His father and his uncle, Nicolo and Maffio, I don't speak Italian very well, they actually left even before Marco Polo was born. They set their sights on the east to make their own fortune, landing in first Constantinople. They cashed out in 1260, lucky for them, the next year the Eastern Roman Empire is going to re-enter Constantinople and burn down the Venetian quarters and blind all their citizens. How horrible is that? Very lucky for them. So, they keep going east and they end up in the Mongol Empire, running into a dude by the name of Kubla Khan. He's the Yuan Dynasty first guy, big leader.