A young adventurer Marco Polo, the greatest of all travelers of the middle ages, was born in 1254 of a fine Venetian Family. At the age of seventeen, in 1271, he left Venice to accompany his father on a long journey across Asia to China. For three years, Marco Polo served as governor of the great Chinese city of Yang Chow.

A few years after his return, Marco Polo commanded a Venetian war galley in a naval battle with Genoa. Marco was taken prisoner by the genovese. Marco Polo dictated the story of his astonishing experience to a fellow prisoner. This manuscript became the sensation of Europe.

Today the work is one of the greatest travel narratives in all literature. Besides being the first European to describe the life of the people of China, among other countries, he also told others about China's great wealth, trade, roads, long canals, first couriers, governors, postal system and paper money.

In 1299 Marco Polo was released from prison. He returned to Venice where he later died in 1324 at the age of seventy.