Where was Marco Polo from? Detailed answer

Free technical library

BIG ENCYCLOPEDIA FOR CHILDREN AND ADULTS
Free library / Directory / Big encyclopedia for children and adults

Where was Marco Polo from? Detailed answer

Big encyclopedia for children and adults

Directory / Big encyclopedia. Questions for quiz and self-education

Comments on the article

Did you know?

Where was Marco Polo from?

From Croatia.

Marco Polo (or, translated from English, "Mark the Chicken") - born Marco Pilim. He was born in 1254 on the island of Corsula, in Dalmatia (at that time a protectorate of Venice).

It seems that we will never know the truth: indeed, at the age of seventeen, the young man accompanied his merchant uncles on a trip to the Far East, or simply wrote down the stories of traders from the Great Silk Road who stopped to rest at their Black Sea trading post. One thing is certain: Marco's famous travel memoir was largely the work of Rustichello da Pisa, the romance writer with whom Polo shared a prison cell after he was captured by the Genoese in 1296. Marco dictated, and Rusticello wrote in French, a language Polo did not speak.

Released in 1306, the result was intended purely for entertainment and became a real bestseller in the era before the invention of printing. In terms of historical accuracy, his status is much less stable.

The original title of the book was "Il Milione", that is, "Million", for reasons we do not understand, although the people quickly renamed the book "Million Vrak", and Polo - by that time a rich man and a successful merchant - received the nickname "Mr. Million". Apparently, for the XIII century, such a name was catchy and easy to remember - like the modern "Miracle Book of Miracles". No original manuscript has survived.

There is an opinion that it was Marco Polo who gave Italy ice cream and pasta.

In fact, pasta was known in the Arab countries as early as the 1279th century, and dry pasta was mentioned in Genoa in 1929 - a quarter of a century before Polo, according to his own statement, returned to Italy. According to renowned culinary history expert Alan Davidson, the myth did not begin until XNUMX, when it was first mentioned in an American pasta trade magazine.

Ice cream may well have been a Chinese invention, but it seems unlikely to us that its introduction in the West has anything to do with Polo, since no mention of it is found anywhere else until the middle of the XNUMXth century.

Author: John Lloyd, John Mitchinson

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

In which country was the Catholic Church involved in kidnapping thousands of children?

After the victory of the rebels in the Spanish Civil War, Franco ordered thousands of Republican children to be kidnapped and given for adoption to families loyal to the regime. Later, the practice of removing children from parents who were considered morally or financially unstable was introduced immediately in maternity hospitals. The chain involved both doctors and the Catholic Church, which plays an important role in many areas of Spanish life. Priests and nuns kept lists of adoptive parents from Catholic families, and children sold to them were declared dead shortly after birth to their real mothers. This practice continued until the 1990s, but due to the lack of an official government investigation, it is difficult to give a total number of abducted children, although some lawyers estimate it could be as high as 300.

Test your knowledge! Did you know...

▪ Who better plays the role of the night luminary: the Moon in relation to the Earth or the Earth in relation to the Moon?

▪ What language does not have the words yes and no?

▪ How did Napoleon's wars unfold?

See other articles Section Big encyclopedia. Questions for quiz and self-education.

Read and write useful comments on this article.

<< Back

Latest news of science and technology, new electronics:

Machine for thinning flowers in gardens 02.05.2024

In modern agriculture, technological progress is developing aimed at increasing the efficiency of plant care processes. The innovative Florix flower thinning machine was presented in Italy, designed to optimize the harvesting stage. This tool is equipped with mobile arms, allowing it to be easily adapted to the needs of the garden. The operator can adjust the speed of the thin wires by controlling them from the tractor cab using a joystick. This approach significantly increases the efficiency of the flower thinning process, providing the possibility of individual adjustment to the specific conditions of the garden, as well as the variety and type of fruit grown in it. After testing the Florix machine for two years on various types of fruit, the results were very encouraging. Farmers such as Filiberto Montanari, who has used a Florix machine for several years, have reported a significant reduction in the time and labor required to thin flowers. ... >>

Advanced Infrared Microscope 02.05.2024

Microscopes play an important role in scientific research, allowing scientists to delve into structures and processes invisible to the eye. However, various microscopy methods have their limitations, and among them was the limitation of resolution when using the infrared range. But the latest achievements of Japanese researchers from the University of Tokyo open up new prospects for studying the microworld. Scientists from the University of Tokyo have unveiled a new microscope that will revolutionize the capabilities of infrared microscopy. This advanced instrument allows you to see the internal structures of living bacteria with amazing clarity on the nanometer scale. Typically, mid-infrared microscopes are limited by low resolution, but the latest development from Japanese researchers overcomes these limitations. According to scientists, the developed microscope allows creating images with a resolution of up to 120 nanometers, which is 30 times higher than the resolution of traditional microscopes. ... >>

Air trap for insects 01.05.2024

Agriculture is one of the key sectors of the economy, and pest control is an integral part of this process. A team of scientists from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Potato Research Institute (ICAR-CPRI), Shimla, has come up with an innovative solution to this problem - a wind-powered insect air trap. This device addresses the shortcomings of traditional pest control methods by providing real-time insect population data. The trap is powered entirely by wind energy, making it an environmentally friendly solution that requires no power. Its unique design allows monitoring of both harmful and beneficial insects, providing a complete overview of the population in any agricultural area. “By assessing target pests at the right time, we can take necessary measures to control both pests and diseases,” says Kapil ... >>

Random news from the Archive

The first Mongolian Mozo car 15.01.2022

Mongolia starts manufacturing its own cars. The local company Bars Motors will take care of this.
Bars Motors has opened its own car manufacturing plant in Mongolia, where it plans to produce 2500 new cars a year so far. The company's first vehicle is the Mozo SUV (an acronym that stands for "Intellect of the Mongolian People").

The car can be called a copy of the 500 Zotye T2017 cross, it is more adapted to the roadways of Mongolia compared to the original.

The Bars Motors Mozo SUV is equipped with a 156-horsepower 1,5-liter gasoline turbo engine, interacting with a six-speed "automatic" and a front-wheel drive system. Modification height 1695 mm, width 1850 mm, length 4632 mm, wheelbase 2700 mm. The capacity of the luggage compartment reaches 1155 liters.

The price of Mozo in the home market is 69-79 million tugriks (25-30 thousand dollars).

Other interesting news:

▪ Centec GoldenGate 10GbE Switch Chip

▪ Antibiotics interfere with childhood vaccinations

▪ Sony audio system with CarPlay

▪ Wrinkle cream kills skin

▪ Dark energy measurement

News feed of science and technology, new electronics

Interesting materials of the Free Technical Library:

▪ section of the site Aphorisms of famous people. Article selection

▪ article by Xanthippus. Popular expression

▪ article Why are kangaroos only found in Australia? Detailed answer

▪ Capricole article. Legends, cultivation, methods of application

▪ article We repair GA on our own. Encyclopedia of radio electronics and electrical engineering

▪ article Protection of speaker systems from overloads. Encyclopedia of radio electronics and electrical engineering

Leave your comment on this article:

All languages of this page

Home page | Library | Articles | Website map | Site Reviews