Accidentally Inspiring Colonialism | Marco Polo

[@OverlySarcasticProductions]

Great video! It really goes to show that even when two channels inadvertently cover the same topic a week apart, there are still so many different aspects to discuss! I'm glad I could lend my voice to this video as a medieval Google Maps :D -Blue

[@mgt6814]

eyyy, wassup bud, love your channel too

[@UltraMush]

I really love your videos man

[@joeevans5770]

And they said Avengers Endgame was the biggest crossover of 2019

[@KnowingBetter]

Us history youtubers don't really keep up with what each other is making, so this was bound to happen at some point. I'm just glad I was able to come at it from another angle!

[@chamuchamupalchamperry6686]

Uhhh, I'm at 8 minutes and apparently this was commented 3 days ago... wtf?

[@CogitoEdu]

"No guys I'm serious I was hanging out with some serious babes on my trip. I even have a girlfriend now....she lives in Cipangu...totally a real place."

[@selahanany5645]

@@gatorteg9315 early access

[@Halophage]

Interestingly, Japan seems to think they're Cipangu (or Zipangu as they call it) so I guess Marco Polo is just a big weeb.

[@CNNR_-iz9wc]

Lol

[@wudupfammm8555]

@@CNNR_-iz9wc i identify as nissan

[@SonofSethoitae]

@@Halophage they think that because it's true

[@marcopolo2395]

hey dude my book does not have fabrications, embellishments or dismembered facts. You will hear further from my lawyers.

[@kingfacedown4132]

A little to perfect 😂

[@avzarathustra6164]

Lol.

[@L-mo]

Marco Polo did you bring spaghetti (noodles) back to Italy?

[@eliad6543]

oh shit watch out there's green salty water

[@leonardodavid2842]

Remember you didn’t write the book.

[@iammrbeat]

So The Travels of Marco Polo is basically The Hobbit.

[@joemiller947]

Hey Mr. Beat Fancy seeing you here

[@BoisegangGaming]

The trilogy or the original? Because it seems to me like it's more like the trilogy.

[@joenotexotic4872]

Hey Mr Beat Nice seeing you

[@eddiejc1]

I'm sure that when the English discovered New Zealand they had a copies of all of JRR Tolkien's works with them. Even though he wouldn't be born for a century or so.

[@brendan9868]

In a hole in the ground there lived an Italian merchant...

[@SophsNotes]

Listen, the reason I walk so fast is because every place I go is just a quick detour on the way to Hamid’s for some of that falafel I've read so much about...

[@quinn5109]

I walk fast too. I also talk fast. And read fast. And watch youtube on 2x. My friends say I bike fast when I'm going slow. I can change clothes really fast. Maybe I'm just always in a rush.

[@billybob9495]

@Leaving Blank wtf is wrong with you?

[@felixbeutin9530]

@Leaving Blank the hell ?

[@xxbeans93xx76]

@@felixbeutin9530 what did @leaving blank do

[@felixbeutin9530]

@@xxbeans93xx76 dunno but i think it was something sexist

[@JeevesAnthrozaurUS]

The real Travels of Marco Polo was the friends we made along the way

[@petergriffintv8315]

Jeeves Anthrozaur and thats what this is all about

[@Missing_Nin]

The One piece*

[@mohammedjalloh7658]

The gold we bought along the way*

[@fadhil2831]

@@Missing_Nin i know its joke but oda says the treassure one piece is Physical thing

[@JJoy-bk8yr]

It would be silly for someone today to call a rhino a unicorn, but words shift meaning over time. Unicorn literally means one horn and this was before all those tapestries with the snow white horsey goaty critter were woven. At the time, the word fit the animal he saw.

[@L-mo]

Goaty? Which tapestries you been lookin at??!

[@JJoy-bk8yr]

@@L-mo Google "The Unicorn in Captivity," believed to be woven around 1500 and part of a series "The Hunt of the Unicorn." The unicorn has cloven hooves and a beard.

[@7PlayingWithFire7]

Unicorn? Means one horn? In what language?

