MOTIVATIONS FOR EXPLORERS: SHIFTING VIEWPOINTS FROM THE MIDDLE AGES

TO THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD

Abstract

In the year 1298, Marco Polo sat in a Genoese prison cell and recalled memories of his journeys into

China more than seventeen years before. His cellmate, the Pisan romance writer Rusticello, transcribed

these memories into a book titled, Le Devisement du Monde, the description of the world. Two hundred and

thirty six years later, a man named Jacques Cartier was exploring the northeastern corner of the newly-

discovered North American continent. His notes were written while at sea, navigating from point to point.

These two men are remembered for their explorations and their travel narratives. I track the shift from

Polo’s medieval time period to Cartier’s Early Modern by comparing these two very different travel

narratives. The goal is to demonstrate such a shift through their motives for exploration. Contrasting the

language they use to document their journey, the new environments, and the new cultures they encounter

illuminates the transition. Marco Polo’s travel narrative illustrates an informational or diplomatic motive

removed from European governmental control. Cartier’s narrative showcases a wealth-seeking operation

for the good of a European government, France’s King Francis I.

When students learn World History, they are provided with periodizations defined by

historians; more specifically, the Middle Ages end at 1500 CE, and the Early Modern Period

begins at 1500 CE. Why is there a consensus among historians to date 1500 as the dividing point

between medieval and Early Modern? Historians’ explanations often refer to the sixteenth-

century’s Age of Exploration; however, exploration is not a concept new to the Early Modern

Period and both periods proffer adventurers famous even until today.

For example, Marco Polo and Jacques Cartier are both credited with the exploration of

less familiar territories, documenting their journeys in travel narratives, and have both achieved

historical fame; despite these similarities, the two men have not been compared across the

medieval/Early Modern divide. Marco Polo is credited with tales of people in China numbering

in the millions and writing a narrative that detailed the people and cultures of Asia in the

thirteenth century. His name has become almost synonymous with any research on travel

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narratives. Jacques Cartier’s ventures into Canada during the sixteenth century culminated in a

number of geographic landmarks bearing his name and a failed colony in Quebec. Nineteenth-

century historians refreshed the memory of Cartier to achieve a sense of Canadian nationalism

when they dubbed him the father of Canada. These two men have been considered prominent

scholarly interests individually. The question then becomes, why should scholars look at these

two men comparatively?

The answer lies in these two adventurers’ capacity to symbolize their respective periods.

Polo ventured into China during a time when Europe was looking to expand its trade with the

East to gain freer access to the luxury goods found there. By contrast, Cartier explored the

virtually unknown (to Europeans) northern half of the New World, just forty-two years after

Columbus landed in the Caribbean islands. Both men used similar writing techniques when they

wrote of their journeys. Polo’s Le Devisement du Monde—The Description of the World—and

Cartier’s hand-written journals, take time to draw comparisons to their natal lands to aid in

reader understanding. These similarities reinforce the decision to employ them as examples of

the mindsets of their respective periods: the Later Middle Ages, approximately 1000-1500 CE,

and the Early Modern Period, 1500-1800 CE. Scholarly consensus has separated the two at 1500;

I argue that while the two periods were piloted by different motives, stemming from the differing

degrees of each man’s familiarity with the lands under exploration, their techniques remained

quite similar. I will compare the travel narratives of Polo and Cartier to emphasize their main

motivations and demonstrate that the division of medieval and Early Modern is not so clearly cut

at the year 1500.

Here, I argue that Polo’s and Cartier’s political and cultural contexts shaped each of their

perceptions of the world and the language they used to document it. Using Polo and Cartier as

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exemplars for their respective time periods allows a comparison of texts that will demonstrate

their very different motives for exploration. Both Polo’s highly descriptive and diplomatic

motives and Cartier’s mainly inventorial motives are exaggerated when examining their usage of

the idea of “Other”—a historical theory that explains the “us-versus-them” dynamic. It is

important to note that the comparison of Polo’s and Cartier’s writings opens up many possible

avenues for scholarly research, such as race relations, gender studies, and inquiries into trade

mechanisms. The aim of this research is to focus, however, on how these two explorers used the

concept of “Other” as a tool to achieve broader political and economic goals. The presence of

these goals will be highlighted throughout the two texts. This glimpse at the individual motives

of Polo and Cartier illuminates the shift between the medieval and Early Modern time periods

and its occurrence on an observable scale.

Background

Both Marco Polo and Jacques Cartier, who explored areas previously untouched by

Europeans, were shaped by very different contexts. Polo’s Le Devisement du Monde was

transcribed in 1298, while he was trapped in a Genoese prison during a skirmish between Genoa

and Venice. His cellmate, Rusticello, a Pisan romance author, took Polo’s dictation.1 Polo’s

ability to write at leisure affected his manner of narration; his work was recorded from memory

and took on the qualities of an entertaining novel. Also, Polo was traveling by land to areas that

1 Peter C. Mancall, ed., Travel Narratives from the Age of Discovery: An Anthology (New York, NY: Oxford

University Press, n.d.); Peter Jackson, “Marco Polo and His ‘Travels,’” Cambridge University Press on Behalf of

School of Oriental and African Studies 61, no. 1 (1998): 82–101; Simon Gaunt, Marco Polo’s Le Devisement Du

Monde: Narrative Voice, Language and Diversity (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2013), 5.

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had always been known but not necessarily seen. These locations were included in maps, had

clashed with European rulers before, and were the bearers of the wealth of the East.

In comparison, Cartier’s notes from his travels to what is now Canada were recorded

while exploring from 1534 to 1542, either by him or by a man employed for the voyages.2

Cartier’s travel by sea to a location that had just recently been introduced to the Old World

affected his manner of documenting. Cartier’s audience, King Francis I, was likely not interested

in the flourish added to Polo’s works; these voyages were wealth-seeking enterprises.

It is because of these writings that both Polo and Cartier rose to fame posthumously.

Whether Marco Polo is remembered for his introduction of noodles to Italy or spaghetti to China,

or for his reports of people numbering in the millions in the Far East, it is clear that he made

quite an impression. His book, Le Devisement du Monde, had multiple hand-written editions

even before the invention of the printing press.3 Similarly, Cartier has been named the “Father of

Canada” even though his attempts to found a colony near what is now Quebec failed and resulted

in his return to and retirement in France.4 These two men made lasting impacts.

Marco Polo was born in Venice in 1254 to a mercantile family. His father and two uncles

were both merchants, although the second uncle resided in Constantinople.5 Not much is known

about his mother as she died while he was a child and his father, Nicolo, was off meeting the

Great Kublai Khan with his brother Mafeo. However, it is known that when Nicolo and Mafeo

returned to Venice from the court of the Great Khan, they found a healthy fifteen-year-old Marco

2 Hiram B. Stephens, Jacques Cartier and His Four Voyages to Canada: An Essay with Historical, Explanatory, and

Philogical Notes (Montreal: W. Drysdale & Co., Publishers, 1890), 3. 3 Gaunt, Marco Polo’s Le Devisement Du Monde: Narrative Voice, Language and Diversity, 2. 4 Stephens, Jacques Cartier and His Four Voyages to Canada: An Essay with Historical, Explanatory, and

Philogical Notes, 7. 5 Manuel Komroff, ed., The Travels of Marco Polo (The Venetian) (New York: Garden City Publishing Co., Inc.,

1926).

