Marco Polo: Man of Mystery
Controversies
Marco's Birth
First off the controversy over where Marco Polo was born, there are 3 places he was said to have been born. Korcula, Croatia (http://www.korcula.net/mpolo/) claims that he was born there because Lucius Polus was said to have been the ancestor of the Polos and he lived in Korcula.
Venice, Italy is where Marco is also have said to have been born because Marco grew up in Venice and lived there for a while until he was 15 (Hull, 1995).
Curzola, off the coast of Dalmatia was also supposed to have been Marco Polo's birthplace (http://www.silk-road.com/artl/marcopolo.shtml). Niccolo and Maffeo had a trading post in Corzola and it is not certain whether or not Marco was born there.
Did Marco Polo Go To China
There is a controversy whether Marco Polo did go to China. There is some evidence that he didn't. Hull (1995) says Marco left out gunpowder in his book which would have been widely used in China. That leads me to think that he did not go to China. There is a book published by Frances Wood (1996) that challenges if Marco Polo ever did go to China. She sited some evidence that Marco Polo didn't go to China. She pointed out that Marco's vocabularly is more Persian than Chinese. She believes that Marco Polo never made it farther than the families trading post on the Black Sea and in Constantinople. Others have noted Marco left out descriptions of the foot binding and the Great Wall of China in his book (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/mpolo44-46.html). But geographers believe that Marco's book is incredibly accurate which seems to say that he did go to China (Comptons Encyclopedia 1985). But Marco may have just picked up information on China and said that he found that out. I sent an email to Frances Wood asking her where she found that information, and she never wrote back.
Marco's Death
Marco was supposed to have died in 1324, that is what most references say. Hull gives information that says he died January 8th 1324 (1995). But Comptons Encyclopedia says he died in around 1323 which is not really a surprise since he was said to have died in early 1324.