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112-589: Sumatra ( / s ʊ ˈ m ɑː t r ə / ) is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia . It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km (182,812 mi.), including adjacent islands such as the Simeulue , Nias , Mentawai , Enggano , Riau Islands , Bangka Belitung and Krakatoa archipelago . Sumatra

224-565: A wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention . Sumatra has lost almost 50% of its tropical rainforest since 1980. Many species are now critically endangered , such as the Sumatran ground cuckoo , the Sumatran tiger , the Sumatran elephant , the Sumatran rhinoceros , and the Sumatran orangutan . Deforestation on the island has also resulted in serious seasonal smoke haze over neighbouring countries, such as

336-479: A 15-year-old son named Marco. In contrast to the general consensus, there are theories suggesting that Marco Polo's birthplace was the island of Korčula or Constantinople but such hypotheses failed to gain acceptance among most scholars and have been countered by other studies. He was nicknamed Milione during his lifetime (which in Italian literally means 'Million'). The Italian title of his book

448-488: A 9.2 earthquake shook Bengkulu and Western Sumatra. Both events caused large tsunamis . Earthquakes are very common throughout the coastal area of the west and center of the island, and tsunamis are common due to the high seismicity in the area. By population, Medan is the largest city in Sumatra. Medan is also the most visited and developed city in Sumatra. Sumatra supports a wide range of vegetation types that are home to

560-619: A certain Marco Polo, who in 1300 was mentioned with riots against the aristocratic government, and escaped the death penalty, as well as riots from 1310 led by Bajamonte Tiepolo and Marco Querini, among whose rebels were Jacobello and Francesco Polo from another family branch, is unclear. Polo is clearly mentioned again after 1305 in Maffeo's testament from 1309 to 1310, in a 1319 document according to which he became owner of some estates of his deceased father, and in 1321, when he bought part of

672-537: A detailed account of his travels to a fellow inmate, Rustichello da Pisa , who incorporated tales of his own as well as other collected anecdotes and current affairs from China. The book soon spread throughout Europe in manuscript form, and became known as The Travels of Marco Polo ( Italian title: Il Milione , lit. "The Million", deriving from Polo's nickname "Milione". Original title in Franco-Italian  : Livres des Merveilles du Monde ). It depicts

784-530: A direct Chinese transliteration of the name "Marco" ignores the possibility of his taking on a Chinese or even Mongol name with no similarity to his Latin name . Also in reply to Wood, Jørgen Jensen recalled the meeting of Marco Polo and Pietro d'Abano in the late 13th century. During this meeting, Marco gave to Pietro details of the astronomical observations he had made on his journey. These observations are compatible with Marco's stay in China, Sumatra and

896-482: A perilous one—of the six hundred people (not including the crew) in the convoy only eighteen had survived (including all three Polos). The Polos left the wedding party after reaching Hormuz and travelled overland to the port of Trebizond on the Black Sea , the present-day Trabzon . The British scholar Ronald Latham has pointed out that The Book of Marvels was a collaboration written in 1298–1299 between Polo and

1008-574: A portion of his estate; he approved of this and ordered that a further sum be paid to the convent of San Lorenzo , the place where he wished to be buried. He also set free Peter, a Tartar servant , who may have accompanied him from Asia, and to whom Polo bequeathed 100 lire of Venetian denari. He divided up the rest of his assets, including several properties, among individuals, religious institutions, and every guild and fraternity to which he belonged. He also wrote off multiple debts including 300 lire that his sister-in-law owed him, and others for

1120-513: A potential wife, and they asked the Polos to accompany them, so they were permitted to return to Persia with the wedding party—which left that same year from Zaitun in southern China on a fleet of 14 junks . The party sailed to the port of Singapore , travelled north to Sumatra , and around the southern tip of India, eventually crossing the Arabian Sea to Hormuz . The two-year voyage was

1232-662: A professional writer of romances, Rustichello of Pisa. It is believed that Polo related his memoirs orally to Rustichello da Pisa while both were prisoners of the Genova Republic . Rustichello wrote Devisement du Monde in Franco-Venetian language , which was a literary-only language widespread in northern Italy between the subalpine belt and the lower Po between the 13th and 15th centuries. Latham also argued that Rustichello may have glamorised Polo's accounts, and added fantastic and romantic elements that made

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1344-527: A rich variety of species, including 17 endemic genera of plants. Unique species include the Sumatran pine which dominates the Sumatran tropical pine forests of the higher mountainsides in the north of the island and rainforest plants such as Rafflesia arnoldii (the world's largest individual flower), and the titan arum (the world's largest unbranched inflorescence ). The island is home to 201 mammal species and 580 bird species. There are nine endemic mammal species on mainland Sumatra and 14 more endemic to

1456-674: A stiff economic decline as the heritage of the Srivijaya empire was superseded by the economic policy of the Singhasari and Majapahit . The Palembang sultanate experienced a terminal decline in the early 19th century. With the coming of the Dutch Empire , the many Sumatran princely states gradually fell under their control. Aceh posed major obstacles, as the Dutch were involved in the long and costly Aceh War (1873–1903). During

1568-577: A trading voyage before Marco's birth. In 1260, Niccolò and Maffeo, while residing in Constantinople, then the capital of the Latin Empire , foresaw a political change; they liquidated their assets into jewels and moved away. According to The Travels of Marco Polo , they passed through much of Asia, and met with Kublai Khan , a Mongol ruler and founder of the Yuan dynasty . Almost nothing

