EXPLORER

Marco Polo

1254 - 1324

Photo of Marco Polo

Icon of person Marco Polo

Marco Polo ( ; Venetian: [ˈmaɾko ˈpolo]; Italian: [ˈmarko ˈpɔːlo] ; c. 1254 – 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in The Travels of Marco Polo (also known as Book of the Marvels of the World and Il Milione, c. 1300), a book that described the then-mysterious culture and inner workings of the Eastern world, including the wealth and great size of the Mongol Empire and China under the Yuan dynasty, giving Europeans their first comprehensive look into China, Persia, India, Japan, and other Asian societies. Born in Venice, Marco learned the mercantile trade from his father and his uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, who travelled through Asia and met Kublai Khan. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Marco Polo has received more than 17,018,725 page views. His biography is available in 174 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 167 in 2019). Marco Polo is the most popular explorer, the 2nd most popular biography from Italy and the most popular Italian Explorer.

Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant and explorer who traveled to China in the 13th century. He is most famous for his accounts of his travels, which were published in the book "The Travels of Marco Polo."

Memorability Metrics

  • 17M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 95.49

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 174

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 26.09

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.16

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among EXPLORERS

Among explorers, Marco Polo ranks 1 out of 498. After him are Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Vasco da Gama, Amerigo Vespucci, Ibn Battuta, Roald Amundsen, Bartolomeu Dias, Hernán Cortés, James Cook, Zheng He, and Francis Drake.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1254, Marco Polo ranks 1. After him are Osman I, Charles II of Naples, Marie of Brabant, Queen of France, Zhao Mengfu, Floris V, Count of Holland, Dmitry of Pereslavl, and Margaret of France, Duchess of Brabant. Among people deceased in 1324, Marco Polo ranks 1. After him are Malhun Hatun, Marie of Luxembourg, Queen of France, Emperor Go-Uda, Henry II of Jerusalem, Hedwig of Holstein, Irene of Brunswick, and Dino Compagni.

Others Born in 1254

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Others Deceased in 1324

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In Italy

Among people born in Italy, Marco Polo ranks 2 out of 5,161. Before him are Leonardo da Vinci (1452). After him are Galileo Galilei (1564), Christopher Columbus (1451), Julius Caesar (-100), Michelangelo (1475), Archimedes (-287), Dante Alighieri (1265), Augustus (-63), Raphael (1483), Antonio Vivaldi (1678), and Niccolò Machiavelli (1469).

Others born in Italy

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Among EXPLORERS In Italy

Among explorers born in Italy, Marco Polo ranks 1. After him are Christopher Columbus (1451), Amerigo Vespucci (1454), John Cabot (1450), Giovanni da Verrazzano (1485), Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778), Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza (1852), Sebastian Cabot (1484), Bartholomew Columbus (1460), Alvise Cadamosto (1432), Niccolò de' Conti (1395), and Lancelotto Malocello (1270).

Italian born Explorers

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