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ready to join them.6 Merchant travel had been opened up by the conquering of much of Asia by

the Mongols. Typically a toll was paid to a ruler so that a merchant could travel peacefully from

trading post to trading post. Since only one ruler had to be appeased to make a journey on the

Silk Road, the costs of travel decreased, the threat of raiding decreased, and the possibility of

wealth from trading with the East rose. This Mongol-made peace, Pax Mongolica, allowed

merchants to make it closer to East Asia than ever before.7 After the death of Genghis Khan, the

initiator of this peace, and when Nicolo and Mafeo Polo headed off for the Black Sea, the

Mongol Empire was split up and peace between regional khanates was breaking down. After

they returned to Venice and picked up Marco, it was clear that their journey would be much

more difficult. Polo notes multiple times the detours they took in order to avoid the conflicts

emerging from rival khanates.8

Jacques Cartier’s travels were documented so precisely that followers could attempt their

own journey to the New World. As such, Cartier is often associated with Canada. He was neither

the first nor the last to explore the area, but his detailed documentation and his propensity to

name almost every geographical feature he came across after himself, certainly forces his

recognition. He was living in St. Malo, France when he petitioned King Francis I to lead an

expedition to the New World.9 While much of his early life is unknown, his ability to convince

6 Evelyn Edson, The World Map 1300-1492: The Persistence of Tradition and Transformation (Baltimore, MD: The

Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007); Komroff, The Travels of Marco Polo (The Venetian); Jackson, “Marco Polo

and His ‘Travels.’” 7 For more information on Mongol influence on the Afro-Eurasian world, see: Janet L. Abu-Lughod, Before

European Hegemony: The World System AD 1250-1350 (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989),

156–59; John M. Hobson, The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

2004), 44–50; Jack Weatherford, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World (New York: Three Rivers

Press, 2004), xviii–xix. 8 Jackson, “Marco Polo and His ‘Travels’”; Komroff, The Travels of Marco Polo (The Venetian). 9 H.P. Biggar, A Collection of Documents Relating to Jacques Cartier and The Sieur de Roberval (Ottawa:

Publications of the Public Archives of Canada, 1930); H.P. Biggar, Cartier’s Voyages, Publications of the Public

Archives of Canada 11 (Ottawa: F.A. Acland, 1924); John Rennie Short, Cartographic Encounters: Indigenous

Peoples and the Exploration of the New World (London: Reaktion Books Ltd., 2009) Henry Percival Biggar is a

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Francis I to patronize his journey offers some clue into his capabilities as a navigator; Cartier

was most likely a master mariner.10 Not only would he have learned basic navigation in the

fishing community of St. Malo, but it is believed he traveled to Brazil for King Francis I prior to

his journey to Canada in 1534. The notation in his journals of his ability to translate Portuguese

supports such a claim.11 In addition to his navigational capabilities, he was advantageously

married to noblewoman Catherine des Granches in 1520, which would have at least provided

him with access to the French royal court. This access was crucial for his bid to convince King

Francis I of his worthiness for such an important voyage to the New World. Paid 6000 livres and

charged with two ships and sixty-one men, in April of 1534 he was off.12 Cartier was essential to

France’s ability to stay viable in the Age of Exploration.

The Age of Exploration can also be seen as the “Age of Imperial Rivalry” in that the

French, Spanish, Portuguese, Netherlands, and eventually the English, were competing for the

wealth of the New World. England was still recovering from the War of the Roses, 1455-1485

CE, and France was balancing tensions following several skirmishes between lesser nobles. In

1534 CE, Henry VIII of England separated himself and England from the Roman Catholic

Church in order to father an heir and ensure a stable successorship. Cartier himself played a role

in earlier geopolitical struggles between Charles V of Spain and Francis I of France when he

ventured to Brazil for France.13 The infighting and war recuperation efforts needed funding; what

better place to obtain wealth than an entirely new, possibly resource-filled, world?

known Cartier scholar. He has traced Jacques Cartier’s life through records in order to learn more about his early

and late life. 10 Alan Gordon, The Hero and the Historians: Historiography and the Uses of Jacques Cartier (Vancouver: UBC

Press, 2010); Stephens, Jacques Cartier and His Four Voyages to Canada: An Essay with Historical, Explanatory,

and Philogical Notes, 3. 11 Short, Cartographic Encounters: Indigenous Peoples and the Exploration of the New World. 12 Stephens, Jacques Cartier and His Four Voyages to Canada: An Essay with Historical, Explanatory, and

Philogical Notes, 12; Gordon, The Hero and the Historians: Historiography and the Uses of Jacques Cartier, 14. 13 Biggar, A Collection of Documents Relating to Jacques Cartier and The Sieur de Roberval, xxii.

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King Francis I was eager to stake New World claims similar to the Spanish and

Portuguese. He was hoping the northern parts of the New World would provide him with his

own Saint Domingue, Brazil, or Mexico. Cartier was not the first sent by Francis I; in 1523 an

Italian from Florence named Giovanni Verazzano was sent to seek a passage to the East and

instead reached Florida. He traveled as far north as Newfoundland.14 Eleven years later, Cartier

was sent to identify islands and countries where gold and other riches could be exploited. Amidst

expeditions and native encounters, Cartier heard of a city full of gold and red copper called

Saguenay.15 Such news pushed Francis I to keep funding expeditions. Eventually, after four trips,

Cartier retired back to St. Malo, where the quality of his home leads one to believe that he made

more fame than money from these expeditions.16 While ultimately not the actual “discoverer” of

Canada, his journeys laid the foundations for the French fur trade in the St. Lawrence area.

The thorough notes written by each explorer provide numerous details about the routes

they took, the plants and animals they saw, and the peoples and cultures they chanced upon. Polo

and Cartier’s travel narratives illuminate a difference in their application of language. The ways

in which each explorer describes or documents his surroundings and encounters demonstrates the

mindset of his context. Therefore, each traveler can be representative of their own time periods,

Polo for the Middle Ages and Cartier for the Early Modern Period.

14 Ibid., xix–xxii. 15 Biggar, Cartier’s Voyages, xx–xxiii. 16 Stephens, Jacques Cartier and His Four Voyages to Canada: An Essay with Historical, Explanatory, and

Philogical Notes, 9.

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Historiography

While Marco Polo and Jacques Cartier are famous for their inspirational journeys, their

writings serve as inspiration to multiple fields of academia as well. Often, these two men are

studied separately by medievalists and Early Modern historians. The scholars in the medieval

camp tend to focus on ideas of the “Other”—those that are different or distinct from oneself, us-

versus-them—as a consistent force in human lives, while Early Modern historians are apt to

gather around ideas of “Other” as a justification of colonization.

The “Other” is an idea that has always intrigued historians, but one scholar, Edward Said,

laid the foundations for modern scholarship on the “Other.” Said’s work lays the footing for

scholarly work on “Other” and cannot be absent from a discussion of it. The bulk of Said’s work

focuses on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with some examples from Ancient history.

The thesis of his book Orientalism is often used to clarify the definition of “Other.” He claims

that history is made by people and is always written and rewritten according to their

understandings and contexts.17 These histories are written with a certain authority that mirrors the

taste and values of the time; he utilizes the notion of drawing societal lines with “Other-ness.”

