Their expeditions helped shape today’s world. On their endless journeys they have braved the unknown, they have crossed seas and oceans to explore our planet. On their way, they discovered oil, unknown peoples and new continents. Their names are Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo and Alexander the Great.
To discover their destiny, Sidonie Bonnec receives Stephane Dugast. He is a journalist, specialist in polar expeditions and secretary general of the Society of French Explorers. He publishes The Atlas of Great Discoveries with maps by Xemartin Laborbe published by Otherwise.
Marco Polo, the man who inspired Christopher Columbus
Marco Polo devoted 24 years of his life to travel : he left the city of the Doges at the age of 17, before returning safe and sound at the age of 41. On his way, he discovered China, but also oil.
Near the Caspian Sea he found a fountain “from which comes a liquor like oil which flows in abundance. It is not good to drink, but it burns and it cures mangy men and animals, as well as the hives of camels”, he says in his memoirs. Alexander the Great, years earlier, had already mentioned this strange viscous oil.
Marco Polo’s journey didn’t end well. When a war broke out between Venice and Genoa, two rival cities, he armed at his own expense a galley which he commanded during the battle of Curzola. Defeated, he is taken prisoner. It is between the walls of his prison that he dictates his memoirs to Rustichello, his companion in misfortune.
Several years later, Christopher Columbus reads the stories of Marco Polo. He has a revelation and decides to mount his first expedition.