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Background to Marco Polo's Indian Ocean Voyage Accounts (1270s)

Type Event Region South Asia Time 1271–1279

Marco Polo set out east from Venice in 1271 with his father and uncle via the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean routes to the Yuan dynasty, and his journ…

Timeline

  1. 1271–1273Persian Gulf port · Persian GulfThe Polo family traveled from Venice via Acre and Lesser Armenia to Persia, proceeding along Persian Gulf trade routes; this leg of the journey connected the Mediterranean with the Indian Ocean trading system, laying the navigational foundation for the continued eastward travel.
  2. 1274–1275Indian Ocean and Southeast Asian waters · South AsiaThe Polo party crossed the Indian Ocean toward Southeast Asia, encountering monsoon trade networks along the way; the detailed accounts of trade in Malabar, Gujarat, and Ceylon in later parts of the Travels reflect Marco Polo's indirect or direct observation of the Indian Ocean coastal world.
  3. 1276–1279Malabar Coast · KeralaDuring his residence in the Yuan dynasty, Marco Polo continued to accumulate knowledge of the Indian Ocean world; the Travels' accounts of pepper, gems, elephants, and port cities provided a European documentary background to the prosperity of South Asian maritime trade in the 1270s, influencing later perceptions of the East.

Sources