History-Makers: Marco Polo 

"I saw a unicorn. A little fatter than I expected" will never not be pertinent.

"I have not told *half* of what I saw" -the final words of Marco Polo. I get chills every time I read them.

Silly blue .... A rhino is not just a unicorn... It’s a BATTLE UNICORN !!!

Smh Blue is out here cheating at Marco Polo and got his eyes open

*Marco Polo:* I come here to bargain. *Swimming Pools:* _NO GOD! NO GOD PLEASE NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOOOO!!!_

7:55 funny that Marco would call a rhino a unicorn, but it makes sense, since the original (biblical) description of a unicorn also sounds suspiciously like a rhino

5:15 Marco polo was an Assassins Creed fan, seems legit

I wonder how Marco Polo and his contemporaries would think of the fact that these days you can travel from Venice to Beijing/Khanbaliq in just over 12 hours today.

"...venetians had their eyes gouged out..." *insert venetian blind joke here*

I once yelled ‘Marco’ in a foreign country...I actually got a reply from a random japanese person! I wasn’t even IN Japan!

Ibn Battuta and his African explorations would be fun to see next

Marco Polo is how to know your friends from your enemies. I yelled out _Marco_ once and got _Polo'd_ into a pond. Edit: this has nothing to do with world history, I'm just bitter.

"I see Your Sorcery, and Raise you SCIENCE." Aw, that's great. I'm totally using that.

"I've seen a unicorn fatter then I expected" hands down the best thing I've ever heard about a fucking Rhino

0:13 Nice going, Genghis! I bet that will last a long time

I am convinced that Marco Polo would not mention things like chop sticks because for him it would be an everyday occurrence. It would be as if we were to mention in our current records that we use forks. It would really be a "well no shit" for anyone in our audience.

Tibetan women: Hi, we're part of an ancient and famously religious culture bound on finding enlightenment. Would you like some butter tea? Marco Polo (years later to a fanfic writer): yEaH i BaNgEd ThEm AlL bRo

I feel like Marco's accounts are like a vacation photo album.

In fifth grade there was a kid in my class named Marco and whenever the teacher would say his name his friends would say Polo. Every time it happened Marco would look like he wanted to die.

“I see your sorcerery, and raise you ⚡️ SCIENCE ⚡️!”

Dude, please talk about Ibn-Batutta, the most well-travelled person before the steam engine. He also produced a written account of his travels. Boy, did he travel. He began in Morocco, and traveled as far east as China, and as far south as West Africa.

Of course people keep mistaking rhinos for unicorns.

Those sand dune chords always give me the chills whenever I hear them. No wonder Marco thought they were evil

Have you ever considered... 8:10 SCIENCE

**Marco Polo:** Oh, yeah, there's these Hashashins in white robes that freerun! **Blue:** Yeah, that didn't happen **Me:** ..I smell a Templar

I am an uncultured swine, so this channel helps me out with many things, like knowing who Marco Polo is. Thanks. I needed that

Something only people named Marco understand is the joy of saying "me" when playing Marco Polo

Hey Blue, thanks for doing that Historical Pulse Check. I'm sure you know how easy it is to have a de-synchronization between things that happened at the same time because of how wildly different they are. Also: Marco Polo's writer being one of the King Arthur writers is something I never knew. That's wild.

Blue: Marco Marco Marco? Me: •inhale• *POLOOOO*

I actually really appreciate Marco Polo trying to describe what he experienced even when he had no name or reference to it, such as the “ghosts of the dessert”. I’ve traveled through Centra Asia quite a bit and so much is so far removed from my realm of relevant knowledge or context the best you can do sometimes is describe it in vague, loosely related references. Sometimes things are so old they have several different stories attached to them and even the locals don’t know which is correct. Sometime, none of the stories are right and there is no referee, but things are still there. In Conclusion, Marcos account of his travels was pretty cool.

5:01 The Tibet part might also be true too, at least partially. In my anthropology class we learned about a west chinese/tibetan culture which practiced polyandry, in which the wife would have multiple husbands (usually all brothers) who all live in a less formal marriage, where the wife gets quality time with each husband while all of the other husbands are out working. Marco polo may have seen this system, but exaggerate it because it's so alien to catholicism.

Genoese: MARCO! Marco Polo, on his newly equipped war galley: .... Genoese: MARCO!!! Marco Polo: .... Genoese: THATS CHEATING, YOU CANT JUST NOT YELL BACK!

I hit my face in the wall real hard while playing Marco Polo.

How neat would it be if Marco Polo constantly kept notes and wrote and published his book himself.

I'm here so early Marco Polo was getting new episodes on Netflix

Last time I was this early Rome was still a republic

Funny story about that rhino=unicorn story. In one of my first few D&D games, our party was traveling across a savanna that had previously proven to have ostriches in it, and I was scouting a bit ahead of the rest of the party. Came across a creature my DM described as huge and grey at first, so I'm thinking "African Savanna style climate, huge grey thing, it's an elephant..." Got a few other descriptors that I read as confirmation - a small tail, the feet, big ears...but all of which also fit a rhinoceros for a given definition of small tail and big ears...then got around to the face and where I was expecting tusks and a trunk I got "a horn on its nose" and immediately blurted out "a _unicorn_ elephant!?" Two years later, that is still a joke in my D&D group and has, to a lesser extent, spread to the wider community of friends from which this D&D group arose. Knowing his sense of humour, I would not be at all surprised if my DM has been choosing his words carefully to make it seem like an elephant at first in hopes of prompting such a reaction. Either way, it's funny. So I can sympathize with Marco Polo about his error.