[@Ocrilat]

@@7PlayingWithFire7 Middle English: via Old French from Latin unicornis, from uni-‘single’ + cornu‘horn’

[@L-mo]

7PlayingWithFire7 Middle Earth-ish

[@seb_5969]

In his defense, a lot of temples are covered in gold and it would not take many reiterations to make some people claim they are made out of gold...

[@dorkmax7073]

3:00 In Biblical lore, the Ark is said to have landed in the Mountains of Ararat, far to the north of Mesopotamia. Armenia is mountainous country, including one Mt. Ararat. If Marco Polo mentions this, he's probably just trying to create a frame of reference for the land by connecting it with places and events a medieval audience would already know about.

[@felinecontrolled]

Cipangu has entire cities built of gold. *Europeans have entered the chat*

[@EduardoEscarez]

Land: exists Europeans: _It's free real state_

[@randommodnar7141]

Spaniards have entered the chat

[@EduardoEscarez]

@@randommodnar7141 The Portuguese, French, English, German, Dutch have entered the chat

[@L-mo]

What you mean they didn’t just want to travel, discover new peoples, explore new places and make new friends? And boldly go where no white men had gone before??

[@lucofparis4819]

@@L-mo Actually, that's pretty much what the French did for their first colonial empire. They didn't even fought the Indians. They allied to them and established fur trade with them. Except with the Iroquois of course... Those guys allied to the British, since they were enemies of the Indians that allied themselves with the French. The deal was basically that the French were a good way to act as a buffer with imperialistic UK. That went well until the American colonists helped the Brits winning against the French during the Seven Years War. Things went out very grim for the Indians afterwards...

[@thefryingdutchman8795]

The part about dogs in Siberia is a actually accurate. The Caucasian mountain dog has been breed in the Caucasus mountains for centuries. They're fairly common in Russia and Georgia are are notable for their large size and they were historically used for bear hunting.

[@hanwenyap]

So should Tartar sauce be called Mongolian sauce?

[@JimmyMon666]

now I am wondering how it got it's name. Why would you name a seafood sauce out of a landlocked nation hundreds of miles (if not thousands) from the sea?

[@otto_jk]

Almost every Tartar lives in russia not in Mongolia

[@Virjunior01]

Hey... go to a Spanish supermarket in the states, and you'll notice: -worcestshire sauce = English sauce -soy sauce = soya or China sauce

[@Copyright_Infringement]

@@otto_jk Nowadays, I'm sure you're correct. Remember also that Poland used to only have the eastern half of modern-day Poland, but also the entirety of Belarus, most of Ukraine and a significant chunk of Europeän Russia, and that it had some variation of those borders for most of its history, even stretching back to when it was called Ruthenia. You may even know that the Indo-Europeäns the people who now inhabit homelands across Europe, the Middle East, and northern India, originally had their homeland on the northwest shore of the Caspian. The Mongols are ancestors not just of those who still bear their name or live in the same place, but of a variëty of peoples, including the modern-day Manchu, the anciënt Mughals of India, and the Uighurs of Xinjiang. People from the city of Rome are not the only descendants of the Romans.

[@otto_jk]

@@Copyright_Infringement The Mongolians and Tartars are their own distinct ethnic groups. Your argument is as valid as calling the Belarussians Polish because historic Poland included modern Belarus.

[@collinsagyeman6131]

7:57 Now here I am actually gonna defend Marco Polo. The word unicorn as we know it comes from the Latin “unicornis” meaning having one horn. Rhinos can also be called “Bicornis” meaning having two horns. Hell the scientific name for the Black rhino is“Diceros Bicornis”. What we currently know as a unicorn is a perversion of the word which was actually very commonly used in the past and did not refer to any kind of horse. TL;DR Unicorn is just a really old timey way of saying one-horned rhino. You know you really shouldn’t demonize a guy for something that’s not his fault. He spoke Medieval Venetian, probably heavily accented due to his time in Asia. I’m sure he’s guilty of some crimes but knowledge of 21st century English should certainly not be one of them

[@brianwhite8465]

And there's an extinct variety of single-horned rhino that's scientific name translates to "Siberian unicorn".

[@humanOctupus]

I didn’t think he was demonizing Marco at all and he prefaces the video stating Marco was recalling places and events decades after they happened and he wasn’t even writing it himself. So I don’t think he blames Marco at all or anybody really just circumstances.