This opens up the possibility for domination, as the idea of “Other” must first be present in order

to justify colonization or imperialism.18 I argue that it is precisely such an action that is

illuminated in Cartier’s travel narrative but missing from Polo’s. By contrast, Said claims the

“Other” is shaped by those writers like Marco Polo. He states that Polo was a “lens through

17 Edward Said, Orientalism (New York: Random House, 1979), xviii. Orientalism as a wave of thinking in the

eighteenth and nineteenth centuries could not have occurred without the predetermined idea of "Other." It is

important to note that often Said uses the term Orientalism where I apply the term "Other." Gordon, The Hero and

the Historians: Historiography and the Uses of Jacques Cartier. Although specifically focusing on Early Modern

Explorers, Gordon fits with Said here. He suggests that the actual accomplishments of men like Jacques Cartier are

re-interpreted over time to fit how national communities make use of history. These men in effect become symbols

of nationalist sentiments after becoming mythologized. 18 Said, Orientalism, 39–45.

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which the Orient was experienced.”19 The memory of Polo is what Said believes was utilized to

create the “Orient” and justify exploitation of peoples.

Simon Gaunt, a more recent pillar of the “‘Other’ community” has established some

challenges to Said’s ideas. According to Gaunt’s work on Marco Polo, the concept of “Other”

was unknown to many of these medieval travel writers and the language was too inadequate to

provide a platform for addressing difference.20 This would negate Said’s claims that the concept

of “Other” was already in the minds of explorers. Interestingly, devisement, pulled from the title

of Polo’s book Le Devisement du Monde, as Gaunt translates it, means “description” rather than

“division.” This suggests that Polo did not draw the adversarial lines of difference posited by

Said. Gaunt’s discussion of the “Other” is beneficial to understanding the mindsets of the two

very different travel writers, Polo and Cartier. The in-depth comparison of the two explorers I

offer will demonstrate the complex, inner workings of Gaunt’s argument for description over

delineation. I will illuminate just how Polo’s language fails to connect difference to domination

in the same way as Cartier’s does.

Many scholars argue in a similar vein to Said; they believe that the concept of “Other”

can be used to demarcate behavioral, cultural, religious, and bodily standards.21 For example,

Geraldine Heng attributes the rise of race as a concept of “Other-ness” to its application as a

political tool in the Middle Ages.22 According to medievalists, these lines determine the normal,

19 Ibid, 58. 20 Gaunt, Marco Polo’s Le Devisement Du Monde: Narrative Voice, Language and Diversity; Sylvia Huot, “Others

and Alterity,” in The Cambridge Companion to Medieval French Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 2008), 238–50. Sylvia Huot’s work on “Other” agrees with Simon Gaunt’s. Both authors are suggesting that

the relationship between the “Other” and “non-Other” in medieval literature demonstrates a complex relationship

that was carefully navigated. 21 Said, Orientalism, 19. Said’s ideas on Orientalism describe a feeling, a need, to define yourself against an "Other."

He consistently explains how humankind has always been drawing lines of separation whether they be geographical,

political, physiological, or temporal. 22 Geraldine Heng, “The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages I: Race Studies, Modernity, and the Middle

Ages,” Literature Compass 8, no. 5 (2011): 258–74.

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as it cannot exist without an abnormal. Often times, delineations of “Other” have been associated

with medieval monsters. Monsters segment portions of space, geography, behavior, and religion

to set social mores.23 Whether discussing monsters or men, medievalists’ ideas about “Other” can

be considered beneficial to non-monster research because of the overall consensus on “Other” as

a tool for creating delineations.

More monster-focused scholars furthered the delineations idea to show that the concept

of “Other” was utilized to achieve divisive political or cultural goals with statements associating

foreign countries or religions with monsters.24 For instance, John Block Friedman claims that

medieval monsters were often seen as those who had fallen from grace. This depiction served as

a moralistic warning to society, meant to keep the people in line.25 As this essay shows, a close

23 Betina Bildhauer and Robert Mills, eds., The Monstrous Middle Ages (Toronto: University of Toronto Press,

2003). Bildhauer and Mills argue that language is an extremely important aspect to consider when discussing

"Other.” 24 For discussions of complex relationships with "Other," see: Kathryn M. Brammall, “Monstrous Metamorphosis:

Nature, Morality, and the Rhetoric of Monstrosity in Tudor England,” The Sixteenth Century Journal 27, no. 1

(Spring 1996): 3–21. Brammall believes that a change took place in how monsters were perceived by the year 1570.

Monsters, according to her, changed from those who looked monstrous to those who behaved monstrously.

Brammall believes that this change was implemented almost purposefully by the Tudor authors of the time. Authors

altered the way they were using the term “monster” so as to convey different ideas. In her eyes, monsters changed

because of conscious decisions on the part of authors to utilize their rhetorical potential. Heng, “The Invention of

Race in the European Middle Ages I: Race Studies, Modernity, and the Middle Ages” Heng’s ideas about the

"Other" fit here as well. She discusses how the conglomeration of an entire group of people--by religion for

example--can force them all into a fundamental community that erases their differences and allows them to be

differentiated from the "non-Other." Marco Polo’s narrative did not fit this agenda. His work is more often linked to

describing the unknown or new cultures he has been introduced to and his judgments of peoples are based on their

cultural mores not their religion. See also: Asa Simon Mittman, “Are the ‘monstrous Races’ Races?,” Postmedieval:

A Journal of Medieval Cultural Studies 6 (2015): 36–51; Greta Austin, “Marvelous Peoples or Marvelous Races?

Race and the Anglo-Saxon Wonders of the East,” in Marvels, Monsters and Miracles: Studies in the Medieval and

Early Modern Imaginations, ed. Timothy S. Jones and David A. Sprunger, Studies in Medieval Culture (Kalamazoo:

Medieval Institute Publications, 2002), 25–51; Linda Lomperis, “Medieval Travel Writing and the Question of

Race,” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 31, no. 1 (Winter 2001): 147–64; Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, “On

Saracen Enjoyment: Some Fantasies of Race in Late Medieval France and England,” Journal of Medieval and Early

Modern Studies 31, no. 1 (2001): 113–46. 25 John Block Friedman, The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought (Syracuse, New York: Syracuse

University Press, 2000), 89. Friedman argues that while much of the medieval literature is littered with mention of

monsters, these creatures were actually humans with differing physical appearances and cultural practices. He

claims that medieval societies needed monstrous men and even states that some Aristotelian thinkers believed that

monstrous men could have a human nature even if it were not as pure as a non-monstrous man’s. Friedman

discusses the idea that throughout the Judeo-Christian world, monsters were decided characterized as those who

have fallen from grace and appeared to have a physical abnormality. He focuses on the idea of monsters serving as

moralistic warnings to Christians. His argument of "Other" serving as delineation for "non-Other" fits in with many

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look at the writings of Marco Polo demonstrates that the relationship between medieval peoples

and their idea of “Other” was much more complex. “Other” as a tool for colonization has not

been demonstrated in Marco Polo’s writing but is seen within Cartier’s. “Other” exists in the

Middle Ages but it is not applied as a tool for domination or colonization. Polo described the

religions of different cultures and made personal judgments but did not make statements

suggesting their conversion to Christianity or statements of clear-cut, right versus wrong,

delineation. His writings suggest that he was most engaged in the sharing of information and

diplomacy.