1680-579: A venture, the Polo family probably invested profits from trading, and even many gemstones they brought from the East. The company continued its activities and Marco soon became a wealthy merchant. Marco and his uncle Maffeo financed other expeditions, but likely never left Venetian provinces, nor returned to the Silk Road and Asia. Sometime before 1300, his father Niccolò died. In 1300, he married Donata Badoèr,

1792-492: Is also an area in the archipelago that received the spread of Islam first compared to other islands or other areas. The island of Sumatra became the first area to receive the spread of Islam because of the position of the island of Sumatra which is close to the Malacca strait. The initial process of Islamization related to trade and also the formation of the kingdom. Islam entered Sumatra through pious Arabs and Tamil traders in

1904-682: Is also largely free of the gross errors found in other accounts such as those given by the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta who had confused the Yellow River with the Grand Canal and other waterways, and believed that porcelain was made from coal. Modern studies have further shown that details given in Marco Polo's book, such as the currencies used, salt productions and revenues, are accurate and unique. Such detailed descriptions are not found in other non-Chinese sources, and their accuracy

2016-518: Is also used as an inter-ethnic means of communication in some parts of Aceh province. Religion in Sumatra (2023) The majority of people in Sumatra are Muslims (87.12%), while 10.69% are Christians, and less than 2.19% are Buddhists and Hindus. Sumatra is one of seven geographical regions of Indonesia , which includes its adjacent smaller islands. Sumatra was one of the eight original provinces of Indonesia between 1945 and 1948. Including adjacent archipelagoes normally included with Sumatra (such as

2128-531: Is an elongated landmass spanning a diagonal northwest–southeast axis. The Indian Ocean borders the northwest, west, and southwest coasts of Sumatra, with the island chain of Simeulue , Nias , Mentawai , and Enggano off the western coast. In the northeast, the narrow Strait of Malacca separates the island from the Malay Peninsula , which is an extension of the Eurasian continent. In the southeast,

2240-577: Is based on a Latin manuscript found in the library of the Cathedral of Toledo in 1932, and is 50% longer than other versions. The popular translation published by Penguin Books in 1958 by R. E. Latham works several texts together to make a readable whole. Sharon Kinoshita 's 2016 version takes as its source the Franco-Italian 'F' manuscript, and invites readers to "focus on the text as

2352-568: Is inaccurate), no other foreign visitors to Yuan China mentioned the practice, perhaps an indication that the footbinding was not widespread or was not practised in an extreme form at that time. Marco Polo himself noted (in the Toledo manuscript) the dainty walk of Chinese women who took very short steps. It has also been noted by other scholars that many of the things not mentioned by Marco Polo such as tea and chopsticks were not mentioned by other travellers either. Haw also pointed out that despite

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2464-581: Is known about the childhood of Marco Polo until he was fifteen years old, except that he probably spent part of his childhood in Venice. Meanwhile, Marco Polo's mother died, and an aunt and uncle raised him. He received a good education, learning mercantile subjects including foreign currency, appraising, and the handling of cargo ships; he learned little or no Latin . His father later married Floradise Polo (née Trevisan). In 1269, Niccolò and Maffeo returned to their families in Venice, meeting young Marco for

2576-559: Is nothing in The Book of Marvels about China that could not have been obtained by reading Persian books. Wood maintains that it is more probable that Polo went only to Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey) and some of the Italian merchant colonies around the Black Sea, picking hearsay from those travellers who had been farther east. Supporters of Polo's basic accuracy countered on the points raised by sceptics such as footbinding and

2688-455: Is supported by archaeological evidence as well as Chinese records compiled after Polo had left China. His accounts are therefore unlikely to have been obtained second hand. Other accounts have also been verified; for example, when visiting Zhenjiang in Jiangsu , China, Marco Polo noted that a large number of Christian churches had been built there. His claim is confirmed by a Chinese text of

2800-575: Is the Elizabethan version by John Frampton published in 1579, The most noble and famous travels of Marco Polo , based on Santaella's Castilian translation of 1503 (the first version in that language). The published editions of Polo's book rely on single manuscripts, blend multiple versions together, or add notes to clarify, for example in the English translation by Henry Yule . The 1938 English translation by A. C. Moule and Paul Pelliot

2912-582: Is the largest producer of Indonesian coffee . Small-holders grow Arabica coffee ( Coffea arabica ) in the highlands, while Robusta ( Coffea canephora ) is found in the lowlands. Arabica coffee from the regions of Gayo, Lintong and Sidikilang is typically processed using the Giling Basah (wet hulling) technique, which gives it a heavy body and low acidity. Sumatra is a highly seismic island. Huge earthquakes have been recorded throughout history. In 1797, an 8.9 earthquake shook Western Sumatra, and in 1833,

3024-496: Is unknown, but scholars estimate it to be between 1271 and 1275. On reaching the Yuan court, the Polos presented the sacred oil from Jerusalem and the papal letters to their patron. Marco knew four languages, and the family had accumulated a great deal of knowledge and experience that was useful to Kublai. It is possible that he became a government official; he wrote about many imperial visits to China's southern and eastern provinces,

3136-528: The 2005 Nias–Simeulue earthquake and the 2010 Mentawai earthquake and tsunami . Lake Toba is the site of a supervolcanic eruption that occurred around 74,000 years ago, representing a climate-changing event. The most important rivers in Sumatra belong to the catchment area of the South China Sea . Heading north to south, the Asahan , Rokan , Siak , Kampar , Indragiri , Batanghari flow into