[@hopseshopsidis]

Sea of Qin means Sea of China. The first Chinese dynasty was the Qin dynasty. Qin is also the origin of the word China

[@ManiaMadden]

Gibil Gasser yeah I felt he could’ve done more research there

[@huge7800]

Qin was merely the first dynasty the romans had contact with, not the first dynasty. It is the origin of the name "China" though.

[@eliad6543]

I think his problem was about it being written with a "Q"?

[@hopseshopsidis]

@@huge7800 Qin Shi Huangdi of Qin was the first emperor of China, making the Qin dynasty the first imperial dynasty

[@hopseshopsidis]

@@huge7800 and btw Romans had contact to the Han dynasty. The Qin dynasty was way before that time

[@konstantinossfoungaris8474]

7:52 "He also describes giraffes which he calls 'camelopards'". Yes, that's another word from giraffe that has Greek etymology, and seems like has been used in English in the past as well

[@cnquistador]

12:43 Say what you will about this show, but casting Benedict Wong as Kublai Khan was a spark of genius.

[@yannick245]

How were u able to watch it yesterday?

[@bsamaniac305]

Dafuq is this?

[@kaylim9489]

@@yannick245 patreon

[@yannick245]

@@kaylim9489 Ay, thanks!

[@thekingofcubing4224]

How 1 day ago???

[@thomasturner6980]

Marco Polo: China is amazing, except from the green salty water

[@danials1447]

ThomasTurner69 what is green salty water?

[@TheOneAndOnlyNeuromod]

This isn’t too far off from algal blooms that occur due to polluting waters...which make you sick.

[@EugeneAyindolmah]

@@danials1447 algae?

[@DarthVader1977]

Palestine is beautiful.

[@drewestification]

2019 internet historians: Reeeeeee

[@James--Parker]

I use to conqueror the world like you, but then I took a arrow to the knee. -Genghis Khan

[@Garhunt05]

*Laughs in Tamerlame*

[@frankshearman2755]

Lol, I was thinking the same thing

[@makerstudios5456]

“Dogs to hunt tigers...somehow”. Dude, there are lots of dog breeds used to hunt large predators like lions tigers and bears. Rhodesian ridgebacks were used to hunt lions. Pit bulls weigh less than 100 lbs and used to fight bulls that can weigh a standard ton. Blue heelers are less than 50lbs and intimidate cattle 20 times their size.

[@givemeyoureggs456]

Plus If you have speed and pack hunting, you can practically kill anything

[@qwertyuiop9060]

I find that Knowing better's video's are often looking for a reason to be butthurt. Most of the stuff actually makes sense. Check out Biographics channel..it seems much more authentic

[@clarenceonyekwere5428]

Yeah that sounded weird. Dogs are important in hunting big game, even small dogs.

[@makerstudios5456]

Search “lions vs Maasai dog”.

[@AttaBek1422]

@@qwertyuiop9060 Ah yes Biographics. Because nothing says ‘content’ like a generic white English man reading off a Wikipedia page for 20 minutes

[@corey5032]

Europe: Alright Marco we got some maps made on your very accurate book, so mind helping us find that gold? Marco Polo: About that...

[@anishbagri6724]

Wait... this actually makes a lot of sense as to why everyone thought there was gold in the Americas and why all the maps were so wack. Great video KB!

I am from Dominican Republic and the north part of the island is call Cibao. the are some theories about the name Cibao comes from the word Cipangu. Do that in the beginner colon thought that he was in cipangu.

[@luismijangos7844]

Very interesting, Juan Carlos. It's entirely possible. Saludos amigo.

[@Shibbymatt]

Nice try but we know you are just keeping all the gold for yourself.

[@funtimebruh2079]

I started watching you 2 years ago and now i am 13 and you were one of my biggest inspirations for things i like

[@yetigriff]

I used to think his name was mark o'polo and he was irish

[@doricashu4984]

Lmaooo 😂😂 this is a good one

[@zhubajie6940]

Having been to Yangzhou many times for business, the locals told me that Marco Polo was the salt commissioner not the governor/mayor of Yangzhou. However, I don't know where they got their information from and if credible sources or that it is just a local legend.

