1 April 20th is Hitlerâs birthday. ( 2 Yes, it is his birthday. 3  But, as 420 started out as a time, not a date, his birthday had nothing to do with it.). 4  The date of the Columbine school shootings. ( 5 This happened after the term was already in use.). 6  4:20 is tea time for pot-smokers in Holland.
View full size image. Marco Polo was one of the first and most famous Europeans to travel to Asia during the Middle Ages. He traveled farther than any of his predecessors during his 24-year journey along the Silk Road, reaching China and Mongolia, where he became a confidant of Kublai Khan.The story of his journey is told in Il Milione (The Million), commonly called The Travels of Marco Polo..inally, the Polos reached Beijing and met Kublai Khan at the summer palace, Xanadu, a glorious marble and gold structure that enchanted young Marco. The Khan happily received the Polos. He invited them to stay and for Niccolo and Maffeo to become part of his court.
Fellow Europeans read his accounts of the riches of Asia and became eager to find sea routes to China, Japan, and the East Indies. Even Christopher Columbus, nearly 200 years later, often consulted his copy of Marcoâs book, Il milione (The Million). In English, the book is known as the Travels of Marco Polo.