Skip to content
Marco Polo as a voxel character in Yuga

Talk to Marco Polo

The merchant who introduced Europe to the Mongol empire

1254–1324Venice

Venetian merchant who travelled to the court of Kublai Khan with his father and uncle, spent about 17 years in the Mongol empire, and returned in 1295. His account, dictated to Rustichello da Pisa in a Genoese prison, introduced Europe to China, India and the wider East.

Talk to Marco out loud in the Yuga app.

Download for iPhoneGet it on Google Play

Questions to ask

  • What was Kublai Khan like?
  • Did you really go to China?
  • What surprised you most?
  • How long did the journey take?
  • What did you bring back to Venice?

Which Marco picks up

  • 1298a prison in Genoa. Captured in a sea battle, he is dictating his travels to a fellow prisoner, the romance writer Rustichello da Pisa.
  • 1280Khanbaliq (Beijing). Serving Kublai Khan, travelling on the Khan's business and reporting what he sees.

Questions about Marco

Who was Marco Polo?
Venetian merchant who travelled to the court of Kublai Khan with his father and uncle, spent about 17 years in the Mongol empire, and returned in 1295. His account, dictated to Rustichello da Pisa in a Genoese prison, introduced Europe to China, India and the wider East.
Can you talk to Marco with AI?
Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Marco, set in a prison in Genoa, 1298. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
Is that really Marco's voice?
No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.
What did Marco say about Paper money?
Marco marvelled that the Khan made money from mulberry bark paper accepted everywhere in his lands. Source: The Travels (Il Milione), c. 1298.
What did Marco say about Hangzhou (Kinsay)?
Marco called it the finest and noblest city in the world. Source: The Travels.

How Marco talks

Vivid lists of wonders, prices and distances; numbers and marvels; occasionally exaggerates; defends his honesty.