Hannah Long Honors 210 Essay 1

Preconceptions and Self-Preservation: The factors that influenced Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus

The accuracy of travel writings dating back hundreds of years is a topic with many facets. Often, parts of the original journals have been abridged or misinterpreted by editors and translators. However, not all of the blame for the inaccuracy of the accounts lies with outside parties; some of the errors stem from the travelers themselves. Though Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus traveled the world over two hundred years apart from each other, their travel records were manipulated by the same combination of powerful influences: religion, great monarchs, and the audience to which their writing catered. All three of these elements come together to muddle the actual findings of each voyage, making them less historically correct but simultaneously affording readers a glimpse of the personal motivations of Polo and Columbus. Both Polo and Columbus lived during a time when monarchs had power due to the divine right of kings. Rulers were all-powerful, and both men had to protect their own interests when describing the lands they ventured to. If they risked displeasing influential rulers with a completely accurate travel log, then they likely altered parts of the accounts to cast either themselves or their sovereigns in a better light. In Columbuss case, it is difficult to determine whether the overabundance of praise for everything in the New World is genuine or if he over exaggerated the bounty of his exploration to appease his sponsors, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castille. Columbus spent eight years attempting to convince various monarchs, including Henry VII of England and John II of Portugal, that his plan to sail west and find a shorter trade route with the Indies was worthy. He also needed to prove his aptitude as a captain. Various discrepancies between Columbuss

distance calculations and those of a panel of scholars made him an object of mockery, and he was dismissed as a hopeless visionary or a tiresomely boastful nuisance by entire royal courts (Wilford 3). After such emphatic rejection, Columbus found himself under tremendous pressure to produce positive results from his mission. Failure to do so meant that his personal humiliation would be projected onto Ferdinand and Isabella as well, an event that could have disastrous consequences for Columbus and all of Spain. To ensure that his expedition was perceived as successful beyond any shadow of a doubt, Columbus overstated the abundance of the land and the compliance of the Native Americans he found there. This was partially because he was forced to shift his sights from finding gold to extracting other resources from the land. In the beginning weeks of his journey, Columbus was optimistic about discovering immense amounts of gold. He jumped to the conclusion that because the natives wore a little piece [of gold] hung in a hole they had in their noses that there must be an abundance of the precious metal elsewhere. He resolved to sail to the southwest to seek it out (Columbus 73). Columbus also bypassed the opportunity to explore more of the island. He admitted that there may [have been] many things [he did] not know about because [he did] not want to stop, so [he could] investigate and go to many islands in order to find gold (Columbus 83). He mentions gold nearly every day until months pass without a major finding. He then seems to get more desperate, and searches for anything that would justify the cost of the voyage. He begins to speculate about the land and the possibilities for colonization and agriculture. It seems that with every new harbor the ships sail into, Columbus affirm[s] that none of all those he has ever seen equals it; and he excuse[s] himself, saying that he has lauded those of the past so much that he does not know how to praise this one (Columbus 251). He expounds on the fertility of the land, the height of the trees, and the depth and clarity of the water

in the harbor in an attempt to compensate for the fact that the crew has not found a significant supply of gold. He does this primarily to convince Ferdinand and Isabella that the mission they were so reluctant to fund is worth the time, effort, and resources they provided. He is also thinking ahead to future voyages. If he has any hope of retaining the support of the Spanish monarchy, he must first prove that he is capable of delivering on his word. Columbus promised riches, and he must find a way to supply them. Ferdinand and Isabella had the power to decide Columbuss future, and he decided that acting in his own best interests was more important than presenting the unadulterated truth. Columbus also harbors a desire to prove his audience of doubters wrong. In the same ways he exaggerates the treasures of the New World for Ferdinand and Isabella, Columbus does so to triumph over his former ridiculers. He has done what no one else dared to, and he has been largely successful. The people he writes for are part of the upper classes of Spain, including the court members and scholars who scorned him in the early stages of his plan. In his letter to Luis de Santangel, and by extension the entire Spanish court, Columbus describes a paradise of fruitful trees, nightingales, honey, metal mines, and gold-bearing rivers, where the native people eagerly surrender anything that Columbuss crew desires (Hart 2). Nowhere in the letter does he mention any snag in his plan or unpleasant surprise that arose, although there was at least one incident when a village became angry and violent. Columbus wants not only to convince the skeptics of his bravery, but also of his competence as an admiral. The letter announcing his discovery is a highly edited and enhanced version of his actual experience, and its obvious inaccuracy tells the reader more about Columbus and his selfish motivation than it does about the New World.

The final predominant factor that molds Columbuss travel journal is religion. His relatively humble, uneventful upbringing did not prepare him for the culture shock that he experienced when he laid eyes upon the first of many native people. Though most of Columbuss encounters with natives are cordial, he speaks of native people as one would speak of children: incapable, nave, and in need of guidance. He marvels at the innocence of one particular group that took [swords] by the edge and through ignorance cut themselves (Columbus 67). He fails to see the Native Americans as an advanced people with a unique culture, because in his opinion, they are subhuman. They are therefore a blank form to be molded into a copy of Western Europe. Columbus mentions that the natives he takes captive should be good and intelligent servants and he believes that they would become Christians very easily, for it seemed that they had no religion (Hart 69). Though he is condescendingly affectionate toward his hostages, Columbus cannot see them as anything other than savages to be pitied. Granted, any other Western European man in Columbuss position would have perceived the Native Americans in the same biased way. This, however, does not alter the fact that Columbus viewed Christianity as the only right way to live, and therefore injected this bias into all of his descriptions of the people he encountered. Likewise, religion is a consistent theme throughout Polos story. It is presented in the form of parable-like short stories, as a mechanism to categorize large groups of people, and most importantly as a lens through which to view Kubilai Khan. Polo claims that the Khan regards as truest and best the faith of the Christians (Polo 119), but it is unlikely that the Great Khan ever displayed a preference for Christianity over any other religion. Kubilai Khan, by Polos own account, was a truly great monarch. As such, he must have known that exhibiting partiality to one religion would estrange much of his kingdom and reveal a weakness. It stands to reason that

