Marco Polo Worships the Great Khan

Traveling from Cathay to Tinju, there is not a one page in The Travels of Marco Polo where he does not mention the Great caravansary. Whether this is a positive or a negative, the power of the Great caravan inn is routinely emphasized and the draw is repeatedly discussed in terms of his office as a ruler. . A not bad(p) deal of the reason for this is that when one looks at a unlike culture and its history, there is a tacit avoidance of providing judgment on the air the militarism of a culture may conduct itself. Through his travels in China, Marco Polo depicts the Great caravansary as a powerful, benevolent, and ambitious leader of East Asia.It is easy to see that the Great Khan had spectacular power throughout most of China. In chapter 4 of The Travels, Polo describes various visits to different locations in northern and southwestern China. He states goly that Tibet belongs to the Great Khan, as do all the other kingdoms and provinces and regions described in this counters ign, except only the provinces mentioned at the beginning of our book which belong to the son of Arghun (174).In chapter 5, all places that Polo visits use the Great Khans paper funds and the pot remain subjects of the Great Khan. In his description of the journey from Ho-Kein-fu through Kein-ning-fu, the idea that stands out is that people are idolaters, subjects to the Great Khan and using paper money because such a brief and reason statement provides significant insight into the overriding themes of the Great Khans motivations. (211).However, in different subject fields chthonian Khans rule, a unique monetary system was apply. For example, Kaindu had very unique hard currentness They have gold in bars and weight it out by saggi and it is valued according to its weight. moreover they have no coined money bearing a stamp (176).Ironically, in some instances, salt was used as short change currency. Traders in Tibet made an immense profit, because they could use the salt in sol id food as well as for buying the necessities of life. In the cities they used fragments of salt blocks in cooking and dog-tired the unbroken blocks.However, regardless of the fact that Kaindu did not use the Great Khans money, the Great Khans process remained strongly evident within these providences. Kaindu was subject to the Great Khan and it was in an area cognize to have an abundance of pearls. Regardless the Great Khan would not let anyone harvest pearls because he believed harvesting too many pearls would eliminate their scarcity and lead to a significant devaluation.Thus, The Great Khan, when he has a mind, has pearls frittern from it for his own use only but no one else may take them on pain of death (175) There was also a mountain there with a sufficient supply of turquoise which produced very fine gems but the Great Khan would not allow them to be taken except at his bidding. This would seem to indicate that the Great Khans brash outside hid a very insecure interior. That is, he seemed to desire wealth and treasure as a way of propping up his own image. Allowing coarseer access to wealth and precious metals was, perhaps, something the Great Khan feared because it would chip absent at his loftiness. (175).Marco Polo also conveys the notion that the Great Khan maintained a sense of good-will that tempered his displays of power. In instigateicular, Polos story about Litan emphasizes this benevolence. Tandinfu was a very large city and erst a great kingdom, but the Great Khan had conquered it through force of arms. In 1272, the Great Khan had appointed one of his barons, Litan Sangon, to hold this city and province. However, Litan planned a monstrous act of disloyalty when he and his pursual rebelled against the Great Khan in a stunning display of disobedience. When the Great Khan discovered this, he sent his militia to confront them.When Litan was defeated, the Great Khan pardoned those who served under Litan forgave them for their trespasse s and indiscretions. Those who were pardoned never afterward displaced any disloyalty towards their great leader. This story reflects the Great Khans benevolence because, unlike other leaders who would respond ruthlessly to opposition, The Great Khan instead made them into the most loyal subjects by bestowing a pardon to them.It is clear the Kubilai Khan was exceptionally ambitious and this is what made him so powerful and played a great part in allowing him to conquer most of Asia. Polos description of the conquest of Manzi evokes the ambitiousness of the Great Khan. After stamp down many cities and countries, Kubilai was still not satisfied and continued the expansion of his territory.He attempted to conquer the great province of Manzi, a wealthy territory. The king of Manzi had discovered through astrology that he could not regress his kingdom except at the hands of a man with a hundred eyes. In response, Bayan Chincsan, known as Bayan Hundred-eyes, was sent into Manzi by order of the Great Khan. Bayan succeeded and Kubilai finally conquered Manzi. This clearly demonstrates the Great Khans desire to expand his power base from all fronts. Perhaps, in a way, it depicts over ambition as opposed to logistical, military expansion. Ultimately, this type of imperialism would later lead to Khans eventually overextension and downfall.From Marco Polos descriptions of the influence of the Great Khan throughout most of China, it appears that he was a powerful sovereign whose impression on history still resonates to this very day. However, Marco Polos presentation of the Great Khan drafts an image of the Great Khan as the only leader who could rule and dominate the world Although Marco Polos explanation that many cities he visited were ruled by the Great Khan is true, to the reader it seems like he venerated Kubilai Khan above all others. Perhaps Marco Polo was in such awe of Khan, he sought to see him as a great leader as opposed to a destructive, predatory imperiali st and from this, an idealized version of history was cr