[@boborson5536]

Depends on the translation. But usually people consider that he just had a low level clerk job, based on things he said. KB failed to mention that Marco Polo was employed by the Khan for many years as a tax collector, making him going to Yangzhou as a clerk/commissioner way more likely.

[@Sajirah]

10:23 Just FYI, 'Qin' is actually indeed the correct spelling of that word. Qs have a 'ch' sound in Chinese. That's why 'China' is named after Emperor 'Qin'.

[@williamkarbala5718]

Yellow is symbol of the emperor of China so the roofs of Chinese imperial buildings were painted yellow which could have been mistaken for gold

[@Apotheosis01]

Hol up I clicked on the video AS SOON as I got the notification but these comments are three days old

[@supermaniav87]

Available to patrons first as an unlisted video? Idk

[@kveeder3224]

You get the notification when he makes it public. He uploaded it early, either unlisted or privately so that his friends can look for mistake.

[@gavintantleff]

@@kveeder3224 no patreons get it early

[@mariuspequeno2175]

i want to like but i am not allowed to

[@totherarf]

......... Well if Patrons spot a glaring error he can edit before publishing it openly! A bit like proof readers but they pay for it!

[@brgorham68]

I knew that was Blue from OSP as soon as he started talking. It's always great to see quality creators working together.

[@alejandroochoa559]

There were giant birds in madagascar. They were not eagles but it is undestandable how tales of a giant bird would get distorted through verbal accounts and translations into a giant eagle. These giant flightless birds went extinct between 1000-1200 CE so it makes sense their, existance although distorted, was still present in culture in a way that might have seemed plausible during Maro Polo's time since he was born in 1254 CE. The roc (rukh) is known from Sindbad the Sailor's encounter with one in One Thousand and One Nights. Some scholars think the roc is a distorted account of Aepyornis. Historical evidence for this can be found in Megiser (1623).

[@sokar_rostau]

You forgot to mention that those giant flightless birds in Madagascar are known today as Elephant Birds. Not sure when they got the name but Elephant Bird could easily be garbled into a bird big enough to devour an elephant. There was also the giant Haast's Eagle in New Zealand that preyed upon the Moa and went extinct around 1400. Moas were related to Elephant Birds so it's actually kind of true (if you squint) that there were giant eagles capable of taking an elephant (bird) at the time of Polo's travels. I don't now the context of Polo's report but it wouldn't be too difficult for traders in Asia to garble similar accounts of animals on different far away islands into a single story. The Maori began to colonise New Zealand only about 60 years after Polo returned home, so it isn't beyond the realm of possibility for Polynesian reports of new islands to get passed along the trade networks back to Indonesia, then on into China.

[@TheOneAndOnlyNeuromod]

FYI, giraffes ARE camelopards. That’s where their species name comes from - Giraffa camelopardalis. Yes, a lot of it cannot be substantiated as of HIS journeys. But, not everything is outside of possibility. Hawks that can carry elephants? No. Siberia being the “land of darkness” - it can very well be (if that’s how you see a barren expanse of cold)

[@useodyseeorbitchute9450]

During polar night the name would be suitable ;)

[@mottmatt7844]

Great video about one of my fave themes, ancient and medieval geography. But there's a few things I have to nitpick: 1) Camelopards/Unicorns: Both were pretty common Latin names for these animals at the time. 2) The journey of 15 days: In travel books of that it was common to not mention which mode of transport you'd need for a journey. 3) Qin is still a pretty common spelling of ancient China (e.g. qin dynasty) Although he might have been the origin of the spelling. I still highly doubt that he went to China but these points are not what make his accounts ridiculous.

[@minutemansam1214]

I mean, he probably went to China, he just exaggerated his journey. He accurately describes cities that only someone who'd been there would know.

[@halfaworldaway]

Cipangu's golden city reminds me of something: Only a few years ago, the Swedish tourist board was bombarded by calls from Chinese men who sought information about 'Chako Paul City' - a supposed grand walled metropolis made up entirely of lesbians.