3248-399: The 2013 Southeast Asian haze which caused considerable tensions between Indonesia and affected countries Malaysia and Singapore . The widespread deforestation and other environmental destruction in Sumatra and other parts of Indonesia has often been described by academics as an ecocide . Several unconnected railway networks built during Netherlands East Indies exist in Sumatra, such as

3360-652: The Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), the name "Sunda" originates from the Sanskrit word "Cuddha," meaning white. Reinout Willem van Bemmelen , another geologist, noted that during the Pleistocene era , there was a large volcano named Mount Sunda located north of Bandung in West Java . Its eruption covered the surrounding area with white volcanic ash, giving rise to the name "Sunda." The use of

3472-807: The Barisan Mountains in the west and swampy plains in the east. Sumatra is the closest Indonesian island to mainland Asia. To the southeast is Java , separated by the Sunda Strait . To the north is the Malay Peninsula (located on the Asian mainland), separated by the Strait of Malacca . To the east is Borneo , across the Karimata Strait . West of the island is the Indian Ocean . The Great Sumatran fault (a strike-slip fault), and

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3584-685: The Catalan Atlas and the Fra Mauro map . Marco Polo was born around 1254 in Venice , but the exact date and place of birth are archivally unknown. The Travels of Marco Polo contains some basic information concerning Marco Polo's Venetian family and his birth in Venice; the book states that Marco's father, the travelling merchant Niccolò Polo , returned to visit his family in his hometown of Venice around 1269 and there found out that his wife, whom he had left pregnant, had died and left

3696-487: The Genova Republic . Rustichello wrote Devisement du Monde in Franco-Venetian . The idea probably was to create a handbook for merchants , essentially a text on weights, measures and distances. The oldest surviving manuscript is in Old French heavily flavoured with Italian; According to the Italian scholar Luigi Foscolo Benedetto, this "F" text is the basic original text, which he corrected by comparing it with

3808-532: The Malacca Strait , while the island's largest river, the Musi , flows into the sea at Bangka Strait in the south. To the east, big rivers carry silt from the mountains, forming the vast lowland interspersed by swamps. Even if mostly unsuitable for farming, the area is currently of great economic importance for Indonesia. It produces oil from both above and below the soil – palm oil and petroleum . Sumatra

3920-535: The Mongol Empire and China under the Yuan dynasty , giving Europeans their first comprehensive look into China, Persia, India, Japan, and other Asian societies. Born in Venice , Marco learned the mercantile trade from his father and his uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo , who travelled through Asia and met Kublai Khan . In 1269, they returned to Venice to meet Marco for the first time. The three of them embarked on an epic journey to Asia, exploring many places along

4032-581: The Second World War , Japan invaded Sumatra in 1942. The Free Aceh Movement fought against Indonesian government forces in the Aceh Insurgency from 1976 to 2005. Security crackdowns in 2001 and 2002 resulted in several thousand civilian deaths. The island was heavily impacted by both the 1883 Krakatoa eruption and the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami . Sumatra’s population as of 2023 was estimated to be about 60,795,669 ; it has about

4144-634: The South China Sea and are recorded in Pietro's book Conciliator Differentiarum , but not in Marco's Book of Travels . Reviewing Haw's book, Peter Jackson (author of The Mongols and the West ) has said that Haw "must surely now have settled the controversy surrounding the historicity of Polo's visit to China". Igor de Rachewiltz's review, which refutes Wood's points, concludes with a strongly-worded condemnation: "I regret to say that F. W.'s book falls short of

4256-503: The Sumatran elephant , the Sumatran rhinoceros , and the Sumatran orangutan . Deforestation on the island has also resulted in serious seasonal smoke haze over neighbouring countries, such as the 2013 Southeast Asian haze which caused considerable tensions between Indonesia and affected countries Malaysia and Singapore . The widespread deforestation and other environmental destruction in Sumatra and other parts of Indonesia has often been described by academics as an ecocide . Sumatra

4368-576: The Sunda megathrust (a subduction zone ), run the entire length of the island along its west coast. On 26 December 2004, the western coast and islands of Sumatra, particularly Aceh province, were struck by a tsunami following the Indian Ocean earthquake . This was the longest earthquake recorded, lasting between 500 and 600 seconds (8.33–10 minutes). More than 170,000 Indonesians were killed, primarily in Aceh. Other recent earthquakes to strike Sumatra include

4480-448: The 'marvellous' fables and legends given in other European accounts, and despite some exaggerations and errors, Polo's accounts have relatively few of the descriptions of irrational marvels. In many cases of descriptions of events where he was not present (mostly given in the first part before he reached China, such as mentions of Christian miracles), he made a clear distinction that they are what he had heard rather than what he had seen. It

4592-479: The 13th century. In terms of economic development the port of Banda Aceh only started to face competition in the 18th century when more ports were constructed in Sumatra for maritime transport . Nevertheless, major pepper suppliers used the port of Banda Aceh at the beginning of the 19th century. The port in Medan grew swiftly in the late 19th and early 20th century. Meanwhile the medium sized port of Palembang faced

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4704-587: The 14th century explaining how a Sogdian named Mar-Sargis from Samarkand founded six Nestorian Christian churches there in addition to one in Hangzhou during the second half of the 13th century. His story of the princess Kököchin sent from China to Persia to marry the Īl-khān is also confirmed by independent sources in both Persia and China. Sceptics have long wondered whether Marco Polo wrote his book based on hearsay, with some pointing to omissions about noteworthy practices and structures of China as well as

