Marco Polo (1271-1295) Part II: Travels Through Persia

Prior to Marco Polo's trip to Asia, his father had traveled to China and met Kublai Kahn and had promised to ask the Pope to  allow 100 of the west's wisest men to return with the Polos. So, when the Polos set out to return to Asia, they first arranged to meet with the Pope in Acre (Palestine). The Polos, with two friars accompanying them, boarded a ship that took them across the Mediterranean Sea to the port of Layas. The Sultan of Egypt was leading a great army against their neighbors so the friars fled back to their monastery. The Polos continued on, joining a caravan.

"They joined a caravan (an armed group of traders traveling together for safety) and set out on horseback."

They crossed plateaus grassy plains where Shepherds herded their livestock and lived in felt tents. They passed bustling cities with noisy bazaars that sold the finest rugs. They went over twisting mountain roads, and they even viewed Mount Ararat, where Shepherds grazed their sheep on mountain slopes. The caravan then came to a high desert, which was too harsh for their horses, so they had to abandon them for camels. Days would go by without a village in sight. Their destination was the city of Ormuz, a port city on the Persian Gulf.

Miss Mason describes Persia beautifully hundreds of years after the Polos were there, but much of her description was accurate even in the time the Polos traveled.
After reading about this part of Polos travels from several books, we made some pages for the boys' history journals.

I let them choose a piece of construction paper the color of their choice...

They added glue. One student liked to keep his in lines.

Another spread it out in a solid block instead.

Next comes the sprinkle of sand.
Beware...this can be a messy project.

Next they added a silhouette of a camel rider to represent Marco Polo's caravan across the desert.

Narration or copywork can be now added to the back of the picture. The youngest is still on single words.

One student noticed that the sand sprinkled all over the picture resembled a sandstorm...

and so he put some glue over the camel to keep the sandstorm effect.

We also traced the Polo's route so far from Venice through Arabia and Persia on a map. We colored the Persian deserts. We also labeled Venice and Acre.