Highlighted Resources: Possible Starting Places
"Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, And Zheng He: Early Connectors," PBS Learning Media.
Antonio Ratti, "The
Travels Of Marco Polo: There And Back Again,"
National Geographic History Magazine (September/October 2019): 60-75.
"Ibn Battuta," Extra History, March 2020:
Part 1,
The Great Traveler
(9 mins)
Part 2, Mongols And Mystics
(9 mins)
Part 3, The Mad Sultan
(9 mins)
Part 4, Escape To China
(9 mins)
Part 5, Plague And Homecoming
(9 mins)
Vedran Bileta, "Admiral
Zheng He: China's Forgotten Master Of The High Seas,"
The Collector, December 1, 2022.
Highlighted Resources: Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta And Zheng He In The News
Anna Bressanin, "The
Travels Of Marco Polo: The True Story Of A 14th-Century Bestseller,"
BBC Travel, January 8, 2024.
Rossi Thomson, "The Travel Guides That Charted Our Worlds," BBC Travel, August 20, 2018.
Zoe Murphy, "Zheng
He: Symbol Of China's 'Peaceful Rise,'"
BBC News, July 28, 2010.
Highlighted Resources: Audio And Visual Sources
"The Man Who Walked Across The World," BBC, 2007: Tim
Mackintosh-Smith's epic re-tracing of the great 14th-century Moroccan
traveler's journeys.
"In
The Footsteps Of Marco Polo,"
PBS (86 mins): Two film-makers follow Marco Polo from Venice to China.
"The
Ming Voyages," In
Our Times, BBC Radio 4, October 13, 2011: A 45-minute audio documentary
that explores the legacies of Zheng He's voyages.
Highlighted Resources: Articles
Guillermo Sancho, "Marco
Polo: Renowned Merchant, Explorer And Travel Writer,"
The Collector, February 17, 2023.
Douglas Bullis, "The Longest Hajj: The Journey Of Ibn Battuta," Saudi Aramco World (July/August 2000): A superb three-part overview of Battuta's Travels. See below for links to the different sections of the article.
Part 1 -- From Pilgrim To Traveler (Tangier To Makkah)