"Some dudes in the mountains getting blasted off hashish and murdering princes" I will never accept another description of the order of assassins both real and fictional

I love how native English speakers pronounce "Polo". Sounds like the word "chicken" in Italian ahahah

Marco polo He’s a Guy that existed once and went somewhere

It's always cool seeing the stories of the explorers of old. It can never be easy venturing into foreign cultures, unknown lands, or rarely traveled sites.

Love this new series and I have to say it seems like there are a lot of parallels between Marco Polo and Herodotus, given how skeptical everyone was for centuries about their accounts (with Herodotus being derisively called the father of lies) their tendency to embellish and publish rumors and how many of their claims are only recently being confirmed by unbiased records and archaeological evidence BTW You should totally do Herodotus- I mean come on- he's literally called the father of history AND he's Greek! Those are your favorite things!

Now Red needs a shirt that says "Let's Do Some Tropes!"

*watches Biographics video on Marco Pollo* Well, that was interesting. What should I watch next? *This pops up in the feed* THE DE(VINE) GODS HAVE SPOKEN!

Wonderful story, beautifully contextualised! Thanks Blue

I see, so marco polo created the italians by introducing spaghetti to the indegenous people The more you know

I remember one time I played Marco Polo... and got hit with a bat I don't play that game anymore

One thing wrong with this; there apparently was a group of contract killers who ate hashish and their name is where we get the word assassin.

So many historical figures meeting each other.

I would really love what you'd have to say about Malta. It's such a history filled hidden gem.

Tea drinking chopsticks and foot binding weren't practiced by the mongols. He also got far more right than wrong

I was in Venice and visited his part is the district! Many times! We heard a but about his story, but I adore listening to your retelling! Good video, thanks Blue

If anyone still doubts the veracity of Marco’s account, check out the PBS documentary “In the Footsteps of Marco Polo” and its accompanying book: Long story short, in the early ‘90’s two guys from Queens spent two years literally retracing Marco’s entire route from Venice to China and back, and they made sure to document everything that matched his writings and everything that did not. The story of their project is an absolute trip (pun intended), and a really great example of how complete strangers from disparate cultures can all get along.

I read part of the Travels, and I stopped when he reached Afghanistan. My favorite part was him describing what remained of the Crusader State of Little Armenia. I just find it weirdly fascinating.

“For History’s sake? *Screen your ghost writers!* “

The 'unicorn' he saw was a rhino. Edit: I've finished watching the video and you also mention it

Dude, that's literally a screaming desert. That's fucking sick.

Next one I'd like to see Marcus Aurelius, or King Henry VIII

The fact that people know more about Marco Polo and not Ibn Battuta shows how unfair the world really is. (Not trying to discount Marco Polo’s achievements, but if he is remembered for travelling, Ibn Battuta should be too)

Travels of Marco Polo, a.k.a. when traveler and fanfic writer make an isekai manga without pictures...

Request for future History-Makers: Isambard Kingdom Brunel, The Greatest Engineer Who Ever Lived. First underwater tunnel, built with the first tunnel boring machine. First truly modern railway, the Great Western Railway from London to Bristol. First steamship purpose-built to cross the Atlantic, the SS Great Western. First steamship to employ both iron hull and screw propeller, SS Great Britain (which still exists today in Bristol, in the very drydock where she was built). One of the first suspension bridges in the UK, the Cliffton Suspension Bridge in Bristol. The largest ship in the world from 1858 until 1899, the SS Great Eastern, which also laid the first successful transatlantic telegraph cable. And that's just a sampling of the hundreds of bridges he designed, dozens of railway he built throughout England, Wales, Ireland, Italy, and India, the first flat-pack hospital he designed for the Crimean War, the several steamships he built, rebuilding several ports including Bristol, Plymouth, and Portsmouth, and much more. All while smoking 40 cigars a day, getting about 4 hours' sleep every night, redefining the term "workaholic", getting married to a wealthy socialite and fathering several children (and by all accounts being a surprisingly good dad), and again so much more. All before tragically dying of a stroke at the age of 53.

History exists Historians: "humm i don't really like this it hurts my feels, i shall lie and change it to fit my feels better" i hate those people.

Last time I was this early, the Southern Song dynasty hadn't been conquered yet.

Hey Blue, thanks for the awesome video. Here aresome other historical characters that might be interesting to cover: William Marshall (curious why he was so important in Vampyr), Alberto Santos-Dumont, William Adams, Antoine Careme and Takeda Shingen.

“I take your magic and raise you SCIENCE”

I'd love to see Ahmad ibn Fadlan. He traveled with Vikings. Also, Michal Crichton (author of Jurassic Park) wrote Eaters of the Dead with him in it, in an attempt to show Beowulf could be an interesting read.

