rustichello of Pisa, while Polo sat in a Genoese prison. The book became medieval Europe's bestselling window into Asia.