A few scholars have taken a middle road between Said and Gaunt; they claim that while

the concept of “Other” existed, medieval writers did not have such clear-cut, right versus wrong,

ideas about it. This camp of scholars suggests that medieval writers were both attracted to and

repulsed by the “Other,” seeing the danger and excitement at the same time. Although they

always choose the “right” path, medieval writers toyed with the ideas of crossing that ultimately

impenetrable line.26 The comparison of the travel narratives of Polo and Cartier I present

illustrates that the concept of “Other” has always existed in some form; however, its application

varies depending on context. Within the travel narratives of these two men, a shift in their

language showcases a change in the application of “Other.”

Scholarship on travel narratives is often divided into two groups; either academics

believe they should be considered as fairly truthful documents within their own contexts or they

scholars in this field. However, my work differs in that I do not see the non-monstrous "Other" depicted as

monstrous for religious motives. 26 See: Huot, “Others and Alterity.” Huot claims that "Others" made significant contributions to their medieval

French society. Their depiction in literature showcases the "Other" as a tool used in story-telling, the exciting, exotic

"Other" and literature’s probing of cross-cultural and inter-ethnic contact. She discusses the same delineations of

Other as Bildhauer and Mills, Friedman, and Heng; however, Huot argues that “the political context is all the more

evident when more familiar ethnic differences are at stake...” For Huot this idea of "Other" is not as cut-and-dry as it

is for many other medieval scholars. On a micro-level, her ideas can be seen within Marco Polo’s work. .

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should be seen as works of fiction that reveal more about the authors of travel narratives than the

subjects. Most scholars agree that literary works, specifically of the Middle Ages and Early

Modern periods, are most applicable to the discipline of history when they are used to express

philosophical, theological, and cultural ideas of their authors; these travel narratives are more

valued for the contextual information they provide rather than geographical and cultural

information.27

Opposing claims of contextual importance are historians who believe that the information

provided by the travel narrative authors has value in and of itself.28 For example, Paul Zumthor

believes that much of the information provided in Polo’s travel narrative is “generally considered

sound”; this is in line with Stephanie Mund’s claims that travel narratives serve as knowledge

banks for medieval Russia.29 While the question of whether or not there is factual information

contained within travel narratives is interesting, it is not the most important aspect. The

27 For discussion of travel narratives as context-driven pieces, see: Mancall, Travel Narratives from the Age of

Discovery: An Anthology. Mancall makes clear that he is arguing that travel narratives are used most effectively

when oriented within their own contexts. However, his discussion of travel narratives shifting at 1600 CE is

contested by the comparison of Marco Polo and Jacques Cartier that I provide. Lomperis, “Medieval Travel Writing

and the Question of Race”; Some authors believe travel narratives are most useful to historical studies when they are

used to express the philosphical, theological, and cultural ideas of their authors. See: Jacques Le Goff, The Medieval

Imagination, trans. Arthur Goldhammer (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1988); Simon Gaunt and Sarah

Kay, eds., The Cambridge Companion to: Medieval French Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

2008); Liz Horodowich, “Armchair Travelers and the Venetian Discovery of the New World,” The Sixteenth

Century Journal 36, no. 4 (Winter 2005): 1039–62. While Horodowich is specifying her research on Venice and the

introduction of the New World, the ways in which she discusses Marco Polo’s depiction motives is relevant to the

conversation. Authors in Venice after 1492 CE were attempting to showcase what they wanted to see and what they

wanted readers to see, in their works. This places her research within the realm of travel narrative as context clue. 28 Jackson, “Marco Polo and His ‘Travels’.” Jackson concludes that Marco Polo’s work, specifically, is a collection

of information and not just a representation of the author’s memories and experiences. He also believes that the book

distances itself from the outrageous and should therefore be taken more seriously. While there is a great deal of data

found within Polo’s texts, my research does not aim to determine its worth. The most important facet of Marco

Polo’s writings are their ability to inform modern readers of medieval mindsets. See also: Stephanie Mund, “Travel

Accounts as Early Sources of Knowledge about Russia in Medieval Western Europe from the Mid-Thirteenth to the

Early Fifteenth Centuries,” The Medieval History Journal 5, no. 1 (2002): 103–20; Gregory G Guzman, “European

Clerical Envoys to the Mongols: Reports of Western Merchants in Eastern Europe and Central Asia,” Journal of

Medieval History 22, no. 1 (1996): 53–67; Pramod K. Nayar, “Marvelous Excesses: English Travel Writing and

India, 1608–1727,” Journal of British Studies 44, no. 2 (April 2005): 213–38. 29 Paul Zumthor and Catherine Peebles, “The Medieval Travel Narrative,” New Literary History 25, no. 4, 25th

Anniversary Issue (Part 2) (Autumn 1994): 809–24; Mund, “Travel Accounts as Early Sources of Knowledge about

Russia in Medieval Western Europe from the Mid-Thirteenth to the Early Fifteenth Centuries.”

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importance of travel narratives lies within the usage of language, specifically, of Polo and

Cartier’s writings and the ability of these two explorers to represent the mindset of their times.

Geographic Information

Marco Polo’s merchant family and surroundings from birth to age fifteen provided the

context that influenced his motives for exploration. Venice, a world-renowned merchant port,

was his home. Venice was independent from the Eastern Roman Empire at this time and acted as

an independent city-state with important access to the Mediterranean Sea.30 When Polo’s father

and uncle, also merchants, returned from their long journey in Asia, he received a glimpse into

this larger world. Nicolo and Mafeo Polo were sent back to Venice by the Great Khan as

emissaries of peace. At age seventeen, Marco Polo joined them for their return trip to China and

was confronted with many new cultures. Marco Polo’s informative manner of describing these

cultures demonstrates his diplomatic motives at the time of his journey. In this case, diplomatic

motives are referred to as a way to best explain Polo’s attempts to create merchant connections

with the cultures he encountered. When he wrote about his eastern adventures xx years after his

return to Italy, he had the advantage of hindsight and the knowledge that his trip bore no

economic results. His earliest motivations and later book is no doubt colored by this hindsight;

his book focuses on the depiction of the people he encountered and mentions physical

appearance, intellect, wealth, religion, language, and occupations. He attends to the details of the

regions he passed through or hears of with curiosity.

30 John Larner, Marco Polo and the Discovery of the World (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999), 36–39.

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Marco Polo attempts to describe each place he has seen along his many journeys by

depicting the animal life, plant life, and terrain and geography so that others can “see” what he

has seen. For instance a typical description reads:

Upon leaving Kierman, you travel for seven days along a plain, by a pleasant road, and

rendered still more delightful by the abundance of partridges and other game. You also

meet frequently with towns and castles, as well as scattered habitations; until at length

you arrive at a mountain whence there is a considerable descent, which occupies two

days.31

Here, Polo’s narrative sets up a visual track with his readers. While he is making note of

landmarks, he is marking distance with the passing of time, which cannot be used as a

standardized unit of measurement because of Polo’s failure to mention the varying speeds,

modes of travel, and precise pathways taken. He is more focused on painting an image of the

journey, not providing a map. His notation of travel distance, possible food sources, and the

“delightful” journey showcase a motive focused on description, not documentation.

