Featured on this Italian 1,000 Lire (Year 1982) banknote is the portrait of Marco Polo along with the symbol of his native city of Venice.

Marco Polo ( 1254 - 1324 ), Italian traveler and author, whose writings gave Europeans the first authoritative view of life in East Asia. Polo was born in Venice. His father and uncle were merchants who had previously made an overland journey to China. In 1271, taking Marco along with them, they began a second journey through central Asia to China.

In China Marco Polo entered the diplomatic service of Mongol emperor Kublai Khan. The Polos stayed in China until 1292, when they left the country as escorts for a Mongol princess traveling by sea to Iran. They then proceeded overland, through Iran, along the coast of the Black Sea, and past Constantinople ( present-day Istanbul ), arriving in Venice in 1295. In 1298 Marco Polo was taken prisoner in a battle between the fleets of Venice and Genoa.

During his imprisonment, he dictated the detailed account of his travels. He was released from prison in 1299. The travels of Marco Polo, is perhaps the most famous and influential travel book in history. It gave medieval Europe its first consequential knowledge of China and its first information concerning other Asian countries.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Marco Polo"