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Primary sourceBookc. 1300

Reading of Marco Polo's Book 1, Chapter 22: The City of Cambaluc

Marco Polo · c. 1300

A modern audio reading of Marco Polo's own description of the city and markets of Cambaluc (Beijing).

A reading of Polo's own description of Cambaluc (Beijing), one of the cities he recorded during his travels through Asia.

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Modern audio reading of Marco Polo, Book 1, Chapter 22: Concerning the City of Cambaluc, describing the Yuan Dynasty capital during the Silk Road era.

About this source

What it is

This is an audio recording of a passage from Marco Polo's travel account, Book 1, Chapter 22, which describes the city of Cambaluc (modern Beijing) and its bustling markets during the Yuan Dynasty, when the city was a stop on the Silk Road.

Why it matters

Polo's description gives a rare outsider's view of one of the great cities of the medieval world, written from his own travels through Mongol-ruled Asia. It shows what impressed a Venetian merchant about trade, population and urban life far from Europe.

Look closer

Note: this recording is a modern reading of the text, not Marco Polo's own voice.

  • What details does Polo focus on when describing the city — trade, people, or something else?
  • Why might a merchant like Polo be especially interested in markets and traffic?
  • What might this account leave out about daily life in Cambaluc?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Marco Polo on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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