[@gervinspoos]

Marco? Accidentally inspiring masses of people to explore the unknown? Polo?

[@dantealighieri2606]

Hey, KB! Just wanted to thank you for doing some videos on me a while back! Keep up the good work!

[@joefrew1614]

Marco Polo: Ah yes, Madagascar has plenty of unicorns and long necked camelopes and elephant snatching hawks, and the Himalayas have very naughty, epic women and weird mountain monks that can do dope stunts jumping off the mountains... Also, Cipangu is a very rich island with tons and tons of gold, so much that their houses are literally gold, go west Colombus

[@LarsBlitzer]

This makes me think that Gulliver's Travels was at least partially inspired by Marco Polo, and is MUCH more satirical than fantastical than we usually think these days.

[@AbandonedVoid]

@@LarsBlitzer Yes

[@stephenwright8824]

@@LarsBlitzer Nope. Jonathan Swift, who's known in the British Isles as _Ascendancy Irish_ , wrote it as an allegory criticising the participants of three election cycles in the then (and later) semi-autonomous Irish Parliament.

[@JackRackam]

Shoot, found this video a few minutes after it was posted and now I have to come up with something clever to say

[@rabbiteighteen4012]

Make a video instead

[@JackRackam]

@@rabbiteighteen4012 Roasted

[@taxis_net]

Love your content Jack

[@loonachan]

"Hey guys look at all this cool stuff I saw in the far east!" "Hmm that's cool let's take it over." "Shit no wait-"

[@levongevorgyan6789]

Well, those Easterns already took over parts of the WEst, so fair play.

[@mattimusreximus]

So glad to see the subscriber count wayyy up. I have been watching your videos for a about a year now . I truly enjoy the content and your presentation of facts over opinion. Another thing that is refreshing on KZbin is the vulnerability you wear on your sleeve. I'm sure you don't need to hear it from me but keep it up.

[@dewayner5388]

Qin (pronounced Chin) is how it would be spelled in modern times too. Makes me wonder if they had an Arabicized Chinese that Polo pulled from when transliterating words.

[@3st3st77]

The thing is, Qin is actually not pronounced the same way as "Chin". Those are two completely different sounds in Chinese (for the Ch-sound you have your tongue curled back in the mouth similarly to the English R, while the tip is on your lower teeth for Q). It's COMPLETELY different, no confusion has ever come out of that. No, but seriously there is a difference.

[@TheRenegade...]

@@3st3st77 ENGLISH Chin

[@libacus4741]

I showed your channel to my dad who is a history professor in NYU and he suggests multiple of your videos on his google classroom.

[@g.v.3493]

I was in cipangu! I saw a temple of gold!! (It’s called Kinkakuji and it’s in Kyoto).

[@BrianLane21]

I just found your channel. I'm a pattreon for Beau of the Fifth Column. In his discord, someone mentioned your channel, and said you did a history channel. I'm a huge history and government buff, so I thought I'd check you out. Love the content, you got a new subscriber.

[@Chewbaccafruit]

Well "unicorn" means "one horned", and the Indian rhinoceros he would have seen in Asia have only one horn so he's technically not wrong on that

[@1994CPK]

I love the smell of colonialism in the morning.

[@EugeneAyindolmah]

*God save the Queen plays*

[@MosoKaiser]

Smells like... profit.

[@levongevorgyan6789]

Marco Polo literally described colonialism in his book. Turkomania: TUrkic colonialist states in native Caucasus and Anatolian lands.

[@CrimsonCynder]

I love when you crossover into literature/ historiography. Please give more.

[@danz1182]

I always enjoy your videos. The legend of El Dorado isn't drawn from Marco Polo. It is drawn from tales of an Andean tribe that covered new leaders in gold dust as part of a sort of coronation and that threw treasure into a lake to appease a god during the ceremony. The Spaniards heard these legends from coastal tribes in South America. Tales of fabled cities of wealth are present in many cultures. The death of vast numbers of people in the Americas from mere contact with Europeans, let alone their actions, is truly a great tragedy, but improving naval technology and the danger involved in rounding the Cape of Good Hope, even in a stout ship, would have sent Europeans (especially non-Portuguese) looking for a route across the Atlantic to Asia within 20 or 30 years anyway, and they would have brought with them all Eurasia's plagues. Different vector, same result, Marco Polo not required (I think you made this point in your Columbus video). You also make it sound like Marco Polo's Travels was somehow uniquely inaccurate. That may have been unintentional on your part. No matter where you go in the world if a local is describing someplace far away pre-Industrial Age, even if the local has supposedly been there, the greater the distance, the more elements of fantasy/distortion creep in. Just look at Chinese accounts of the Roman Empire (Da Qin).