4816-1249: The 2010 census (including Riau Islands , Bangka Belitung , Nias , Mentawai , Simeulue and islands around it) There are over 52 languages spoken, all of which (except Chinese and Tamil) belong to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. Within Malayo-Polynesian, they are divided into several sub-branches: Chamic (which are represented by Acehnese in which its closest relatives are languages spoken by Ethnic Chams in Cambodia and Vietnam), Malayic ( Malay , Minangkabau and other closely related languages), Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands ( Batak languages , Gayo and others), Lampungic (includes Proper Lampung and Komering ) and Bornean (represented by Rejang in which its closest linguistic relatives are Bukar Sadong and Land Dayak spoken in West Kalimantan and Sarawak ( Malaysia )). Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands and Lampungic branches are endemic to

4928-473: The 6th and 7th centuries AD. At the beginning and end of the 13th century the formation of the kingdom, the king of the Samudra kingdom had converted to Islam. Marco Polo visited the island in 1292, and his fellow Italian Odoric of Pordenone in 1321. Aceh in the north of Sumatra became known in the 16th century as trading centre for the pepper trade by shipping quality piperaceae ( pepper ). Aceh became

5040-464: The Europeans with a clear picture of the East's geography and ethnic customs, and it included the first Western record of porcelain, gunpowder, paper money, and some Asian plants and exotic animals. His narrative inspired Christopher Columbus and many other travellers. There is substantial literature based on Polo's writings; he also influenced European cartography , leading to the introduction of

5152-710: The Great Wall of China. Historian Stephen G. Haw argued that the Great Walls were built to keep out northern invaders, whereas the ruling dynasty during Marco Polo's visit were those very northern invaders. They note that the Great Wall familiar to us today is a Ming structure built some two centuries after Marco Polo's travels; and that the Mongol rulers whom Polo served controlled territories both north and south of today's wall, and would have had no reasons to maintain any fortifications that might have remained there from

5264-525: The Indies ), it is reasonable to think that they considered Marco's book as a trustworthy piece of information for missions in the East. The diplomatic communications between Pope Innocent IV and Pope Gregory X with the Mongols were probably another reason for this endorsement. At the time, there was open discussion of a possible Christian-Mongol alliance with an anti-Islamic function. A Mongol delegate

5376-564: The Indonesian government announced a plan to protect Sumatra's remaining forests. The island includes more than 10 national parks, including three which are listed as the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra World Heritage Site – Gunung Leuser National Park , Kerinci Seblat National Park and Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park . The Berbak National Park is one of three national parks in Indonesia listed as

5488-489: The Mongols as ' barbarians ' who appeared to belong to 'some other world'. Doubts have also been raised in later centuries about Marco Polo's narrative of his travels in China, for example for his failure to mention the Great Wall of China , and in particular the difficulties in identifying many of the place names he used (the great majority, however, have since been identified). Many have questioned whether he had visited

5600-470: The Polos joined a caravan of travelling merchants whom they crossed paths with. Unfortunately, the party was soon attacked by bandits , who used the cover of a sandstorm to ambush them. The Polos managed to fight and escape through a nearby town, but many members of the caravan were killed or enslaved. Three and a half years after leaving Venice, when Marco was about 21 years old, the Polos were welcomed by Kublai into his palace. The exact date of their arrival

5712-736: The Polos with his last duty: accompany the Mongol princess Kököchin , who was to become the consort of Arghun Khan , in Persia. When the Polos arrived to Persia, they learned that Arghun Khan died, and Kököchin eventually became a wife of his son Ghazan . After leaving the princess, the Polos travelled overland to Constantinople. They later decided to return to their home. They returned to Venice in 1295, after 24 years, with many riches and treasures. They had travelled almost 15,000 miles (24,000 km). Marco Polo returned to Venice in 1295 with his fortune converted into gemstones . At this time, Venice

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5824-520: The Polos' journeys throughout Asia, giving Europeans their first comprehensive look into the inner workings of the Far East , including China, India, and Japan . Polo was finally released from captivity in August 1299, and returned home to Venice, where his father and uncle in the meantime had purchased a large palazzo in the zone named contrada San Giovanni Crisostomo (Corte del Milion). For such

5936-686: The Portuguese throughout the 16th and 17th century. When the Dutch were weakened in the 18th century the British empire began to actively intervene in Aceh, establishing close relations between Banda Aceh and Penang . In the 17th and 18th century the Aceh Sultanate battled the Siak sultanate in the south of Sumatra. The port city of Banda Aceh was recorded in European historical writings since

6048-562: The Riau Islands, Nias and the Bangka-Belitung group), it now covers ten of Indonesia's 38 provinces , which are set out below with their areas and populations. The longest axis of the island runs approximately 1,790 km (1,110 mi) northwest–southeast, crossing the equator near the centre. At its widest point, the island spans 435 km (270 mi). The interior of the island is dominated by two geographical regions:

6160-516: The Silk Road until they reached " Cathay ". They were received by the royal court of Kublai Khan, who was impressed by Marco's intelligence and humility. Marco was appointed to serve as Kublai's foreign emissary, and he was sent on many diplomatic missions throughout the empire and Southeast Asia, visiting present-day Burma, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. As part of this appointment, Marco also travelled extensively inside China, living in

6272-724: The Sunda Shelf in the west and the Sahul/Arafuru Shelf in the east. Other terms associated with "Sunda" include the Sunda Island Arc or the arc of Sunda Islands, Sunda Fold or tectonic folding in the Natuna Sea, the Sunda Trench, and Sundaland. The Sunda Islands are divided among five countries: Brunei , East Timor , Indonesia , Singapore and Malaysia . The majority of these islands fall under

