Ángela+Torres+(2º+F)

toc

__Co____nduct Code:__

 * 1) I won't upload photos of my friends or of myself on the Internet, because people can see them and do things with them.
 * 2) I won't write my personal it data on Internet because people can guess where I live and things like that.
 * 3) I won't add unknow people to my friends list and I won't talk to them, because they can be another person different from the one they say they are.
 * 4) I won't talk about where am I going to go or to meet anyone because peole can follow me.
 * 5) I won't have a lot of friends on the Internet, because I couldn't know all of them very well.
 * 6) If I notice something strange on the Internet I will talk to my parents or to the police for my own safety.
 * 7) If someone send my a personal photo, I won't send it to anyone because it could be spread illegaly.
 * 8) I won't meet with people I won't know very well, because it could be dangerous.
 * 9) If someone ask me for a personal photo, I won't send it to him because it will be probably to misused it.
 * 10) I won't have a lot of networks just to have a good control of them.

I, Ángela Torres García, promise to follow these rules whenever I use the Internet so that I can mkae the Internet a better place for everyone.

=__Old newspaper:__=

=__Marco Polo__=

September 15, 1254 – January 8–9, 1324



Marco Polo was born in 1254, in Venice, Italy. He traveled extensively with his family, journeying from Europe to Asia from 1271 to 1295. He remained in China for 17 of those years. Around 1292, he left China, acting as consort along the way to a Mongol princess who was being sent to Persia. His book Il Milione describes his travels and experiences and influenced later adventurers and merchants. He learned the mercantile trade from his father and uncle, [|Niccolò and Maffeo], who travelled through Asia, and met [|Kublai Khan]. In 1269, they returned to Venice to meet Marco for the first time. The three of them embarked on an epic journey to Asia, returning after 24 years to find Venice [|at war with] [|Genoa]; Marco was imprisoned and dictated his stories to a cellmate. He was released in 1299, became a wealthy [|merchant], married, and had three children. He died in 1324 and was buried in the church of [|San Lorenzo in Venice].

He was the first to leave a detailed chronicle of his experience. media type="custom" key="27308060"

**Journey to China** In 1271, Niccolo and Maffeo Polo set out for Asia again, but this time they brought young Marco with them. The Polos' journey took place on land, and they were forced to cut through challenging and sometimes harsh territory. As they made their way through the Middle East, Marco absorbed its sights and smells. His account of the Orient, especially, provided the western world with its first clear picture of the East's geography and ethnic customs. Crossing the Gobi desert, meanwhile, proved long and, at times, arduous. "This desert is reported to be so long that it would take a year to go from end to end," Marco later wrote. " It consists entirely of mountains and sands and valleys. There is nothing at all to eat." Finally, after four years of travel, the Polos reached China and Kublai Khan.



media type="custom" key="27330272"

**Time in China** The Polos had originally planned to be gone for only a few years. However, they were away from Venice for more than 23 years. Khan's acceptance of the Polos offered the foreigners unparalleled access to his empire. Niccolo and Maffeo were granted important positions in the leader's Court. Marco, too, impressed Khan, who thought highly of the young man's abilities as a merchant. Marco's immersion into the Chinese culture resulted in him mastering four languages.

Khan eventually employed Marco as a special envoy. As a result, he sent Marco into far-flung areas of Asia never before explored by Europeans. Burma, India, Tibet and other areas were among the places that Marco ventured into. He served as governor of a Chinese city, then later, Khan appointed him as an official of the Privy Council. He marveled at the empire's use of paper money, an idea that had failed to reach Europe, and was in awe of its economy and scale of production. His reporting offers little about himself or his own thoughts, but instead gives the reader a dispassionate reporting about a culture he had clearly grown fond of.

**Journey Ho****me**
Finally, after 17 years in Khan's court, the Polos decided it was time to return to Venice. Their decision was not one that pleased Khan, who'd grown to depend on the men. In the end, he acquiesced to their request with one condition: They escort a Mongol princess to Persia, where she was to marry a Persian prince. Traveling by sea, the Polos left with a caravan of several hundred passengers and sailors. The journey proved harrowing, and many perished as a result of storms and disease. By the time the group reached Persia's Port of Hormuz, just 18 people, including the princess and the Polos, were still alive. Later, in Turkey, Genoese officials appropriated three-quarters of the family's wealth. After two years of travel, the Polos reached Venice. They'd been gone for more than two decades, and their return to their native land undoubtedly had its difficulties. Their faces looked unfamiliar to their family and they struggled to speak their native tongue. =__**Prezi Presentation:**__=

media type="prezi" key="uljteh5dnwqn" width="550" height="400"

=**__Interview to Marco Polo__**= Hello everybody. This is Ángela Torres in a special interview with a very famous person. As everybody knows Marco Polo was one of the biggest explorers of the past, and perhaps in the whole history. He went for unbelievable journeys and discovered so many places and established so many relationships with new kingdoms that it is difficult to compare nowadays but with going to Mars and find there some kind of E.T. We had the opportunity of interviewing him and this is what he told us.