By contrast, Jacques Cartier’s experiences in New France detail his inventorial methods

of documenting, specifically, his clear notation of navigational processes. Cartier, too, is a

product of his time. He was an expert navigator with experience on the open seas. After 1492

and the introduction of the New World to the Old World, countries raced to gain control over

these new expanses of land. Cartier had worked for King Francis I on previous expeditions to

South America, Brazil in particular. The competition between countries encouraged the

development of standardized distances.

Cartier’s notation of distance, Cardinal directions, and terrain and geography, encouraged

repeatable results; someone could follow directly in his footsteps. One example of Cartier’s

documentation of his journey states:

31 Komroff, The Travels of Marco Polo (The Venetian), 43.

15

Leaving Point Degrad, at the entrance of the said gulf going west, care must be taken

regarding two islands on the right, one of which is distant three leagues from this point,

and the other seven leagues, more or less, from the first; low and flat, and apparently part

of the mainland.32

This snapshot of Cartier’s work emphasizes an attempt to be geographically and directionally

accurate. His detailed documentation of New France comes with a standardized unit of

measurement and definitive directionality. This, along with his documentation of geographical

landmarks, suggests that Cartier is detailing his journey to make it easier to repeat. Any other

explorers will be able to read his notes and find exactly the points he discusses. Cartier’s

narratives for all four voyages to Canada are peppered with latitude and longitude measurements.

For example, he wrote, “We arrived this day at Cape Lorraine, which is in latitude 46 ½ degrees,

to the south of which cape is a low lying land…”33 This language used by Cartier distinguishes

his record-taking motives from Polo’s entertaining and explanatory descriptions.

Plant and Animal Life

Both Polo and Cartier spend a vast quantity of their writings mentioning local flora and

fauna; however, as mentioned earlier, Polo’s description of his journey paints a more vivid

picture for his readers. In the following quotation, Polo documents not only what fruits one

would find within the town of Sapurgan, but how they would be prepared as well.

At the end of the sixth day’s journey, he arrives at a town named Sapurgan… [which] is

particularly celebrated for producing the best melons in the world. These are preserved in

the following manner. They are cut spirally, in thin slices, as the pumpkin with us, and

after they have been dried in the sun, are sent in large quantities, for sale, to the

neighbouring countries…34

32 Stephens, Jacques Cartier and His Four Voyages to Canada: An Essay with Historical, Explanatory, and

Philogical Notes, 14. 33 Ibid., 90; For more instances of longitude and latitude within the Voyages, see: Ibid., 12, 13, 15, 19, 25, 34, 42,

90. 34 Komroff, The Travels of Marco Polo (The Venetian), 57.

16

In this instance, Polo uses vegetation that would be familiar to his readers, pumpkins, to draw

similarities that will help them understand what he is describing. His language is rather upbeat

and pleasant when laying out the steps for such a job; it reads as though he enjoyed the taste of

these melons firsthand and wants to relate their pleasantness to his audience. Polo uses this

technique often. For instance, he states, “There is no oil of olives, but they express it from certain

nuts, and from the grain called sesame, which resembles the seed of flax...” 35 Again, a more

familiar seed or grain is provided as imagery that will orient the reader in this new culture and

geography.

Similarly, his descriptions of animal life can be read vividly. For example, “Among the

cattle also there are some of an uncommon kind, particularly a species of large white oxen, with

short, smooth coats—the effect of a hot climate—horns short, thick, and obtuse, and having

between the shoulders a gibbous rising or hump, about the height of two palms.”36 Again, Polo

has paid close attention to detail. He is relating the appearance of the animal as well as offering

an explanation for its short, smooth hide. Important to note again is his non-standardized unit of

measurement, whereas he used days to measure distance, he now uses palms to measure height.

His description of an unfamiliar type of animal illustrates his attempt to provide explanation and

engage readers visually rather than document a list of useful local fauna as Cartier appears to do.

Cartier’s more economically-focused motives for exploration are exposed by his quick

and calculating manner of documenting local flora and fauna. In the following instance, Cartier

states:

35 Ibid., 62. 36 Ibid., 44.

17

These islands were of the best soil we had yet seen; in fact, one field here is worth the

whole of Newfoundland. Full of large trees are these islands; of fields of wild wheat, and

of peas as fine as in Brittany, which seemed to have been sown by hand…37

Cartier draws a comparison that his audience, King Francis I, will be able to relate to, in this

case, the peas found in Brittany. This method of connection-drawing for better reader

understanding is also used by Polo. However, Cartier notes the fine soil, large trees, and wheat

and peas that can be found here. His language suggests that he is noting such things for a

determination of worth for King Francis I. Unlike Polo, he is not taking the time to describe the

color of the wheat or the types of trees found. For Cartier, and the Early Modern Period, worth is

based on resource availability and potential, not the quality of aesthetic experience.

Cartier’s discussion of an unfamiliar animal reinforces his inventorial motives. After

stumbling upon a large seal or walrus he states,

There are large animals about this island, as large as an ox, having tusks like an elephant,

and which live in the sea. We saw one sleeping on the water’s edge, and went towards it

with our boat, thinking to secure it, but as soon as it heard us it threw itself in the water.38

Reminiscent of Polo’s tale of a strange ox, there is another comparison, this time to animals that

readers might be more familiar with; in this case, an elephant or ox. Nonetheless, this statement

also clarifies Cartier’s underlying motives, capture. Polo’s description of the strange oxen was

not detailed in an attempt to seize it. Cartier understands the importance of seals in coastal

commerce and sustenance; in a later example, he learns valuable information from a community

of natives regarding their hunting practices. Polo describes different lands for reader pleasure and

information while Cartier documents for a ledger to aid in King Francis’s domination.

37 Stephens, Jacques Cartier and His Four Voyages to Canada: An Essay with Historical, Explanatory, and

Philogical Notes, 21. 38 Ibid.

18

Both Polo and Cartier engaged in the practice of drawing comparisons for readers. An

example of such can be seen in yet another instance of animal encounter from Cartier’s journals.

Cartier compares a type of bird found on an island in Newfoundland to a magpie and raven that

European readers would be familiar with. “...Some are as large as magpies, black and white, and

with the beak of ravens;”39 This only stresses the argument that both explorers drew comparisons

to aid their readers’ understanding.

Discussion of People and Culture: Physical Appearance

As was mentioned with geographical information and local wildlife, Marco Polo’s

mention of the people he encounters focuses on informing his readership, not dominating foreign

cultures. To clarify, a group of inhabitants are discussed almost every time he mentions a region

or province. Polo discusses a number of what he determines are the positive and negative facets

of their cultures including physical appearance, language, religion, occupations, and

personalities. One example of physical appearance is noted while Polo is in Kesmur. He writes,

“The natives are of a dark complexion, but by no means black; and the women, although dark,

are very beautiful.”40 Here it is important to note that while he is describing their physical

characteristics, he is offering no judgement upon their value as a group. He calls them natives but

their geographic location and nationality had already been established at the opening of the

chapter. This is important to note as Polo is compared to Cartier.