6384-442: The book a bestseller. The Italian scholar Luigi Foscolo Benedetto had previously demonstrated that the book was written in the same "leisurely, conversational style" that characterised Rustichello's other works, and that some passages in the book were taken verbatim or with minimal modifications from other writings by Rustichello. For example, the opening introduction in The Book of Marvels to "emperors and kings, dukes and marquises"

6496-502: The book that would convince him that Marco Polo did not go to China. Haw also argues in his book Marco Polo's China that Marco's account is much more correct and accurate than has often been supposed and that it is extremely unlikely that he could have obtained all the information in his book from secondhand sources. Haw also criticizes Wood's approach to finding mention of Marco Polo in Chinese texts by contending that contemporaneous Europeans had little regard for using surnames and that

6608-426: The convent of San Giovanni , San Paolo of the Order of Preachers , and a cleric named Friar Benvenuto. He ordered 220  soldi be paid to Giovanni Giustiniani for his work as a notary and his prayers. The will was not signed by Polo, but was validated by the then-relevant " signum manus " rule, by which the testator had only to touch the document to make it legally valid. Due to the Venetian law stating that

6720-447: The daughter of Vitale Badoèr, a merchant. They had three daughters, Fantina (married Marco Bragadin), Bellela (married Bertuccio Querini), and Moreta. In 2022, it was found that Polo first had a daughter named Agnese (b. 1295/1299 - d. 1319) from a partnership or marriage which ended before 1300. Pietro d'Abano , a philosopher, doctor and astrologer based in Padua , reports having spoken with Marco Polo about what he had observed in

6832-415: The day ends at sunset, the exact date of Marco Polo's death cannot be determined, but according to some scholars it was between the sunsets of 8 and 9 January 1324. Biblioteca Marciana , which holds the original copy of his testament, dates the testament on 9 January 1323, and gives the date of his death at some time in June 1324. An authoritative version of Marco Polo's book does not and cannot exist, for

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6944-413: The drawing in his volume Conciliator Differentiarum, quæ inter Philosophos et Medicos Versantur . Marco Polo gave Pietro other astronomical observations he made in the Southern Hemisphere , and also a description of the Sumatran rhinoceros , which are collected in the Conciliator . In 1305 he is mentioned in a Venetian document among local sea captains regarding the payment of taxes. His relation with

7056-405: The earlier dynasties. Other Europeans who travelled to Khanbaliq during the Yuan dynasty, such as Giovanni de' Marignolli and Odoric of Pordenone , said nothing about the wall either. The Muslim traveller Ibn Battuta , who asked about the wall when he visited China during the Yuan dynasty, could find no one who either had seen it or knew of anyone who had seen it, suggesting that while ruins of

7168-445: The early manuscripts differ significantly, and the reconstruction of the original text is a matter of textual criticism . A total of about 150 copies in various languages are known to exist. Before the availability of printing press , errors were frequently made during copying and translating, so there are many differences between the various copies. Polo related his memoirs orally to Rustichello da Pisa while both were prisoners of

7280-429: The emperor's lands for 17 years and seeing many things previously unknown to Europeans. Around 1291, the Polos offered to accompany the Mongol princess Kököchin to Persia; they arrived there around 1293. After leaving the princess, they travelled overland to Constantinople and then to Venice, returning home after 24 years. At this time, Venice was at war with Genoa . Marco joined the war effort on behalf of Venice and

7392-452: The established view that Polo was in China, in response to Wood's book. The book has been criticized by figures including Igor de Rachewiltz (translator and annotator of The Secret History of the Mongols ) and Morris Rossabi (author of Kublai Khan: his life and times ). The historian David Morgan points out basic errors made in Wood's book such as confusing the Liao dynasty with the Jin dynasty , and he found no compelling evidence in

7504-471: The evidence supporting Marco Polo's credibility." Some scholars believe that Marco Polo exaggerated his importance in China. The British historian David Morgan thought that Polo had likely exaggerated and lied about his status in China, while Ronald Latham believed that such exaggerations were embellishments by his ghostwriter Rustichello da Pisa . Et meser Marc Pol meisme, celui de cui trate ceste livre, seingneurie ceste cité por trois anz. And

7616-400: The family property of his wife Donata. In 1323, Polo was confined to bed due to illness. On 8 January 1324, despite physicians' efforts to treat him, Polo was on his deathbed. To write and certify the will, his family requested Giovanni Giustiniani, a priest of San Procolo. His wife, Donata, and his three daughters were appointed by him as co-executrices . The church was entitled by law to

7728-435: The far south and Burma . They were highly respected and sought after in the Mongolian court, and so Kublai Khan decided to decline the Polos' requests to leave China. They became worried about returning home safely, believing that if Kublai died, his enemies might turn against them because of their close involvement with the ruler. In 1292, Kublai's great-nephew, then ruler of Persia , sent representatives to China in search of

7840-425: The few omissions, Marco Polo's account is more extensive, more accurate and more detailed than those of other foreign travellers to China in this period. Marco Polo even observed Chinese nautical inventions such as the watertight compartments of bulkhead partitions in Chinese ships , knowledge of which he was keen to share with his fellow Venetians. In addition to Haw, other scholars have argued in favour of

7952-482: The first time, at the age of fifteen or sixteen. In 1271, Niccolò, Maffeo and Marco Polo embarked on their voyage to fulfil Kublai's request. They sailed to Acre , and then rode on camels to the Persian port of Hormuz . The Polos wanted to sail straight into China, but the ships there were not seaworthy, so they continued overland through the Silk Road , until reaching Kublai's summer palace in Shangdu , near present-day Zhangjiakou . In one instance during their trip,

