Religion defines Marco Polo’s journey into Asia. His accounts systematically state the primary religion of the area described, either as simple fact or as foreshadowing for future discussion. Looking at the map, we see that the majority of the people Polo encountered practiced idolatry, an early word for many Eastern faiths, including Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Manicheism, and Hinduism, in addition to Islam and Christianity. While many points represent areas where only one religion is present, it is perhaps most interesting to look into locales where people of many different religions coexisted, which are represented in a variety of colors.

Polo was accompanied on his travels by his father and uncle, Nicolo and Maffeo, who had previously journeyed into Asia when young Polo still lived at home in Venice. The two brothers arrived in Beijing, where they met the Mongol leader Kublai Khan. The Khan asked the brothers to return to Beijing with holy oil from Jerusalem and Christian missionaries. While the missionaries never materialized, the Polo brothers did return with holy oil and Nicolo’s son, Marco. The Polo family returned to Asia as personal emissaries of Pope Gregory X, and their Christian background permeates Polo’s narrative. Though written approximately two hundred years after the First Crusade (1095), we may look to these religious wars as openings for travel and exploration during the late Middle Ages. Ports were reopened, notably Genoa and Venice, and voyagers set sail through the Mediterranean corridor. The Crusades provided a dispersion of religious fervor that followed travelers as they voyaged to new lands and encountered people whose beliefs did not align with their own. 
   
Marco Polo’s narrative is, like many explorer’s logs, a tale of truth and invention. The story alternates between fact and judgement, which is particularly of interest in regards to following the religious layer. His narrative, written in the first person, is presented as fact, which leads one to debate the role his book played in influencing European prejudice against non-Christian religious groups, notably Islam. Polo’s book, written by a Christian for Christians, witnesses history unfolding and is to be accepted as “true”. From the very beginning, Polo is compared to the biblical figure Adam, as a means to reinforce his trustworthiness. In the forward, the editor proclaims: “That each person who hears this book read or reads it have confidence because it only contains true things. Because I will have you know that, since Our Lord created Adam our first father, there hasn’t been any person of any race who has traveled and known as many different lands of the earth as my lord Marco Polo” (trans., 51). Polo’s editor presents Polo as someone to be trusted in comparing him to Adam, a hand-made creation of God himself.

Yet though at times the narration on religion is presented neutrally, such as when Polo simply states the society’s majority religion, often the declaration accompanies a judgement of character upon those who practice. Christianity is the backbone of Polo’s operation. It is the religion his readers identify with, thus idolatry and Islam are to be written about because of their differences. Such judgement is found in the “Description of a country called Nuristan”, where Polo notes that the people “have a language of their own, are idolaters, and have brown skin” (trans., 129). The following lines continue with a description of the idolatry, which in this case is presented as devilish: “They are well-versed in enchantments and devilish magic... These people are partial to evil, but skilled in their customs” (Trans., 129). Polo’s statements represent a cause and effect situation, where the idolatry gives way to enchantments, which in turn link the two. Though Polo does not say that all idolaters are devilish, the link between idolatry and magic is clear in this circumstance, which could well be perceived as a representation of the whole.

Generalized, reductive declarations are most apparent when referring to Muslims persecuting Christians. In Polo’s tale, God favors Christians, a lesson he shares through myth-like anecdotes, for example the story of the miracle of Baghdad mountain. Polo writes: “But I want to tell you about a great miracle God made in favor of the Christians in Baghdad” (trans., 87). According to Polo, God moved the mountain to help Christians avoid persecution from Muslims, all of whom “want the worst for Christians throughout the entire world” (trans., 89). Polo’s description of Islam is not unlike rhetoric used throughout subsequent centuries to promote islamophobia. To conclude his story, Polo writes matter-of-factly about the Islamic religion’s hatred of Christianity:
 

You have heard the facts as they happened and it was a great miracle. Do not be surprised if Muslims hate Christians. It’s the damned religion that Mahomed gave them that commands them to commit all the wrong they can to all sorts of people and especially to Christians: to take away their goods and harm them as much as possible because they are not of their religion. The bloody religion and the bad commandant! All Muslims of the world act like this. (Trans., 95).
 

In Polo’s world, Christianity reigns. Other religions are presented either neutrally or poorly, always in opposition to Western, Christian values. At the end of the aforementioned story, even the caliph converts to Christianity, though he must do so in secret.

Polo’s narrative is a drama recorded in prison that looks back on his travels. His word is not absolute truth, but myth-like in nature – a myth journal that has been read and passed down for generations. When following Polo’s journey as it pertains to religion, it is important to keep in mind that “myths are not sacred narratives”, as Bruce Lincoln writes in the article “An Early Moment in the Discourse of “Terrorism”: Reflections on a Tale from Marco Polo” (242). Lincoln continues: “Although many myths claim sacred status, in this they misrecognize their own nature, for they are human stories, like any other. They simply make more exaggerated claims to a more elevated kind of authority” (242). Polo’s narration is authoritative; it is his own story to tell. Yet to accept his judgements of others based on biased roots would be erroneous, both in the Middle Ages and in the twenty-first century. So follow his travels and learn what you will, while remembering that Polo is not Adam, nor God, as his editor would have you believe.