Cartier’s documentation of physical appearance does not separate out individual groups

as Polo’s does. In his first documented encounter with native groups, Cartier states, “They wear

39 Ibid., 12. 40 Komroff, The Travels of Marco Polo (The Venetian), 64.

19

their hair tied on the top of their heads like a bunch of hay, passing through it a small piece of

wood, or something similar…The wear skins, men and women, the latter being completely

covered and girded at the waist (which the men are not); they paint themselves with certain red

colors.”41 Cartier does not apply the same personal judgment of positive or negative traits as Polo

does. His lack of approval or disapproval enforces the idea that he is merely noting these things

for a ledger. He does not record the appearance of any groups of natives he comes across from

this point further; this demonstrates his failure to differentiate groups of indigenous peoples

apart. Cartier’s notes are a direct contradiction to Polo’s detailed descriptions of different

appearances, religions, and occupations. Such evidence suggests that Cartier has gathered all

natives together into just one category.

Discussion of People and Culture: Religion

Often, Polo discusses the religion of the peoples he encounters but fails to consolidate all

members of that religion with one blanket judgment. While his personal beliefs are stated, he

continuously describes multiple aspects of the cultures he encounters. For instance:

The Mahometan inhabitants [of Tauris] are treacherous and unprincipled. According to

their doctrine, whatever is stolen or plundered from others of a different faith, is properly

taken and the theft is no crime…42

Here Polo describes a group of “Mahometans,” or followers of Mohammed—Muslims—who

live in a city called Tauris. While Polo places his own personal judgments on their religion, he

still relates what that religion is and describes his understanding of a small aspect of its doctrine.

Supporting this claim is a different example of Polo’s relation of a peoples’ religion. When he

41 Stephens, Jacques Cartier and His Four Voyages to Canada: An Essay with Historical, Explanatory, and

Philogical Notes, 17. 42 Komroff, The Travels of Marco Polo (The Venetian), 36–37.

20

comes across a different, more pleasant group of Mahometans, he states, “The people are

Mahometans, have a distinct language, are civilized in their manners, and accounted valiant in

war.”43 Clearly Polo’s intent is not to group these Mahometans together into one category. His

motive is not to simplify a religion or negate a culture’s worth for political reasons. Polo’s aim

was to set out a merchant guide that describes those more or less willing to engage in trade. This

underscores the idea that his journey is not focused on making note of monetary worth for

domination purposes, but is instead geared toward informing and educating his readership.

Cartier, by contrast, never notes the natives’ religion; instead, his four journeys to the

New World and encounters with its people reflect his wealth-seeking motives. He mentions these

numerous peoples while documenting his findings and geographies. The first group mentioned

was living in an area that Cartier found uninhabitable. “On the island of Blanc Sablon there is

nothing but moss and small thorn bushes, dry and half dead; in fact, I think this is the land that

God gave to Cain. Here are men of fine shape and stature, but indomitable and savage.”44 This

type of comment differs from Polo’s description of the Mahometans he encountered. While Polo

dislikes some of the Mahometans, he differentiates separate groups of them. Polo makes clear

that while some Mahometans may be bloodthirsty, not all behave as such. By contrast, Cartier

immediately calls the natives “savages,” meaning people of the forests.45 In the rest of Cartier’s

journal, natives are almost always collectivized into the category of “savage.” He has diminished

their value as individual cultures and people by erasing their differences.

43 Ibid., 65. 44 Stephens, Jacques Cartier and His Four Voyages to Canada: An Essay with Historical, Explanatory, and

Philogical Notes, 17. 45 For more instances of “savages” within the First Voyage only, see: Ibid., 17, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 All

of the page numbers listed refer to people, some new, that Cartier encounters as “savages.”; Le Goff, The Medieval

Imagination, 114–16 According to Le Goff, the term “savage” is often linked to “silvan” meaning of the forest.

Savage, at this time, probably mean something more like wild, not necessarily associated with negative connotations

as in today’s world.

21

Important to note is the one instance within the documentation of Cartier’s first voyage

that references the natives he encounters as “people.” He states,

Here we saw smoke caused by the people of the country above the cape...twelve of them

came to us in two canoes, and came alongside freely as if they had been of our own

people...46

He records their bold behavior here as it has seemingly shocked him. Even when discussing

these individuals as people, Cartier still manages to portray their inequality. Cartier approaches

the people he encounters with an inventory in hand. He continuously establishes their

unworthiness or inequality while collectivizing them into one all-consuming group.

Discussion of People and Culture: Behavior

When Polo encounters an unfamiliar type of clothing, he again employs comparison and

detailed depiction for his readers. His mention of the women’s dress in the province of Balashan

follows:

A peculiar fashion of dress prevails amongst the women of the superior class, who wear

below their waists, in the manner of drawers, a kind of garment…This they gather or

plait, in order to increase the apparent size of their hips; those being accounted the most

handsome who are the most bulky in that part.47

Again, Polo has used comparisons to his reader’s culture to help them understand what it is he is

describing. He makes none of the judgments he laid on the “bloodthirsty” Saracens mentioned

earlier, even though these people are also Mahometans.48 He is simply describing the types of

dress worn by women of different cultures. His judgment of the character of the people he

46 Stephens, Jacques Cartier and His Four Voyages to Canada: An Essay with Historical, Explanatory, and

Philogical Notes, 36. 47 Komroff, The Travels of Marco Polo (The Venetian), 63. 48 Refer back to: Ibid., 36–37.

22

encounters is based on their cultural practices and their possession of “redeeming” qualities, not

their possession of traditional, monetary worth.

Throughout Cartier’s journals are a number of occasions where he and his men take

advantage of the generous personalities of their new acquaintances. Cartier notes several

moments where the “savages” will accept presents or trades of goods which the Europeans

believe contain little to no value.

For instance:

…they landed and brought skins and began trading, showing great excitement and joy at

possessing the knives and iron tools, dancing and performing antics, such as throwing

themselves in the water on their heads with their hands. They gave us all they had,

retaining nothing; so that they were obliged to go away perfectly naked.49

The “savages” do not know that the Europeans place little value on such trinkets and will

therefore trade all that they have.

Also important to note here is the manner in which Cartier relates the behavior of the

natives. More than once he makes note of how the “savages” dance and sing and perform antics.

He documents their appearances and goods while negating their importance as human beings.

The Cartier quote directly contrasts with Polo’s descriptions of the people he encountered. While

Polo calls some of the groups of people he encounters bloodthirsty, treacherous, or unprincipled,

he continuously takes time to describe aspects of their culture. Cartier is doing no such thing; he

is not describing the purpose for their antics only that they engage in them. This act by Cartier

opens up these different peoples to the domination by the French. If he can diminish their

significance and ability to be independent, then Cartier or King Francis I can swoop in and take

over the areas with little or no remorse, domination justified.

49 Stephens, Jacques Cartier and His Four Voyages to Canada: An Essay with Historical, Explanatory, and

Philogical Notes, 27.

23

Increasingly more apparent is Cartier’s association with the monetary value of people and

things he finds in the New World. Cartier records that:

They can in truth be called savages, as there are no people poorer than these in the world,

and I believe they do not possess anything to the value of five pennies, apart from their

canoes and nets. Their whole clothing consists of a small skin, with which they cover

their loins…50

His specific notation of the “five penny” value of their possessions is key. Such a remark clearly

reveals Cartier’s inventorial motives for such a journey. While Polo, being a merchant, describes

the occupations and the quality of the manufactures produced by the different cultures he

encounters in Asia, he never makes a monetary statement of their worth. Polo was more intent on

forging positive relationships with these cultures than on exploiting them.