8064-627: The first time. In 1271, during the rule of Doge Lorenzo Tiepolo , Marco Polo (at seventeen years of age), his father, and his uncle set off for Asia on the series of adventures that Marco later documented in his book. They sailed to Acre and later rode on their camels to the Persian port Hormuz . During the first stages of the journey, they stayed for a few months in Acre and were able to speak with Archdeacon Tedaldo Visconti of Piacenza . The Polo family, on that occasion, had expressed their regret at

8176-473: The island at its centre in West Sumatra and Riau provinces. The climate of the island is tropical , hot, and humid. Lush tropical rain forest once dominated the landscape. Sumatra has a wide range of plant and animal species but has lost almost 50% of its tropical rainforest in the last 35 years. Many species are now critically endangered , such as the Sumatran ground cuckoo , the Sumatran tiger ,

8288-676: The island. Like all parts of Indonesia, Indonesian (which was based on Riau Malay) is the official language and the main lingua franca. Although Sumatra has its own local lingua franca, variants of Malay like Medan Malay and Palembang Malay are popular in North and South Sumatra, especially in urban areas. Minangkabau (Padang dialect) is popular in West Sumatra, some parts of North Sumatra, Bengkulu, Jambi and Riau (especially in Pekanbaru and areas bordered with West Sumatra ) while Acehnese

8400-533: The jurisdiction of Indonesia. Borneo is split among Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Timor is split between East Timor and Indonesia. Sebatik is split between Indonesia and Malaysia. 2°00′S 110°00′E  /  2.000°S 110.000°E  / -2.000; 110.000 Marco Polo Marco Polo ( / ˈ m ɑːr k oʊ ˈ p oʊ l oʊ / ; Venetian: [ˈmaɾko ˈpolo] ; Italian: [ˈmarko ˈpɔːlo] ; c.  1254  – 8 January 1324)

8512-481: The lack of details in his description of southern Chinese cities compared to northern ones, while Herbert Franke also raised the possibility that Marco Polo had not been to China at all, and wondered if he had based his accounts on Persian sources, in view of his use of Persian expressions. This is taken further by Frances Wood who claimed in her 1995 book Did Marco Polo Go to China? that at best Polo never went farther east than Persia (modern Iran), and that there

8624-530: The lack of details on some places in his book. While Polo describes paper money and the burning of coal, he fails to mention the Great Wall of China , tea , Chinese characters , chopsticks , or footbinding . His failure to note the presence of the Great Wall of China was first raised in the middle of the 17th century, and in the middle of the 18th century, it was suggested that he had never reached China. Later scholars such as John W. Haeger argued that Marco Polo might not have visited Southern China, in view of

8736-457: The lamp in Jerusalem . The long sede vacante between the death of Pope Clement IV in 1268 and the election of his successor delayed the Polos in fulfilling Kublai's request. They followed the suggestion of Theobald Visconti, then papal legate for the realm of Egypt , and returned to Venice in 1269 or 1270 to await the nomination of the new Pope, which allowed Marco to see his father for

8848-570: The long lack of a pope, because on their previous trip to China they had received a letter from Kublai Khan to the Pope, and had thus had to leave for China disappointed. During the trip, however, they received news that after 33 months of vacation, finally, the Conclave had elected the new Pope and that he was exactly the archdeacon of Acre. The three of them hurried to return to the Holy Land, where

8960-642: The main commercial centre of the Aceh Sultanate and trading routes were established to the Mediterranean via the Red Sea to rival the Portuguese shipping lanes . The reign of Iskandar Muda is known as the golden age of Sumatra because he extended the cultural influence of the Aceh Sultanate to Padang and Johor . The Aceh Sultanate sustained the rivalry with the Johor sultanate , the Dutch, and

9072-454: The milestone of Kepaksian Sekala Brak in the 13th century AD with the Dalom building. At the same time, the spread of Islam in Indonesia occurred gradually and indirectly, starting from the western regions such as the Sumatra area which became the first place for the spread of Islam in the archipelago, then Java, then to the eastern regions of Indonesia, Sulawesi and Maluku. The island of Sumatra

9184-613: The name for the entire island. By the year 692 , the Melayu Kingdom was absorbed by Srivijaya . Srivijaya's influence waned in the 11th century, specifically in the year 1025, after suffering defeat at the hands of the Chola Empire in southern India By the end of the 12th century, Srivijaya had been reduced to a kingdom, and its dominant role in South Sumatra ended with the last king, Ratu Sekekhummong, who founded

9296-703: The narrow Sunda Strait , containing the Krakatoa Archipelago , separates Sumatra from Java . The northern tip of Sumatra is near the Andaman Islands , while off the southeastern coast lie the islands of Bangka and Belitung, Karimata Strait and the Java Sea . The Bukit Barisan mountains, which contain several active volcanoes, form the backbone of the island, while the northeastern area contains large plains and lowlands with swamps, mangrove forest and complex river systems. The equator crosses

9408-413: The nearby Mentawai Islands . There are about 300 freshwater fish species in Sumatra. There are 93 amphibian species in Sumatra, 21 of which are endemic to Sumatra. The Sumatran tiger , Sumatran rhinoceros , Sumatran elephant , Sumatran ground cuckoo , Sumatran orangutan and Tapanuli orangutan are all critically endangered, indicating the highest level of threat to their survival. In October 2008,

