Silk Road Trade & Travel Encyclopedia
丝绸之路网站（丝路网站）
丝绸之路百科全书—游客、学生和教师的参考资源
İPEK YOLU ve YOLLARI ANSİKLOPEDİSİ
Silk Road Trade & Travel Encyclopedia
丝绸之路网站（丝路网站）
丝绸之路百科全书—游客、学生和教师的参考资源
İPEK YOLU
ve YOLLARI
ANSİKLOPEDİSİ
Interesting Facts & Trivia
18 - QUESTION: Which famous explorer who sought to reach "the Indies" was influenced by Marco Polo's journey?
Answer: Christopher Columbus.
Historians have noted that Christopher Columbus was so inspired by the journeys of the Venetian traveler Marco Polo's description of the Far East, that he desired to visit those lands for himself. It can therefore be said that the Silk Road inspired Columbus's voyages to the "New World" as there is evidence Columbus made handwritten annotations on a Latin edition of Marco Polo's book. In the 1480's, the Columbus brothers had developed a different plan to reach the spice rich Indies -- with a new route to the East by sailing west across the "Ocean Sea" (the Atlantic Ocean). In his quest for Asia, and to find an alternative to the Silk Road caravan routes, Christopher Columbus read widely about astronomy, geography, and history, including the travels of Marco Polo.