Discussion of People and Culture: Occupation

In Polo’s detailed description of a region called Scassem, he discusses the occupation,

habitation, and location of a group of people located there. He states:

The people of this country have their peculiar language. The herdsmen who attend the

cattle have their habitations amongst the hills, in caverns they form for themselves; nor is

this a difficult operation, the hills consisting not of stone, but only of clay.51

This description by Polo lays out many details within a short sentence. He has managed to place

an image on the page of people with a specific language, herding as an occupation, and who

carve caves as shelters. This and other similar expanses of information provided throughout his

writing supports the argument that his motive was one of information. He does not connect the

50 Ibid., 30. 51 Komroff, The Travels of Marco Polo (The Venetian), 59–60.

24

occupations of the herdsmen to money or value; he only relates their occupation and manner of

dwelling for educational purposes.

By contrast, Cartier’s journals denote not only the value of the people, places, and things

he encounters, but also the value of information passed along to himself and his fellow explorers.

The following occasion states:

…I learned that this was not their place of habitation, but that they come by land from a

warmer country to secure the seals and other things necessary for their subsistence.52

The European voyager then continues from cape to cape along the coastline. Cartier’s discussion

of their true home-place suggests that he has learned something valuable from these people,

where to get seals and where to find their homes. When this is discussed with Cartier’s mention

of seals earlier, it indicates his clear understanding of animals like seals and how the Europeans

could utilize them. This moment was documented in his journals for any explorers who would

follow in his footsteps.

Cartier not only makes judgments about the worth of the people and the information they

can provide, but he also judges their usefulness for France. When discussing the language of a

group of people encountered, Cartier states, “the seven approached our boat, making signs of joy

and showing their desire for friendship, saying in their language “Napen tondamen assurtah,”

and other unintelligible words.”53 The language utilized here by Cartier demonstrates his

willingness to nullify the “savages’” possible contribution to the knowledge-base of the

Europeans. By stating any of their further communication as “other unintelligible words,” Cartier

is proclaiming that they have nothing else useful to learn. By contrast, Polo makes no attempt to

relate the specific words stated by the peoples he met. He only states that they have their own

52 Stephens, Jacques Cartier and His Four Voyages to Canada: An Essay with Historical, Explanatory, and

Philogical Notes, 17. 53 Ibid., 26.

25

“peculiar language.”54 Thus, he is not nullifying their speech or words with his mimicry but

informing his readers of the differences between groups of people in Asia. In other words, Polo

recognized that the peoples he met had a meaningful system of communication and implicitly

acknowledges the political and institutional systems that existed.

Discussion of People and Culture: Focus on Individuals

Polo focuses a bulk of his work on depicting a man, Kublai Khan, who is not associated

with European government; such a purposeful inclusion in Polo’s writings demonstrates his later

educational motives in conjunction with his earlier diplomatic ones. While Book I of Le

Devisement du Monde covers the provinces under the rule of Khan, the first few sentences of

Book II state:

In this book it is our design to treat all of the great and admirable achievements of the

Great Khan now reigning, who is styled Kublai Khan…and of a surety he hath good right

to such a title…he surpasses every sovereign that has heretofore been or that now is in the

world…55

Polo uses this book to establish the greatness of Khan in the West. He places Khan above all

rulers, present and past. This is interesting because it shows that Polo is attempting to narrate the

greatness of the East, something with which Europeans had previous familiarity. When Polo

returns to Venice he signs up for the Venetian Navy and even as he is being held as a prisoner of

war for a skirmish between Venice and Genoa, his diplomacy and positive feelings for China

shine through the language in his travel narrative. This highlights Polo’s aim to showcase the

greatness of the East as he has seen it.

54 Komroff, The Travels of Marco Polo (The Venetian), 60. There are many instances of Polo acknowledging the

“peculiar language” of the cultures he encounters, this is just one. 55 Ibid., 113.

26

Polo’s depiction of the physical appearance of Kublai Khan supports the argument that he

is driven by a diplomatic motive. He declares that the Great Khan:

“…is of middle stature, that is, neither tall nor short. His limbs are well formed, and in

his whole figure there is a just proportion. His complexion is fair, and occasionally

suffused with red, like the bright tint of the rose, which adds much grace to his

countenance. His eyes are black and handsome, his nose is well shaped and prominent.56

Such a description, in the hands of someone other than Polo, might not sound quite as

distinguished. Nonetheless, Polo’s diplomatic motives are evident in his attempts to describe a

seemingly average-looking individual with respect, grace, and regal-ness because he recognizes

the political system headed by the Khan. It is similar enough to European systems of power to

make him realize that Kublai should be treated with awe and respect. The language paints an

image in the minds of readers; clearly Polo is describing both what he has seen and what he

wants readers to see.

Polo also takes the time to use imagery to depict how wise the Great Khan is. He states,

“It is forty-two years since he began to reign to the present year, 1298, and he is fully eighty-five

years of age.”57 Age is an obvious marker of wisdom for many cultures and to emphasize that

point, Polo discusses the Khan’s interactions with a young prince. He states that the prince,

“although only thirty years of age…” was successor to the rule of many cities and regions but

was, “actuated by youthful vanity upon finding himself at the head of so great a force…”58

“Youthful vanity” is the term that Polo applies to the powerful young prince to accentuate the

wisdom and careful manners of Kublai Khan.

The manner in which Polo describes each group of people or individual person that

inhabits a certain area demonstrates his approval or disapproval of their lifestyles but does not

56 Ibid., 124–25. 57 Ibid., 114. 58 Ibid.

27

consolidate each group together into one all-encompassing category. Polo makes personal

judgments but continuously uses description to inform readers of foreign lands. He does not

make a ledger of the worth of people or places. His description of Kublai Khan clearly highlights

that his work is informative, educational, and takes on diplomatic qualities. Rather than seeking

to exploit an unknown territory and its inhabitants, he sought to create a space for himself within

the established systems.

Cartier, too, interacts with individual natives during his voyages to the New World;

however, he is slow to state their names, or to even learn their names, and does not consider their

culture or feelings to be of value. This is best demonstrated by Cartier’s run-in with a native

chief and his two sons. After Cartier and his men had stationed a cross in a native chief’s

territory and claimed it for their own, the chief came up to them and tried to express his

disapproval of their claim. Cartier states that, “One of our sailors who was in the ship’s boat laid

his hand on the canoe, and instantly jumped into it with two or three more, and obliged them to

go on board ship, at which they were astonished.”59 Cartier’s expedition has consistently been

shown to want things to bring to France, in this case he and his men want to take two of the

chief’s sons with them.

Cartier’s captain expresses his interest in taking two of the chief’s sons in a way that

hides his true motives. Cartier relates this as such: “…and that we wished to take with us two of

his sons and that we would return again to this harbor. And we dressed each of the sons in a shift,

a colored sack, and a red capo, and we placed a brass chain around the neck of each, which

pleased them immensely.”60 Cartier and his men chained the two natives before leaving for

59 Stephens, Jacques Cartier and His Four Voyages to Canada: An Essay with Historical, Explanatory, and

Philogical Notes, 32. 60 Ibid., 33.

