PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Marco Polo: 1288 Overview
Ever since I can remember I have wanted to go in China. I have spent 17 years here and I am currently on my voyage back to my home, Venice. I am writing all my encounters and everything I have witnessed here.
I formed a great relationship with Kublai Khan. He trusted me greatly and sent me on expeditions to Yunnan and Burma. These Chinese provinces were very small and unique. They had trade through local peoples. Lots of agriculture items that were grown. I enjoyed speaking Mongol in China, people respected me for that. I left being aside Khan to escort a Mongol princess to a Persian Khan. This was done by Sea and we saw lots of trade in the seas. Lots of spices being transported around. We visited many Malay islands, such as Vietnam and Sumatra. The cultures here were much different. Still some agriculture but lots of sea trade. Goods were mainly fishing and other sea creatures. We stopped in Ceylon and finally delivered the Princess. We were off to Europe but were robbed of our possessions in Trebizond.
I do not know what to expect in the future. I have seen so many Chinese ports of trading that did trade luxury goods as well. Like silk textiles and precious stones. People here used the Seas because as I traveled so much inland, I can see how it is too vast of land. Sea travel is so much faster and more efficient for trading. There is a huge economy in China. Khan once explained to me that the campaigns they were using, were causing economic disruption throughout much of Eurasia, mainly China and southwest Asia. I have seen irrigation systems that are thriving here, the agriculture technical institutions are amazing. Although there is decline in southwest Asia, Asia is thriving in trade and culture. I have been wearing lots of silk and long robes as with the Mongol culture.
Ibn Battuta: 1326 entry
I have finally reached the great port of Alexandria, as I have been traveling for nine long months. Alexandria is such an rich city. There is so much culture and trade here. I would argue that this city is one of the greatest cities in the Mediterranean world. As it's right on the edge of the sea, ships are constantly coming in and out with crops and riches like jewelry and clothing. Merchants are thriving here in Alexandria and if I was a merchant, I would want to come here.
Ibn Battuta: 1341
I was in Mecca but I heard through the grapevine that the sultan of Delhi, was hiring foreign Islamic scholars to help run his kingdom. I was very interested and I decided to seek employment in India. I traveled through Asia Minor, the steppe lands north of the Black Sea. I also went through the region of the Caspian Sea to get here. I stopped in many small civilizations along the way. Cities such as Bukhara, Samarkand, and Kabul. I had crops such as deer and potatoes. There was lots of trade and merchants were also thriving in these areas. I met with the sultan and was appointed to be a wadi. One night, I sentenced a man to receive eighty lashes because he had a drunk wine eight years earlier. What a disgrace to Indian culture! I found that I was in a dangerous situation because the Delhi sultanate was a disintegrating State.
I knew that Muhammad ibn Tuglug did not take kindly to foreign scholars leaving his service, and that's exactly what I wanted to do. I am now going to seek a job as a private person in the Malabar coast of India. That's where I plan to go next. I can't risk execution, I have so much ahead of my life. There is lots of trade in India but there was more around Mecca. Lots of spices are created here and put on ships to be taken to other countries in Asia and the Mediterranean. The trade items also consist of silk and riches for kings.
