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Dan Snow's History Hit

Explorers: Marco Polo

Ep. 1253
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You may have heard the many myths about the life and exploits of Marco Polo - was he really the one who brought ice cream and spaghetti from his travels on the Silk Road from the court of Kublai Khan, where he served as a diplomat? Almost as soon as he wrote his memoir, people doubted his wild stories of his travels across Europe and Asia.


His life and myth are unravelled on today's podcast with Laurence Bergreen, historian and author of 'Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu' who followed in the footsteps of Polo, travelling the old silk road all the way to China, to see for himself if the stories of the great Venetian merchant were true…


This is the first episode in our subscriber-exclusive series unravelling the well-known, the unknown and the should-be-known stories of great explorers who traversed uncharted territory to push the limits of human knowledge and understanding. From the first Polynesian Wayfinders who used the stars to make their way across the dark Pacific to James Beckwourth who conquered the American Frontier by embedding himself in the Native American Crow Nation and Nellie Bly, the investigative journalist who travelled the world in less than 80 days… 


Produced by Mariana Des Forges, sound design and editing by Dougal Patmore.


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