[@cebenify]

Bold of you to assume that Arthurian writers let characters drive the plot

[@cheeseonyomama]

Keep doing your shit man! I casually watched your videos but things like 8:30 to :10:00 -ish are why I'm happy I subscribed.

[@peregrination3643]

I appreciate hilarious ad transitions. Imagine, Marco Polo pulling up the Internet and signing up for Skillshare....

[@TheSlasherJunkie]

The fact that your ringtone was the Power Rangers beep filled me with joy.

[@troublemaker1778]

In my Russian-school the mongols were called “Mongol-tartars”

[@hatonhatsoff]

Trouble Maker well I believe china called mongal tribes tar tars

[@stephenwright8824]

English-born author Edward Rutherfurd in his novel "RUSSKA" credits the popularity of the word Tartar (or _Tatar_ ) to the Russians of the era of the White Horde, and says the word was confusedly applied to anyone who worked for the Khan before the invasion of Russia.

[@EdSmith7464]

Good Ol' KB! Keep posting history related videos like this one. Very informative, as always.

[@AlternateHistoryHub]

9:50: If you ever want to catch White Falcons, go to Greenland apparently

[@cowyeti21]

AlternateHistoryHub hi

[@cheetahnuts39gaming81]

Im new to this channel ive watched 2 videos so far, but I love it. This channel is different talking about the unpopular opinions and debunking popular myths

[@borkwoof696]

The nerflix show is actually really underrated

[@blazingphantom2813]

Yeah. It got cancelled sadly

[@soullesseater9327]

@Mc Water Too much inaccuracies as well

[@SarahWilk100]

Active Marine here, you remind me alot of a crew chief I used to talk to, I might constantly want to debate/have an intellectual discussion with you but overall keep up the good work!

[@ho-hyongyoo3251]

Yuan Dynasty was very interesting and diverse empire. It affected entire Asia one way or another and It still does to this day. I am loving you are doing more Asian Videos! Keep on the good work Mr. Knowing Better. Love from South Korea.

[@Timon-IrishFolk]

The Yuan Dynasty, especially under Kublai, was the first instance of widespread religious freedom and people tend to sadly ignore how actually remarkably ably well that went a lot

[@alexanderchristopher6237]

@@Timon-IrishFolk that was already happening under his predecessors, the empire of Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan believes in freedom of religion and only punishes those who rebelled against him.

[@Timon-IrishFolk]

@@alexanderchristopher6237 But Ghenghis in general was a rebel against the old guard, he often times promoted based on merit not on rank. Kublai however inherited that massive Empire with lots of rebellions and the Mongols being the minority and such but just kept it tolerant. Ghenghis was in a way "meant" to be tolerant but Kublai made it real, actual policy in an Empire

[@lucyadam9128]

​@@Timon-IrishFolk the yuan dynasty is regarded as one of the worst dynasties of China They used a cast system dependent on race

[@ArtieStern09]

you have an awesome channel. since i cut down drinking i enjoy watching your episodes at night to keep my mind occupied

[@AfroAsiaticLanguages]

Marco Polo was one of Netflix's best shows.

[@eazybuxafew]

You guys are getting really good with these plugs

[@recomoto]

You made my day ten times better. I also got to know better hell yeah!

[@thebonesaw..4634]

My wife and I walk at vastly different speeds as well, she also walks at the Formula 1 level and gets quite angry that I... don't.

