Two travelers, namely Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta, travelled to China independently and while there noted their experiences by writing travel accounts. Although they both went to China, their individual experiences influenced the way they wrote. These individual experiences were primarily driven by differing cultural backgrounds, different time periods and religious beliefs.
Marco Polo was born around 1254 in Venice, Europe and was raised Catholic . Marco Polo was privileged and was able to travel to China at the age of 17 with his father and uncle . This cultural background fueled his perspective of China during the late 1200s. In his travel account Marco Polo writes about commercial trade. Marco Polo finds abundance of silk, spice, fruit,
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As possible as it was for them to have different experiences it was also possible for them to somewhat have similar experiences. Due to them both being in China, although in slightly different times, it is easy to compare their travel accounts. A similarity that occurred in both of their travel accounts is that they both wrote from what they knew. All that they had observed was mainly because of the way and where they had been raised and how that triggered their train of thought. Another similarity is that in both travel accounts religion was discussed. Even though this is a similarity, this is also where the difference comes in. The way they wrote about religion differed because of their different religious beliefs and in what ways they were devoted to their religion. Another difference to note is the different time periods in which Polo and Battuta travelled, which was late 1200s and mid-1300s, respectively. Another difference is that Marco Polo was very interested in commercial trade whereas Ibn Battuta recognised it but was not as fascinated in it as Marco Polo was. In the same way, Ibn Battuta was very observant and interested in the cultural ways of China whereas Ibn Battuta acknowledged it but was not as fascinated.
Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta had individual experiences in China