9520-593: The new Pope entrusted them with letters for the "Great Khan", inviting him to send his emissaries to Rome. To give more weight to this mission he sent with the Polos, as his legates, two Dominican fathers, Guglielmo of Tripoli and Nicola of Piacenza. They continued overland until they arrived at Kublai Khan 's palace in Shangdu , China (then known as Cathay ). By this time, Marco was 21 years old. Impressed by Marco's intelligence and humility, Kublai appointed him to serve as his foreign emissary to India and Burma . He

9632-697: The ones connecting Banda Aceh - Lhokseumawe - Besitang - Medan - Tebingtinggi - Pematang Siantar - Rantau Prapat in Northern Sumatra (the Banda Aceh-Besitang section was closed in 1971, but is currently being rebuilt). Padang - Solok - Bukittinggi in West Sumatra , and Bandar Lampung - Palembang - Lahat - Lubuklinggau in Southern Sumatra. Sunda Islands The term "Sunda" has been traced back to ancient times. According to Koesoemadinata, Professor Emeritus of Geology at

9744-405: The places he mentioned in his itinerary, whether he had appropriated the accounts of his father and uncle or other travellers, and some doubted whether he even reached China, or that if he did, perhaps never went beyond Khanbaliq (Beijing). It has been pointed out that Polo's accounts of China are more accurate and detailed than other travellers' accounts of the period. Polo had at times refuted

9856-490: The product of a larger European (and Eurasian) literary and commercial culture", rather than questions of veracity of the account. The book opens with a preface describing his father and uncle travelling to Bolghar where Prince Berke Khan lived. A year later, they went to Ukek and continued to Bukhara . There, an envoy from the Levant invited them to meet Kublai Khan , who had never met Europeans. In 1266, they reached

9968-500: The relationship between India and the Indonesian archipelago. In the late 13th century, Marco Polo referred to the kingdom as Samara , while his contemporary fellow Italian traveller Odoric of Pordenone used the form Sumoltra . Later in the 14th century the local form "Sumatra" became popular abroad due to the rising power of the kingdom of Samudera Pasai and the subsequent Sultanate of Aceh . From then on, subsequent European writers mostly used Sumatra or similar forms of

10080-528: The same Marco Polo, of whom this book relates, ruled this city for three years. This sentence in The Book of Marvels was interpreted as Marco Polo was "the governor" of the city of "Yangiu" Yangzhou for three years, and later of Hangzhou . This claim has raised some controversy. According to David Morgan no Chinese source mentions him as either a friend of the Emperor or as the governor of Yangzhou – indeed no Chinese source mentions Marco Polo at all. In

10192-471: The same number of inhabitants as South Africa , making it the fifth-most populous island in the world . Yet because it is such a large island, it is not densely populated: it has an average of about 126 people per km. The largest indigenous ethnic groups in Sumatra are Malays, Minangkabaus, Bataks, Acehnese, and Lampungs. Other major non-indigenous ethnic groups are Javanese , Sundanese , and Chinese . Below are 11 largest ethnic groups in Sumatra based on

10304-643: The seat of Kublai Khan at Dadu , present-day Beijing , China. Kublai received the brothers with hospitality and asked them many questions regarding the European legal and political system. He also inquired about the Pope and Church in Rome. After the brothers answered the questions he tasked them with delivering a letter to the Pope, requesting 100 Christians acquainted with the Seven Arts (grammar, rhetoric, logic, geometry, arithmetic, music and astronomy). Kublai Khan requested also that an envoy bring him back oil of

10416-582: The somewhat more detailed Italian of Giovanni Battista Ramusio, together with a Latin manuscript in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana . Other early important sources are R (Ramusio's Italian translation first printed in 1559), and Z (a 15th-century Latin manuscript kept at Toledo, Spain). Another Old French Polo manuscript, dating to around 1350, is held by the National Library of Sweden. One of the early manuscripts Iter Marci Pauli Veneti

10528-522: The standard of scholarship that one would expect in a work of this kind. Her book can only be described as deceptive, both in relation to the author and to the public at large. Questions are posed that, in the majority of cases, have already been answered satisfactorily ... her attempt is unprofessional; she is poorly equipped in the basic tools of the trade, i.e., adequate linguistic competence and research methodology ... and her major arguments cannot withstand close scrutiny. Her conclusion fails to consider all

10640-539: The tenth through thirteenth centuries, in reference to a kingdom near modern-day Banda Aceh which was the first landfall for traders. The island has also been known by other names, including Andalas or Percha Island . Scholars suggest that mention of Suwarnadwipa in the Hindu Epic the Ramayana may be a reference to Sumatra. According to experts on The Ramayana , the epic is one of the first sources to document

10752-484: The term "Sunda" has been widely adopted in earth sciences (geology-geography) as a reference for the Indonesian region, surpassing the usage of " Indonesia " in this field. The terms Greater Sunda and Lesser Sunda are commonly used in geological-geographical literature. According to Koesoemadinata, even today, in earth sciences, "Sunda Islands" is more recognized than "Indonesia Islands." "Sunda" also denotes continental shelves or landmasses. Indonesia itself has two shelves:

10864-430: The term "Sunda" to refer to the Indonesian region dates back to the claims of Claudius Ptolemaeus in 150 AD. These claims served as a reference for the Portuguese when they arrived in Indonesia in 1500 AD and explored the Sunda kingdom in West Java . They categorized the region into Greater Sunda (Sunda Besar) for the larger western islands and Lesser Sunda (Sunda Kecil) for the smaller eastern islands. Since then,

