The Not-So-Barbarian

I have started to read Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, a Cuban storyteller that was raised and lived almost his entire life in Italy. So far into the book, it is a series of very short descriptions of many different cities, all of them unknown (to me, at least). But the part that caught my attention the most was the prologue, where Calvino talks about Kublai Kahn and his reunion with Marco Polo.


Kublai Khan was born in the empire of Mongolia in the year 1215. Being the grandson of the infamous Ghenghis Khan, logic would say he was a cruel and violent barbarian. Think again. Kublai Khan rose to power after his brother was killed, and he was characterized for being a very benevolent ruler. His clan, the Mongols, had conquered China and they managed it, as historians say, with land- hungry, apathetic rulers. Kublai Kahn was the exception.

Kublai Kahn

He was a ruler that broke the mold of his predecessors. He understood the people he leaded. He won the right to rule after defeating his younger brother in battle, and he was established as the fifth Great Khan in 1260. The fifth Khan changed his role from conqueror to ruler, and with that changes came many advances in culture in his empire. One of the great changes he made in the Mongol Empire was that he surrounded himself with advisers from different religions that were in his territory. This established religious freedom for all his subjects. He also created aid agencies, encouraged the use of the postal service, established paper currency, upgraded the roads in his empire and expanded waterways.  




His reign over the Mongol Empire coincided with Marco Polo's journey toward the East. Marco Polo was a young merchant from Venice who traveled with his uncle and father to China, where he met Kublai Khan. The details about his visit are very unclear, but it is known that Kublai Khan grew very close to Marco Polo and used him as a military advisor. At the same time, Polo took advantage of this opportunity and soaked in the cultural, economical and political advances from the Mongolian Empire. Unfortunately, Marco Polo's stories about China were not very well received in Italy; many people thought they were mad man's tales. 

Marco Polo and Kublai Kahn

The relationship between the Venetian merchant and the Mongol emperor is a very unexpected relationship, but it seems as if they trust each other a lot. They share everything with each other, including hopes, fears, dreams, anything that comes to mind. Their friendship will be something to follow throughout the book.