Hey guys, welcome to Hip Hughes History. We're going to take a few moments to take a look at the idea behind Marco Polo. It's really important and of course we all know the kids get the water, the kid kills Marco, I'm kidding you. We're talking about Marco Polo, the merchant of Venice, the explorer, the traveler from 13th century Italy. Now, before we talk about a little bit of the specifics, the big idea of course is this is one of those kind of wheels of history that turns everything. And Marco Polo represents that change, really kind of connecting two different civilizations, two different kinds of worlds in creating one global community. So, he was born in 1254 in Venice, Italy.