[@neutronalchemist3241]

1) It's not clear if Marco said to have been the governor of Yangzou, since this particular is absent in some of the older known copies of his book. 2) It's not like we have anything resembling a complete, or even a fragmentary list of the governors of Yangzou, or of Kublai's reign's VIPs. Chinese records are far from complete, and, in particular for the early Yuan dinasty, THEY ARE VERY SCARCE. Much of the Chinese texts on Kublay's reign with wich we compare Marco Polo's account to decide if he was right or not HAD BEEN WRITTEN WELL AFTER "THE TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO", SOMETIMES MORE THAN A CENTURY LATER". 3) Actually, for incredible it might seem, if you put men, women, horses and camels in a convoy, they travel at the same pace. 4) Marco Polo's account on China is not the only one written until 1492. MANY other travelers had been there at that point. Several had been within few years from the return of Marco, and many wrote their own accounts. It only happens that Marco's one is the most complete. 5) Try to write something better.

[@felipecarrera9127]

I have missed your videos and voice. Being asperger is soothing learning like this with you

[@shingshongshamalama]

"Children have been doing it in swimming pools for decades." Uh phrasing.

[@OnettBoyXD]

It's a reference to the game called Marco Polo.

[@mikejerome5216]

The back and forth with the other youtuber was great. You two had great chemistry ;)

[@caolanfeely4317]

Mike Jerome Yeah accept the little ac Odessey incident

[@lordmango545]

Honestly I’m impressed with this channel I learn something new every time I click on a video

[@McHaven07]

A day's journey, or just, a journey (from the French "jour", meaning "day", was something of a unit of distance; it was the distance one could walk comfortably in a day, do business, and then come home, so something like 10 miles; it's one of the reasons most settlements throughout history were around 10-15 miles apart. PS: I need that ringtone

[@Sorenzo]

Hey, Prester John did exist. He even sent a delegation to the Vatican, who were apparently totally cool with the whole race thing, but they did insist on calling their king Prester John despite them insisting he had a native Ethiopian name that would be much more appropriate.

[@featherpuke]

Yay ! I get to see a video as it’s posted !!! This is exciting

[@featherpuke]

Wait, there are comments from a day ago, I feel like I’ve done this before when getting a notification for a video

[@featherpuke]

WAS THIS VIDEO UNLISTED UNTIL NOW ?

[@fedrikrose2277]

4:19 people back in the day were easier to impress 4:58 due to him telling this decades after the actual travel and the writer not being a traveler himself. Considering also they had to communicate in "French" which wasn't their mother tongue, it is highly probable that Marco Polo meant another region of China. 5:30 even considering how easy people could have been impressed, he could have not being impressed by a wall made of dirt and mud and probably it was impossible to him to realize how big it was. Also, the Polo family was formed of merchant. 7:00 remember that Rustichello was a writer and probably he could have modified the story making it more heroic and adventurous 7:36 probably he was referring to the tibetan mastiff. 7:48 he might have mistaken Sri Lanka fot Madagascar 8:17 again Rustichello. Marco Polo has never traveled to Japan and considering how weak was the Mongol navy, he might have been told so by a Chinese or a Mongol. In conclusion, Marco Polo did travel to China, however I think the book was too much over the edge between reality and fiction, due to Marco Polo being a merchant unable to speak Mongol and Chinese with a little understanding of the situation and Rustichello being a writer.

[@jonaspeoples6931]

Been waiting soooo long for a new one... love your vids!!!!

[@sictoabu9611]

10:35 "I doubt there are that many islands in the world." Depending on the source, the Philippines has approximately 7,107 to 7,108 islands. 👋

[@tonydai782]

Annnnnddd, immediately afterwards in the video it is mentioned that that is hyperbole

[@filippoformoso9690]

One of the best educational channels out there, keep up with the good work! Talking about historical books full of dubious claims, have you thought about Seven Pillars of Wisdom by Lawrence of Arabia?

[@stirrcrazy2704]

This really breaks the plot of national treasure 2.

[@jsiddall5832]

I'm really loving each of these videos. I'm trying to play catch up on the rest of them. There are a couple topics I would love to see: 1) Military spending. Do we really need to spend this much when Congress has not declared war? 2) Legalization of drugs. What are the consequences/benefits? I love your research. Keep it up.

[@theshamanite]

When I learned German, my pseudonym was Kai.