10976-474: The truthfulness of the book and defined Marco as a "prudent, honoured and faithful man". In his writings, the Dominican brother Jacopo d'Acqui explains why his contemporaries were sceptical about the content of the book. He also relates that before dying, Marco Polo insisted that "he had told only a half of the things he had seen". According to some recent research of the Italian scholar Antonio Montefusco,

11088-682: The vault of the sky during his travels. Marco told him that during his return trip to the South China Sea , he had spotted what he describes in a drawing as a star "shaped like a sack" (in Latin : ut sacco ) with a big tail ( magna habens caudam ); most likely a comet . Astronomers agree that there were no comets sighted in Europe at the end of the 13th century, but there are records about a comet sighted in China and Indonesia in 1293. This circumstance does not appear in Polo's book of travels . Peter D'Abano kept

11200-544: The very close relationship that Marco Polo cultivated with members of the Dominican Order in Venice suggests that local fathers collaborated with him for a Latin version of the book, which means that Rustichello's text was translated into Latin for a precise will of the Order. Since Dominican fathers had among their missions that of evangelizing foreign peoples (cf. the role of Dominican missionaries in China and in

11312-438: The wall constructed in the earlier periods might have existed, they were not significant or noteworthy at that time. Haw also argued that footbinding was not common even among Chinese during Polo's time and almost unknown among the Mongols. While the Italian missionary Odoric of Pordenone who visited Yuan China mentioned footbinding (it is however unclear whether he was merely relaying something he had heard as his description

11424-447: The work of Rustichello, who was giving what medieval European readers expected to find in a travel book. Apparently, from the very beginning, Marco's story aroused contrasting reactions, as it was received by some with a certain disbelief. The Dominican father Francesco Pipino was the author of a translation into Latin, Iter Marci Pauli Veneti in 1302, just a few years after Marco's return to Venice. Francesco Pipino solemnly affirmed

11536-456: Was Il libro di Marco Polo detto il Milione , which means "The Book of Marco Polo, nicknamed ' Milione ' ". According to the 15th-century humanist Giovanni Battista Ramusio , his fellow citizens awarded him this nickname when he came back to Venice because he kept on saying that Kublai Khan's wealth was counted in millions. More precisely, he was nicknamed Messer Marco Milioni (Mr Marco Millions). However, since also his father Niccolò

11648-619: Was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in The Travels of Marco Polo (also known as Book of the Marvels of the World and Il Milione , c.  1300 ), a book that described the then-mysterious culture and inner workings of the Eastern world, including the wealth and great size of

11760-440: Was a translation into Latin made by the Dominican brother Francesco Pipino  [ it ] in 1302, just a few years after Marco's return to Venice. Since Latin was then the most widespread and authoritative language of culture, it is suggested that Rustichello's text was translated into Latin for a precise will of the Dominican Order , and this helped to promote the book on a European scale. The first English translation

11872-697: Was at war with the Republic of Genoa . Polo armed a galley equipped with a trebuchet to join the war. He was probably caught by Genoans in a skirmish in 1296, off the Anatolian coast between Adana and the Gulf of Alexandretta (and not during the battle of Curzola (September 1298), off the Dalmatian coast, a claim which is due to a later tradition (16th century) recorded by Giovanni Battista Ramusio ). He spent several months of his imprisonment dictating

11984-484: Was captured by the Genoans. While imprisoned, he dictated stories of his travels to Rustichello da Pisa , a cellmate. He was released in 1299, became a wealthy merchant, married, and had three children. He died in 1324 and was buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Venice . Though he was not the first European to reach China , Marco Polo was the first to leave a detailed chronicle of his experience. His account provided

12096-449: Was known in ancient times by the Sanskrit names of Svarṇadvīpa ('Island of Gold') and Svarṇabhūmi ('Land of Gold'), because of the gold deposits in the island's highlands . The earliest known mention of the current form "Sumatra" was in 1017, when the local king Haji Sumatrabhumi ("king of the land of Sumatra") sent an envoy to China . Arab geographers referred to the island as Lamri ( Lamuri , Lambri or Ramni ) in

12208-494: Was lifted straight out of an Arthurian romance Rustichello had written several years earlier, and the account of the second meeting between Polo and Kublai Khan at the latter's court is almost the same as that of the arrival of Tristan at the court of King Arthur at Camelot in that same book. Latham believed that many elements of the book, such as legends of the Middle East and mentions of exotic marvels, might have been

12320-473: Was nicknamed Milione , 19th-century philologist Luigi Foscolo Benedetto was persuaded that Milione was a shortened version of Emilione , and that this nickname was used to distinguish Niccolò's and Marco's branch from other Polo families. His father, Niccolò Polo , a merchant, traded with the Near East , becoming wealthy and achieving great prestige. Niccolò and his brother Maffeo set off on

12432-667: Was sent on many diplomatic missions throughout his empire and in Southeast Asia, (such as in present-day Indonesia , Sri Lanka and Vietnam ), but also entertained the Khan with stories and observations about the lands he saw. As part of this appointment, Marco travelled extensively inside China, living in the emperor's lands for 17 years. Kublai initially refused several times to let the Polos return to Europe, as he appreciated their company and they became useful to him. However, around 1291, he finally granted permission, entrusting

12544-619: Was solemnly baptised at the Second Council of Lyon . At the council, Pope Gregory X promulgated a new Crusade to start in 1278 in liaison with the Mongols. Since its publication, some have viewed the book with skepticism. Some in the Middle Ages regarded the book simply as a romance or fable, due largely to the sharp difference of its descriptions of a sophisticated civilisation in China to other early accounts by Giovanni da Pian del Carpine and William of Rubruck , who portrayed

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