Comparing the Explorers, Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta

Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta both were explorers in the 13th century and although they had similarities, they were different in several ways. For example yes both traveled for a long period of time and picked up some of the same cultures but in different view points,and Battuta was not imprisoned on his way back home. Or how Battuta started his journey with a purpose of visiting Mecca, like his religion requires him to do and Polo just took a Gap year to escape from the troubles at home.

Marco Polo born in 1254 in Venice, Italy started exploring at the young age of seventeen, his first destination was China. It is rumored that he became a diplomatic for Kublai Khan because of his storytelling. Marco worked for Kublai for about seventeen years and explored about 20 countries before traveling back to Italy, but before he could he was stuck in-between both of Genoa and Venice, were he was captured as a prisoner. there he meet a famed writer Rusticello and reveled his journeys. Rusticello’s writings about Polo were successful in several parts of Europe and even inspired Christopher Columbus to start traveling. Although Rusticello’s writings were successful when Polo finally returned to Venice his stories fell to death ear and majority of the people didn't believe his adventures, and on his deathbed a priest asked him to confess to his lies.

Ibn Battuta born 1304 in Morocco.Started exploring at the age of twenty-one, when he went to go to Mecca. Battuta was suppose to return sixteen months later. But several wives and countries later he was indecisive about weather to return to Morocco or continue his travels, he chose the latter and In the end he traveled to about 40 countries in total. His ex-wives have said that Battuta caught a few diseases. He traveled for twenty-nine years before he went home, just to discover that his whole family had died. he than returned to traveling throughout Spain and west Africa, since he had no one to share his adventures. At the the end of his life he traveled to Mecca seven times. and had traveled about 75,000 miles.

In similarities both Polo and Battuta began their adventures at young ages, 17 and 21 are young ages to be exploring unfamiliar countries. Both explores connected the: culture, ideas, innovations, and technologies of the East and West world. This increased connection and understanding of outer regions and allowed the start of globalization and the increase of trade, as well as being the first step in the age of exploration influencing other great explorers such as Christopher Columbus. Also both explores were very organized with their information about journeys.

Although Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta had many similarities they had several differences such as: they were born in different countries, Polo was born in Italy and Battuta was born Morocco. They came from different religions so they had different viewpoints of the places they visited. Polo was Roman Catholic so he had a positive bias in his writing toward all those he me who practiced Christianity while Battuta was Muslim. And the routes they used for traveling, Marco Polo traveled through Persia, Central Asia, and China, and Ibn Battuta had the most vast travels through North Africa, Southern Europe, Persian, China And most of the Eurasian and central Asian regions. The different routes they used gave them different cultures to bring back with them to their respective regions.