[@iamspamus8784]

10:33 Just so you know these islands could refer to the Philippines (7,000+ islands), Indonesia (17,000+ islands) and Malaysia (~880 islands). Plus add in the islands of Vietnam, Thailand, etc. These would be in the right place...ish.

[@PandemoniumMeltDown]

Ah man, you're so screwed now. I'm calling you Serge.

[@golfknut777]

This was a super interesting topic, didn’t want the video to end!!

[@jumpingjoy20]

I get how idolatry sounds to modern ears, but did marco have access to the word pantheism? I don't think it's meant to be insulting, but descriptive. They do not worship one god, they have a lot of figurines that they seem to worship. What other word would he use?

[@brianwhite8465]

It's also a 100% accurate description. If you are worshiping anything (including money) other than the God of the Bible, that would be idolatry. It doesn't just have to be statues.

[@nksteps]

Quality video, KB. Thank you for the interesting topic!

[@ttf1627]

Is the fact you make references to King Arthur in this video multiple times, in context of your recent works being reviews of "historical fanfiction" a hint, or just you being weird?

[@starfox0u0]

Megawatt a little of column A, a little of column B?

[@henryroberts4545]

Favorite knowing better video yet! Keep it up love this channel!!!

[@thomasturner6980]

Marco Polo: ahhh yes Beijing, remember seeing green aliens there and gold flying around everywhere

[@twinkiesmaster69]

is that Mr.Bean face I see in your pfp

[@hibutmars1024]

- "kids do it in the pool all the time" my brain: poop

[@Hwyadylaw]

10:45 Coincidentally I can see a bunch of different islands just from my office window here in Sweden

[@caryrodda]

Haha! Loved the bits where your collaborators were calling you out on your Marco Polo-ish misremembered facts, embellishments and fabrications. Funny stuff! :D

[@x_8643]

"OK there are like 3 other books that can say that"

[@toddkobell162]

My mind immediately went to the Bible and the communist manifesto but idk what the third would be

[@toddkobell162]

@Let's Travel yeah there’s a few big ones, prob more than 3...

[@octyedesign8408]

Bible, Quran, Torah

[@octyedesign8408]

Communist Manifesto, Mein Kampf

[@mylesmwalkerjr]

Its about time you made a new video

[@ziljin]

Wait what's wrong with putting soda can in the freezer? You can leave it there for like a couple minutes to cool the beverage Just don't wait too long

[@tomsmith5584]

When Marco Polo was in China, Kublai Kahn was preparing the second invasion of Japan. The first invasion was wiped out by a typhoon just before landing in Japan, and Kublai Kahn was hyping up the target for his new fleet, so that's where the golden cities stories probably came from. By the way, the second invasion was just barely able to establish a beachhead when a category 3 typhoon struck the invasion force, destroying it. The Japanese thought the fact two different typhoons destroyed invasion forces was more than a coincidence, so they called it the "divine wind" or 神風 (kamikaze).

[@watchdealer11]

0:18 "It's not that hard; in fact, children have been doing it in swimming pools for decades" r/nocontext

[@carolynthomas3938]

That WAS Blue! I sat there the whole video screwing my face up trying to figure out why I’m hearing him.

[@gobokinje9183]

Some rhinos ARE unicorns though... the only have the one horn.

[@manospondylus]

The thing about the giant eagles in Madagascar probably goes back to legends based on found eggshells of the extinct elephant bird.

[@GustavoRodriguez-qr5po]

I disagree because you have the benefit of Modern globalize world where you can go to Mongolia or China in a matter of hours, or at least watch dozens of documentaries you can if you live in a modest size city try chinese food. You also are used to living in a world where hinduism or buddhism or animism are known concepts. because he was only familar with Christianity Islam and Judaism. Also not knowing America existed and having the great Khan describe Japan as a large or several large islands is fair because they couldn't take over Japan. I'm usally a huge fan of your work sir but I think we take advantage of the fact that we already know this and are taught this in elementary school

[@boningguan156]

Nitpick, but the paper money shown at 4:43 isnt from the Yuan dynasty, but the Ming dynasty after it. You can tell from the text at the top which reads '大明通行宝抄' which means 'circulating currency of Great Ming'. Otherwise great video!