//__Ángela__//. Good morning Mr. Polo. The first thing we would like to ask you is whether you can compare your journeys with some similar adventure that we could live nowadays.

//__Marco Polo__//. What I did is impossible to be compared with any journey you can do today. You know, we didn’t have any information at all about the places we were going. Today you have much more information about every single country, town or place than you can deal with. I mean, you can use Internet to be informed. We had nothing.

//__Ángela__//. But you already knew about China, isn’t it?

//__Marco Polo.__// Yes, I knew what my father and uncle told me, very few information in comparison with all what I learnt later in my journey. Also you have to take into account that it was very difficult to follow the same path that they did previously.

//__Ángela__//. Why was so difficult?

//__Marco Polo__//. You can’t imagine the conditions under which we did our journey. No GPS, no google, no apps to guide us, only a very simple map with very few references, our instruments, very little information about the geography, mountains, rivers, tribes, customs, traditions, etc. that we had to cross and deal with, and that’s all. In those conditions we had to have confidence in founding the right path and returning safe.

//__Ángela__//. Were you afraid?

//__Marco Polo__//. No, never. Oh! Well, to be honest, it was frightening being in the middle of nothing with no knowledge about the tribes, animals, dangers, or whatever we were going to find the ahead of us. But I wouldn’t change that feeling of freedom for nothing in the world.

//__Ángela.__// What you are saying is that you enjoyed the journey.

//__Marco Polo.__// Absolutely. In fact almost always, because sometimes we felt lost. When going to China I mean, because in the journey to home we had much more experience and we knew better the territory. Also you take many risks in this kind of adventures. Just imagine the problem if you break your leg or suffer a cold in the Goby desert or your horse die and you have to walk. In fact, in the journey to home we suffered a huge storm when in the Sea of China going to Persia and only a few of us survived.

//__Ángela__//. Before talking about your returning to Italy, could you tell us how long did the journey last?

//__Marco Polo__//. Don’t you know? I thought that was a data known everywhere. I took us four years of travel to reach China and meet Kublai Khan. It has nothing to do with the journeys you can do nowadays. And what an emperor! Kublai Khan was really a leader of a huge country, so many territories under his power!

//__Ángela.__// Could you tell us anything else about your time in China?

//__Marco Polo__//. Anything you say? I could talk non-stopping for days but you should better by my book, titled “The Travels of Marco Polo”, not very original I have to say. But to summarize I can tell you that those were the most amazing years in my live. I saw so many new things that seem unbelievable. For example, the invention of the paper money was later a very successful idea.

//__Ángela.__// And what about your relationships with Kublai Khan?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//__Marco Polo.__// We understood each other very well. May be because my immersion into Chinese culture, for example, I spoke four language. I was very lucky, and I held an important position in the Kahn’s Court. He also had confidence on me and employed me as a special envoy in Burma, India and Tibet, I served as Governor of a Chinese city and I was appointed as Official of Privy Council. Little by little time passed and suddenly I realized I had been there for seventeen years. Plus four years of journey of course. So I decided it was time to return.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//__Ángela__//. As you tell it, it was easy to make the decision, isn’t it?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//__Marco Polo__//. Not so easy in fact, because the Kahn didn’t want us to leave China. We worked very well together and I have already say he had confidence on me, so he tried to convince me not to leave China. But I had to, I wanted to go back home. So we agreed the last service I would provide him, we had to escort a Mongol princess to Persia where she was to marry. The journey proved harrowing, and many perished as a result of storms and disease. By the time we reached Persia's Port of Hormuz, just 18 people, including the princess and me, were still alive.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//__Ángela.__// You were very lucky!

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//__Marco Polo__//. Yes, as always. But later, after two years of travel, we reached Venice. We had been gone for more than two decades, and our return to our native land had its difficulties. Our faces looked unfamiliar to our family and we struggled to speak our native tongue.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//__Ángela__//. The end of the good luck?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//__Marco Polo.__// Not really. I was in prison for a short period because some problem of a war between Venice and Genoa, but I use it to dictate my adventures to another inmate who stayed with me; and later when I was released I published my book, “The Travels of Marco Polo” you know. I married, I had three son, a made a living as a businessman. I could say that I had a good live.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//__Ángela.__// I have realized that you speak as if you would go alone to the journey, not with your father and uncle. Why?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//__Marco Polo.__// Oh! Really? Anyway it’s me who is a celebrity not them, isn’t it?

