The Italians were busy during Medieval and Renaissance eras with such things as the arts, science, astronomy, banking, exploration and trade. As far as trade and exploration were concerned, Genoese navigators were the first to explore the isles of the western ocean, the Madeiras, Canaries and the Azores. In the year 1270 Launcelot Malocello, is considered by some to be the first to take such a venture.
Portugal and Spain hired Italians to guide their ships.
1317: Emmanuel Pezango (Genoa) named lord high admiral of Portugal.
1341: Nicoloso de Rocco (Genoa) captains one of the Spanish ships sent to the Canarie Islands.
1254: Marco Polo born.
The Polo brothers of Venice, Maffeo, Nicolo traded between Venice and Constantinople. Marco (young Marco�s uncle) was in Soldaia, a port on the North Coast of the Black Sea (Tartar territory occupied by Italians). The three brothers journeyed further eastward to the capital of the Khan of the Kipchak Tartars. Remained at court for at least a year. Taken to the court (and capital) of Kublai Khan at Cambaluc (Peking). Khan was the ruler of all China, the third of the Mongolian invaders to rule after Genghis Khan.
Kublai Khan took an interest in the West. Asked the Polo brothers to return home and request missionaries of the Pope and oil from the lamp at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The pope had died and with the papacy vacant for three years, it was difficult for the Polos to acquire all that Khan had asked for.
1271: Nicolo Polo�s son, Marco, was 17 years old. Taken to China on the return trip.
At this time Kublai Khan is 60 years old. Of his palace in Shangtu, Marco wrote: that it was eight miles square of closed grounds with a great hall with marble terrace. There were 12,000 soldiers, 10,000 white horses and 5,000 elephants with harness of silver and precious stones. The buildings around the palace were ornamented with colored tile, paintings, carpets and sculpture.
Polo remained in China for 17 years.
1275: He was governor of Yangchow for 3 years. This was a manufacturing and trading town with over one million inhabitants.
Hangchow (or Quinsai), the �Celestial City� is the ancient capital of southern China. This was where the rich businessmen retired to wallow in their wealth. Seaports far south produced sugar, ginger, camphor, silk, cotton, salt, saffron and porcelain, spices, sandalwood and jewels. The trade items also included flax, hemp, spices, drugs, precious stones, pearls, gold tissues, silver tissues and elephant�s teeth.
Polo wrote of Zipangu (Japan) and the (over 7,000) islands such as the Philippines. Had knowledge of the land as far north as Siberia. Also recorded information on India and the north and eastern coast of Africa. Returned to Venice in 1295.
The Book of Ser Marco Polo was written.
1296 Marco was a commander of one of the galleys at the battle of Curzola. The Venetian fleet was destroyed by the Genoese, and Marco and 7,000 other Venetians were captured and put in prison for three years. Recounted his tales while in prison, written down by a fellow prisoner. Marco Polo died in 1324
Another �travel guide� to Asia was: the Merchant�s Handbook by Francesco Balducci Pegolotti (Florence). �Secrets of the Faithful Crusaders� by Marino Sanuto (Venice) also included a vast knowledge of the east. Both books were written early in the 14th century.
Khan you dig it?
1155: Genghis Khan born.
1203: Defeats his rival, Ongkhan in battle.
1206 Named the chief prince of the Mongols.
1211: Invades China.
1214: Captured Peking.
1218: Conquered Persia.
1223: Mongols invade Russia.
1227: Genghis Khan dies. His empire is divided among his three sons.
1237: Mongols conquer Russia and have control of Moscow.
1241: Battle of Liegnitz, Silesia (now southwest Poland). Mongols defeat Germans and invade Poland and Hungary. Their ruler, Ughetai dies and the Mongols depart from Europe.
1242: Genghis Khan�s grandson, Batu establishes his warriors known as the �Golden Horde� at Sarai, on the Lower Volga.
1251: Kublai Khan becomes the governor of China.
1258: Mongols seize Baghdad and overthrow caliphate.
1259: Khan becomes the ruler of the Mongols.
1274: Kublai Khan�s failed attempt to conquer Japan and Java.
1280: Mongols control a portion of Bulgaria. Khan founds the Yuan dynasty in China. It lasts until 1368.
1287: Mongols invade Burma.
1294: Khan dies.
1368: Khan�s Yuan dynasty overthrown. Heavy taxation during the Mongol rule resulted in a lack of food and money and brought on a wave of Chinese nationalism. A peasant farmer named Zhu Yuanzhang lead the rebellion that drove the Mongols out of China and back onto the steppe. He became China�s new emperor, beginning the Ming dynasty and the restoration of the �Great Wall� begins. By 1370 the Mongols and all other foreigners were expelled from China. The Ming dynasty lasted until 1644.
Information on the Great Wall of China:
215 BC: Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China, ordered the building of a great wall, due to the threat from invading nomads. It was constructed over a 10-year period and required more than multiple thousands of soldiers, peasants and prisoners as a work force. This was not the Great Wall as it is know today, but a much smaller construction. Since greed and incivility remained strong throughout the centuries, upkeep was necessary and other walls had to be built.
1449: The Mongols, who knew a good thing when they saw it, invaded China again. They kidnapped Emperor Zhu Qizhen and the Chinese had to fortify the wall. Another large work force constructed it over 200 years, connecting all the various walls and giving us the wall, as we know it, with forts and watchtowers. Its eastern end reaches into the sea and is 1,400 miles long.
