Marco Polo SAQ
Use the passage below to answer the questions to the that follow.
“With these pieces of paper they can buy anything and pay for anything. And I can tell you that the papers that reckon as ten bezants [a quantity of money] do not weigh one. . . .There is no one who does not visit a bath-house at least three times a week and take a bath—in winter every day, if he can manage it. Every man of rank or means has his own bathroom in his house. . . .
Here too the inhabitants worship Mahomet [Muhammad] and are subject to the Great Khan. It has villages and towns in plenty. . . . There are rivers here in which are found stones called jasper and chalcedony [quartz crystals] in plenty. There is no lack of the means of life. Cotton is plentiful. The inhabitants live by trade and industry.”
Marco Polo, The Travels of Marco Polo, c. 1300
Question 1
Identify how the passage by Marco Polo illustrates the limitations of intercultural knowledge and understanding.
Question 2
Explain ONE way in which Marco Polo’s point of view fits into the context of intercultural interactions in the period c. 1000–c. 1450.
Question 3
Explain ONE way in which the writings of Marco Polo affected European relationships with other regions.
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