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Motive
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To travel to China with his
father and uncle to learn the family trading business along the Silk Road
for silks and spices from Asia
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Personality Traits
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Adventurous
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Brave
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Risk taker
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Shrewd
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Bargainer
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Diplomatic
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Determined
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Popular storyteller
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Success
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Traveled throughout the Middle
East
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Learned and reported about life
in China, India and the Southeast in the late 1200's
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Successfully returned to Venice
after 24 years with "treasures"
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Author of A Description of
the World, printed in 1485
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Traveled farther into China
than any European had gone before
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Failure
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Historians believe some of his
adventures were lies
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Only moderately successful as
a trader
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Imprisoned during a war with
Genoa
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Changed the World
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His book stimulated interest
in the Orient and was widely read. It stimulated trade.
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His book gave Europeans some
of their earliest information about China.
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While imprisoned during a war
in 1298, wrote The Travels of Marco Polo, which helped to make Europeans
very interested in trading with China and the Far East, and that led to
the explorations of Columbus and many others who were searching for a quicker
way to sail to China and India.
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