The photoshopped Blue in the pool killed me

Blue, I fricking love you. You're a king. You make me excited about history. That's all. Keep doing you.

Idk as a person who has been on some long trips (where I literally had to ask my parents constantly where I was) I got very confused about some details and the only thing I remember strongly now is the plays I saw, my favorite foods there, and how terrible I thought it was sharing a room with my sisters and I couldn’t even hang at the pool cause one of the hotels didn’t have one. The rest was all “ugh walking, wow can we go home yet, that was really cool but I’m tired, and I miss my dog” long story short, long trips suck, details blend together, and you forget more than you remember.

7:50 Is this what the Dune sand walking is based off of and the spice being the symbolance of Ghost?

“Huh, that unicorn is pretty fat” Huh indeed.

That intro was pure gold.

I would argue Prester John is the most facinating myth in history because for 500 years people not only thought it was real, but affected the real actions of real and consequential historical figuers.

I thought the Hashishin were confirmed as an organization that was involved in the Crusades? And possibly still functioning during the Mongol Empire

So what I'm hearing is, the páizi is like the real-world version of an emissary sigil from Aurora. :)

Imagine if Steam Locomotives existed back then to speed up the travel. Marco would of had his own- *Polo Express* 😎 Ha. Hahahaha......

I really appreciate the historical pulse check; that's a very nice touch.

6:00 nice Trebuchet meme

The Polo’s really just went all Dr. Strange on the Khans. Pulled up to the palace and was like “KUBLAI! I’VE COME TO BARGAIN!” And it worked

"Marcos book is kind of a slog" ***laughs in read the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle***

Interesting note about the whole 'million lies' thing. Marco Polo's book was viewed with suspicion in Europe because it didn't have a lot of the fantastical elements that contemporary travel literature did. Yes, it does have cynocephali and unicorns, but compared to its contemporaries such as The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, the Odoric of Pordenone's The Eastern Parts of the World Described or Giovanni de Marignoli's Recollections of Things in the East, it's very tame. Things like the Earthly Paradise and headless or one legged men are absent from the narrative, and thus conflicted with most other sources Europeans had at the time, including those from the classical era Herodotus. And at that time in writing, going against the word of any well known Greek or Roman author was literary suicide. So to sum up, Polo was too accurate for the medieval period, but not accurate enough for modern readers.

I'm here from Knowing Better, forgot about this channel until now

Is it weird that I was listening to the missing Doctor Who episode "Marco Polo" and then this video drops staright after I finished?

Your use of the cash register sound makes me instantly check my phone for an ebay transaction

Beautiful story!

I would be awesome to listen to your take on Flavius Josephus and his written works. Nevertheless your video was informative and fun to watch as always, heck, I didn't even know much about Marco Polo besides being some guy that traveled to Asia. I hope keep on making great videos and have a nice day. (P.S. Forgive me for my mediocre writing and placement on punctuation if it caused you to cringe of any sort.)

Laurence Bergreen’s book about Polo retells his journey with contemporary research. It’s really good.

Everytime I played Marco Polo, Polo would just go underwater and swim to the ladder in the pool smh.

So, when did the old guy with the blue “police box” show up?

Explorers crossing to new continents? It’s been years since I read anything about LEIF ERICSON, so I wonder if anything neat has been confirmed/discovered in the mean time. Also, Sir Francis Drake has one of the most interesting lives I’ve ever read about. He’s practically a comic book character. And finally, any, ANY female historic figures are super interesting to me-I never hear enough about women in history!

The Mongols...they conquer you in horrifyingly-brutal fashion, but once the killing and looting is done, they run things really well. Just gotta survive the first part.

5:21 that last one sounds a lot like the brotherhood in assassin's creed

Hi blue

To be fair, the assassins did smoke hashish before suicide missions, did kill political opponents and were still around during this time. So that part maybe is not made up

on a unrelated note, this channel just keeps getting better and better. Both yours as well as REd's comment. I love it, please keep it up Small thing or suggestion rather , though, while all of blues videos are neatly packaged together in playlist, red's arent, or atleast, i cant find them, and sometimes i just want to hear mythical storys about myths and so on, without a stop, is this fixable or is my youtube just broken and those things exist?

the part about the Gobi Desert sand was really really neat

I just realized how close we are to a million subscribers.... I remember when you guys had only 75,000. Wow we have come a long way.

I have a personal soft spot for all Marco Polo related things because in 2nd grade I won my first ever reading contest with an excerpt from Willi Meinck's "Marco Polo" which omits most of the questionable stuff, but explains the ghost's with hallucinations caused by malnutrition and dehydration and adds an unlikely, but well written childhood friendship with the daughter of an impoverished mirror maker and a hunchbacked orphan training to become the very best boatbuilder like no one ever was (it has some really nice payoff at the end of the second book when they return to Venice) as well as a sort-of-romance with the princess that they ultimately escort to Persia (hey, these books won't sell themselves).

I saw a unicorn, but fat. Rhino, you saw a rhino marc

History amazes me