Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant born in 1254 and returning home in 1324 after his extensive travels, is most famous for his massive Silk Road expedition that he undertook in Asia between 1271 and 1295. He also lived for 17 years in the court of Kublai Khan, the Mongol emperor in China, as a foreign diplomat. Although he was also a merchant and a writer for penning down his travels in The Travels of Marco Polo, he is most famous for being one of the world’s greatest explorers and travellers.