Travels of Marco Polo
System
of Governing in Medieval China
Vocabulary
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Mongols
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Kubilai Khan
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city-state
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ethnocentrism
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courier system
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Genghis (Chingis) Khan
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Marco Polo
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Silk Route
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Khan
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barbarian
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astrologer/soothsayer
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guilds
Questions
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Using a map,
put modern place names along Marco Polo's route.
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Describe
the Europe of Marco Polo at the time of his birth.
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Where
was Cathay?
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Kubilai's China was had many elements of the Mongolian empire. Why did
the Mongolians take such a long time to conqueror China? What were their
strengths and weaknesses?
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What was different between the Mongolians and Kubilai's China?
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What clues are there in Marco Polo's descriptions that the Mongols were
military rulers and kept tight military control?
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Describe the life style of Kubilai Khan.
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Do you think this life style was available to all in the empire?
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Why did the Chinese consider themselves to be at the center of the earth
and what did they call anyone who was not Chinese?
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Who ran the empire? How were they chosen?
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What would you predict would eventually happen to a ruler like Kubilai?
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Locate Marco Polo on the time chart. What is the relationship of the time
he lived to the discovery of printing? To the time of Confucius? To the
Opium War? To Christopher Columbus?
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How does Marco Polo impact the Age of Exploration?
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Marco Polo's memoirs were written 150 years after the events portrayed
on the great Song scroll of the capital city of Kai-feng, called by Westerners
"The City of
Cathay". How does
Polo's
description of the capital of the Southern Song compare to what you
see on the Northern Song scroll? In what ways had the Mongols changed the
character of the daily life? In what ways were they not able to affect
it?
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When and where did Marco Polo actually write his book?