Polo inflated the Khans opinion of Christianity to convince European readers that their religion was indeed superior. Polo even provided a viable justification as to why the Khan will not convert. Kubilai Khan apparently worried that if he was converted to the faith of Christthen [his] barons and others who do not embrace the faith of Christ [would] say to [him]: What has induced you to undergo baptism and adopt the faith of Christ? and that he should not know what to answer (Polo 120). In Polos writing, religion is closely intertwined with the audience he wrote for. In the article Marco Polo and his Travels, Peter Jackson expresses his doubt as to how much access Marco Polo actually had to the Great Khan, and argues that as a foreigner in the imperial service, he would have been employed as part of a deliberate policy of reducing dependence on the native Chinese and therefore would have associated largely with non-Chinese (Jackson 94). In an attempt to increase his credibility with his European audience, Polo took liberties with his own importance in the Khans court. As a close friend and advisor to the Great Khan, Polo would have been privy to royal business and more reliable information than he would have as a mere foreign ambassador. Elevating his own political status boosts his believability, and therefore reinforces Polos report of the Khans personal beliefs. Polo walks a precarious line between casting the Great Khan in a positive light and reassuring a European audience that they are still superior to the people of the East. To do so, he is careful to imply that the East has the potential to be as great as the Western world, instead of explicitly naming the East as a rival. An outright comparison that favored the Great Khans empire would alienate any European audience, and Polo wants his work to be read. Thus, he attempts to win points with both sides of the world.

Marco Polo spends the majority of his travels in the empire of Kubilai Khan, arguably the most powerful man of the time. Consequently, his account of the Great Khans kingdom highlights and extends the Khans good traits while glossing over practices of which Polo disapproves. For example, Polo spends pages describing the riches and generosity of the Great Khan. The roof of the palace is all ablaze with scarlet and green and blue and yellow and all the colours that are, so brilliantly varnished that it glitters like crystal and the sparkle of it can be seen from far away (Polo 126). Not only does the Khan have advanced and extravagant tastes, but Polo asserts that Kubilai Khan is such a benevolent ruler that none of his subjects want for anything. He even manages to put a positive spin on the Khans many concubines, assuring the reader that the fathers of the daughters who are taken to the Great Khan esteem it a great favour and distinction; and those who have beautiful daughters are delighted that he should deign to accept them (Polo 123). From the biblical anecdotes included throughout the book, Marco Polo at least appears to be a religious man, and any self-respecting Christian Western European man would be at least somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of a multitude of mistresses. Polo, however, expresses none of this displeasure; instead, he focuses on the only good he can find in the situation. He reasons that the girls who were taken into the service of the Khan escaped a less fortunate fate at home, and concludes that the Khan is therefore a savior. By skating over a topic that he could have reprimanded, Marco Polo preserves the theme of inexhaustible praise for everything connected to the Great Khan. This elevation of the powerful ruler simultaneously stretches the truth and secures Polo in the Khans good graces. Christopher Columbus and Marco Polo occupied a world in which fanciful tales of exotic places and Christian views of the universe and its inhabitants shared space with the practical observations of mariners and scholars (Phillips 1). It was normal for personal opinion

to creep into a factual account, if only for the sake of a better story. Small embellishments dispersed throughout their travel logs may have seemed harmless at the time the writings were published; after all, in order for word of their journeys to spread, the books had to appeal to a wide audience. However, the religious bias that was an inherent part of both mens worldview, as well as a need to appease their respective sovereigns and countries, played into their accounts so much that it is difficult for modern analysts to separate fact from fiction. Though this presents a setback in terms of historical accuracy, the logs give readers a rare glimpse into the real world of hundreds of years ago. The imperfections make the writing human and personal; they leave room for debate and breathe life into a stale topic. It is true that Polo and Columbus produced flawed accounts of the lands they observed, but the faults serve to augment our modern understanding of the Age of Discovery.

Works Cited Columbus, Christopher. The Diario of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage to America, 14921493. Ed. artolom e Las Casas. Trans. Oliver C. Dunn and James E. Kelley, Jr. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1989. Print. Jackson, Peter. Marco Polo and His Travels. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. University of London. Vol. 61, No. 1 (1998): pp. 82-101. Print. Phillips Jr., William . Africa and the Atlantic Islands meet the Garden of Eden: Christopher Columbuss View of America. Journal of World History. Vol. 3, No. 2 (Fall, 1992): pp. 149164. Web. Polo, Marco. The Travels of Marco Polo. Trans. R. E. Latham. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1976. Print. Wilford, John N. Columbus and the Labyrinth of History. (1991): pp. 66-86. Print. "The Letter of Columbus to Luis De Santangel Announcing His Discovery." American History Leaflets; Colonial and Constitutional. Ed. Albert Bushnell Hart and Edward Channing. New York: A. Lovell &, 1892. N. pag. Print. Works Consulted Cordier, Henri. Marco Polos Travels. The Geographical Journal, Vol. 26, No. 6 (Dec., 1905): pp. 686-687. Web. Letts, Malcolm. Marco Polo: iscussion. The Geographical Journal, Vol. 120, No. 3 (Sep., 1954): pp. 312-313. Web.