Maffeo Polo

Maffeo Polo was a Venetian merchant and the brother of Niccolò Polo. The brothers travelled through the Mongol world, reached the court of Kublai Khan and later returned east with Niccolò’s son Marco, forming the family journey described in the Travels of Marco Polo.

Maffeo Polo was born in Venice. Maffeo travelled with his brother Niccolò across Central Asia to the court of Kublai Khan and later returned east with Niccolò’s son Marco; the brothers’ journeys provided the commercial and diplomatic framework for Marco Polo’s celebrated account.

Gary Jennings’s The Journeyer portrays Maffeo Polo as the experienced uncle who travels beside Niccolò and the young Marco through the connected territories of the Mongol world. His earlier journey with Niccolò has already taken him to Kublai Khan’s court, so the second expedition is not simply youthful exploration but a return undertaken by merchants with established knowledge and diplomatic obligations. The novel uses that family partnership as the practical structure supporting Marco’s more flamboyant adventures and observations.