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Be prepared for this exciting adventure.



__**Article**__ There aren’t many people as him, people that take risks just to know what are at the other side of the mountain, at the other side of the sea or at the other side of the desert. He did, and that is why he became one of the most important explorer in the history. Even, we could say he is one of the most important people in the history, not only one of the explorers, because what he did had impact in the humanity and the history. We refer to Marco Polo.

He was born in 1254, in Venice, Italy, and died in 1324 also in Venice. That makes 80 years, quite old for those times. He learnt the mercantile trade from his father and uncle and we could say that he followed the familiar tradition, as his father and uncle visited China previously, but his adventure was the only in many senses.

The tree of them set out for Asia in 1271, and that was the beginning of an unforgettable journey that lasted until 1295. But let’s go step by step. The first part, the journey to China took four years. They travelled by land and made their way through the Middle East. Such a journey allowed Marco Polo to absorb a lot of information about people, tribes, costumes, countries, etc. So, later he could provide to the West a picture of the East’s geography and ethnic customs. It was a long and arduous travel that had one of the most difficult stages when crossing the Goby desert in Central Asia. “This desert is reported to be so long that it would take a year to go from end to end”, said Marco Polo. Finally, after four years traveling on land through challenging and harsh territory the reached China, their objective. They met there Kublai Khan, who was in those days the emperor of a huge territory almost unknown for Europeans.

The second part of the travel is their time in China. Even though originally they planned to stay “only” a few years, in the end the stayed there for 17 years (what plus the journey to China and the journey back home makes a lot of time). Thanks to his good relationships with Kublai Khan, Marco Polo held important positions in the Khan Court. To this helped Marco Polo’s immersion into Chinese culture, for example, he mastered four language (we must have into account that in such a huge territory many language were spoken, as nowadays). Also Kublai Khan employed Marco Polo as a special envoy in places as Burma, India or Tibet.

In that time he also served as Governor of a Chinese city, and was appointed by the Khan as Official of the Privy Council. To identify himself when moving from one part to another of China, Marco Polo carried with him a stamped metal packet from Khan himself that served as his official credentials.

There were so many new things that Marco Polo didn’t know previously that sometimes he was really surprised, as happened when he knew about the use of paper money. All this information was gathered by Marco Polo in such a way that his reporting offers little about himself or his own thoughts, but instead give the reader a dispassionate reporting about a culture he had clearly grown fond of.

The third part of his adventure was the returning home that didn’t result an easy matter. After 17 years in China, they decide to return home, but the first problem was that that decision didn’t pleased Kublai Khan, who didn’t want him to leave. Nevertheless, Khan agreed with his departure under one condition: he had to escort a Mongol princess to Persia where she was to marry a Persian prince. In their travel to Persia by sea, they suffered storms and it was so dangerous that many sailors died, only 18 people arrived to Persia, among them the princess and Marco Polo.

So, arriving home wasn’t a so easy experience. The travel home lasted two years and his arrival home wasn’t peaceful. When he arrived to Venice it was at war with Genoa and he was imprisoned in Genoa sometime. He use the time in prison to dictate his stories to a cellmate, and when he was released in 1299 he published a book that he titled “//The Description of the World”//, but later was known as “//The Travels of Marco Polo//”.

The fourth part of his life is quieter. The book made Marco a celebrity. It was printed in French, Italian and Latin, becoming the most popular read in Europe. After his release from prison, he returned to Venice, where he married, raised three daughters and, for some 25 years, carried on the family business. Marco died at his home in Venice on January 8, 1324.

It is said that as he lay dying, friends and fans of his book paid him visits, urging him to admit that his book was fiction. Marco wouldn't relent. "I have not told half of what I saw," he said. An urban legend? May be.

To finish we have to mention his legacy. What he claimed to have seen has been verified by researchers, academics and other explorers. Marco Polo adventures inspired many other to do the same and discover new territories and cultures and provide a wider view of the world.

=__**Podcasts**__=

media type="file" key="Part 1-Travel to China[1].m4a" width="300" height="50"

media type="file" key="Part 2-In China[1].m4a" width="300" height="50"

media type="file" key="Part 3-Returning Home[1].m4a" width="300" height="50"

media type="file" key="Part 4-Legacy[1].m4a" width="300" height="50"

I have looked for this information here and you can also watch for some videos in: Wikipedia Biography