28

France. This fits with Cartier’s previous notation of the willingness of the natives to accept goods

that are of little value to the Europeans. Cartier placing a chain around their necks seemed to

them to be a gift. The manner in which Cartier and his men seemingly trick the chief, all without

once stating his name, demonstrates his desire to open up the New World for French domination.

It also highlights his refusal, or inability to recognize the political system that was already in

place. Contrasting Polo’s attempts to work within existing systems, Cartier attempts to impose

his own.

Cartier returned to St. Malo, France with the two natives in tow. What happened to these

men while they were in France is left out of his journals. He mentions them again in the

beginning of his second voyage, stating, “And by the two savages we had taken on our first

voyage we were told that this was part of the land to the south, and that it was an island, and that

to the south of it was the way or road to go to.”61 Cartier simply mentions this in passing as the

“savages” are serving as guides to Saguenay, a city of gold and red copper. He only mentions the

names of “his two savages” when relating how the two are trying to calm down a scared group of

natives by telling them their own names, Taignoagny and Domagaya.62 Cartier’s lack of interest

in learning their names demonstrates his unwillingness to acknowledge them as people. This is

distinctly different from Polo and his discussion of the Khan. Polo never subsumes an entire

group of people into one group nor does he fail to address their human-ness. His awe and respect

for the Great Khan speak of his diplomatic motives while Cartier’s lack of interest or

understanding showcases his goals of money and domination.

61 Ibid., 44. 62 Ibid., 49.

29

Later, Cartier made the mistake of leaving his two “savages” with a chief named

Donaconna, while he and his men borrowed Donaconna’s canoes. This resulted in some issues of

trust for Cartier as he says:

they all came to our ships with signs of joy, except our two savages, Taignoagny and

Domagaya, who were changed in some manner and had no courage; would not come on

board our ships, though entreated to do so several times; for which reason we distrusted

them.63

He lacks the empathy to understand that these two men were kidnapped, taken from their homes

to a world they knew nothing about, and then returned home only to serve Cartier and France’s

needs. Their unwillingness to get on the boat is then explained as “traitorous and malicious, as

we had previously thought, on account of evil actions…”64 Cartier finds a reason to distrust the

men that he has kidnapped. Their human-ness never comes into consideration, only their evil

actions. This also illustrates Cartier’s unwillingness to recognize Donaconna’s power in his own

territory, one capable of taking back and protecting Cartier’s “property.” Polo never makes such

claims. His description of the people he encountered is based on his experiences with their

personalities. If Polo met a group of people that were raiding, he states this for his readers so that

they understand which peoples are open to trade. Cartier only mentions the openness of the

“savages” when discussing how much of their own personal goods they will trade for trinkets.

Conclusion

Clearly the differences between these two explorers show that while Polo’s writing takes

a more imaginative, informational prose, Cartier’s is a documentation of monetary value.

63 Ibid., 51. 64 Ibid., 54.

30

Medieval societies utilized ledgers when attempting to survey land holdings and the wealth of

kingdoms; however, Polo’s descriptions of the many cultures he encountered focus on informing

a wide audience about a world much larger than those represented in works such as the

Domesday Book.65 He takes time to describe the steps taken on his journey, the local flora and

fauna, and the peoples he encountered. His language takes on an especially informative,

ambassador-like tone when describing the Great Kublai Khan. Cartier, on the other hand, seems

to document the lands he explores. He takes records of his journey that include precise

standardized measurements, beneficial food sources, and the “savages” that can be taken

advantage of by the explorers and their kingdoms. Polo demonstrates no attempt to utilize a

negative depiction of a group of people in order that they be seen as more available for

domination. These differences illuminate the ability of the explorers to be identified as exemplars

of their time period.

Marco Polo’s medieval motives showcase a time that was reveling in new avenues of

trade; trade with the East had been engaged in for centuries but Asian political developments

made moving goods easier. The Silk Road had been opened further thanks to the peace provided

by the Mongol Empires in China. Before this it was difficult for European, or non-European,

merchants and travelers to get to their destinations safely without being raided or attacked. When

the Mongols defeated the many smaller nations in the Afro-Eurasian world, they made roads and

paths safer for those who would trek them. Cities along the Silk Road were seen as safe places

where trade could be engaged in with a multitude of cultures. The ability to identify Silk Road

65 The National Archives, “The National Archives Learning Curve | Focus on | Domesday,” accessed August 9,

2016, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/focuson/domesday/default.htm. The Domesday Book was

commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1085 CE to survey his land holdings and those of his people. My

reference to this text here serves to illuminate the similarities between the ideologies of the Middle Ages and the

Early Modern Period. While both time periods had religious and economic motives, their focal motivations are

evidenced by their language in the travel narratives of Marco Polo and Jacques Cartier.

31

cities as safe havens for merchants demonstrates the recognition of Asian political and economic

systems. Europeans were familiar with, and acknowledged, these Asian systems of power.

Though the Polos travelled the Silk Road at a time when peace between khanates was breaking

down, his notation of even the most “bloodthirsty” groups without describing any fights or

skirmishes he engaged in with them suggests that the cities were able to maintain peaceable

markets. Hence Polo’s more information-seeking missions. He wished to depict the commerce

and personalities of those that would engage in trade. It also makes sense that he would be

attempting to open up the Asian world for more Europeans, so that non-merchants would know

what other kinds of people and cultures they might encounter someday.

Similarly, a new avenue had been opened up for Europeans in 1492 CE when Columbus

attempted to find a shortcut to the Indies.66 His “discovery” of the New World revealed a fairly

untouched expanse of land and resources that had yet to be claimed. Five regions in Europe were

competing against each other for the most power, England, France, Spain, Portugal, and the

Netherlands. Each of these regions had few natural resources to grow their wealth. When the

New World was opened up to them, it became a race to obtain the many resources that were

located there.67 To complicate things, there were many natives living in these areas as well.

Different from the Asians, they did not have Old World ideas of empire and warfare. Their own

ideas of government and war were so different and so much less potent when compared to the

Europeans, that when the Spanish, Portuguese, and French arrived in the New World it was fairly

easy to discount the knowledge provided by the natives.68 Now Cartier’s motives and those of the

66 Betty Radice and Robert Baldick, eds., The Four Voyages of Christopher Columbus, trans. J.M. Cohen (London:

Penguin Books, 1969), 11. 67 Russell, Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians, 6. 68 Lewis Hanke, ed., Bartolome de Las Casas: A Selection of His Writings, trans. George Sanderlin (New York:

Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1971), 83; M. Newitt, “European Expansion at the End of the Middle Ages,” in Atlas of

Medieval Europe (London: Routledge, 1997), 221–25; Russell, Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern

Historians, 6, 18; Susan Castillo and Ivy Schweitzer, eds., “New World Encounters,” in The Literatures of Colonial

32

Early Modern Period become clear; the information that could be passed on to readers was not as

important as obtaining the power that was inlaid in the resources of the New World. The

introduction of the Americas into medieval culture spawned a change in the way people thought

of the world around them. The travel narratives of Polo and Cartier serve as representatives for

their time periods and showcase one possible reason for the periodization of the Later Middle

Ages and the Early Modern Period at the year 1500 C.E.

America: An Anthology, Blackwell Anthologies (Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2001), 74; J.M.

Blaut, The Colonizer’s Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History (New York, NY:

The Guilford Press, 1993); Friedman, The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought, 177.

33

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