Timeline of Marco Polo
- 1254 Marco Polo is born
- 1258 The Mongols sack Baghdad: end of the Caliphate
- 1260 First defeat of the Mongols by the Mamluks: brothers Nicolo
- and Maffeo Polo set sail from Constantinople for the Crimean port of Sudak in
- search of new markets for their wares
- 1261 Greek Empire restored in Constantinople
- 1262 Nicolo and Maffeo Polo are caught in a war between two rival
- Mongol lords, Hulagu and Barka: they seek refuge at Bukhara where they receive
- an invitation to Cathay (China) to meet Kublai, khan of all the Mongols
- 1267 Kublai Khan sets up a new Chinese capital at Daidu
- (Khan-Balik), now part of modern-day Beijing (Peking)
- 1268 The Death of Pope Clement IV
- 1269 Nicolo and Maffeo Polo return to Venice after 15 years:
- Nicolo's wife has died leaving a son, Marco
- 1271 New Pope, Gregory X: Marco Polo's travels begin
- 1273 The siege of Xiangyang (Siang-yang-fu), China
- 1274 First Mongol invasion of Japan ends in defeat
- 1275 Marco Polo arrives in Peking
- 1279 Kublai Khan establishes the Yuan Dynasty in China
- 1281 Second Mongol invasion of Japan ends in defeat
- 1292 The Polo's settle in Kaikhatu in the Levant for seven months
- 1293 First Christian missionaries arrive in Peking
- 1294 The Death of Kublai Khan: effectively the end of the Mongol
- empire despite several later attempted invasions by independent khanates
- 1295 Marco Polo returns to Venice
- 1298 Marco Polo is imprisoned at Genoa following the battle of
- Kurzola: there, he meets a writer, Rustichello of Pisa, and together they begin
- a book of Marco's travels
- 1299 Marco Polo is released as a prisoner of war in Genoa: at
- about this time, Marco marries a Venetian, Donata: they have three daughters,
- Belela, Fantina and Moreta: the death of Nicolo Polo
- 1307 Giovanni di Monte Corvino becomes the first Archbishop of
- Peking
- 1324 Death of Marco Polo
- 1368 The Ming Dynasty is established in China: the barriers
- between East and West remain in place for many generations