“Entirely unknown civilization, their resources, advance technology and wealth, amazed the readership of backward Western Christendom.
This is the book that first reveal East to West, and in reality is a travel guide tailored to the needs of merchants with details of directions, distances, the kind of terrains to expect, how much food to pack.
Marco Polo travels reveal a new world of commercial links that reach as far as Persia, Central Asia, India and China.
More merchants follow in the Polo’s footsteps and the riches began to flow.
The ideas and products that Marco Polo and other travelers has seen during their travel trickles down the Silk Road, and in Europe they ignited.
They formed in part, a movement which we called the Renaissance.
An explosion of new thinking, new art, new inventions.
A quintessential renaissance city, Venice is a place I understand better now.
Position at the far west of the 5,000 miles Silk Road to which Europe owes so much.
From musical instruments, to mathematics, to the dozens of technical innovations like paper and printing.