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| From Venice to Delhi - Photo: Cat Bauer |
(Venice, Italy) In the summer of 1338, six noble Venetian merchants took off on a life-changing road trip. They had formed a societas, or company -- sort of like an early form of a limited partnership -- and left Venice on a trading adventure. The plan was to travel the Silk Road until they reached the Sultanate of Delhi on the Indian subcontinent.
With global trade deals and tariffs blaring across today's headlines in 2025, it is important to remember that all this commotion about trading with foreign competitors is nothing new. As early as the 1300s, Venetian merchants had already formed trade companies to do business with Persia, India, and China. They had colonies in Constantinople and Crimea. (And yes, the head of the Venetian Republic was called the Doge:-)
- Giovanni Loredan
- Paolo Loredan
- Andrea Loredan
- Marco Soranzo
- Marino Contarini
- Baldovino Querini
Giovanni Loredan organized the trip. The nobles had been to China before, hauling back a load of spices from the East, which they had exchanged for amber, and Flemish and Florentine woolen cloths.
That first trip had been financed by an early version of crowd funding, with contributions coming from a wide range of people, including a group of Venetian women -- backed by Caterina, Giovanni's mother.
Now the noble merchants wanted to go to India to do business. Because of the nature of global trade, the goods and investments loaded in Venice were not necessarily the same as those that would arrive in Delhi. The continuous purchases and sales of goods would respond to the tastes and needs of the market the merchants encountered along the Silk Road.
Caterina did everything she could to convince her son not to make the second perilous voyage.
But Giovanni could not be dissuaded. He believed a fortune would be made if they could reach the Sultan of Delhi, Muhammad bin Tughluq, whose Sultanate ruled most of India. For the journey to Delhi, the partners had a common capital of 12,600 ducats, equal to more than 44 kg (97 lbs) of gold.
It was said that the Sultan would receive guests in the gigantic hall of the 'Thousand Pillars,' reclining on a raised throne covered with white carpets and cushions. Surrounding the Sultan were hundreds of nobles, courtiers, and soldiers, and harnessed horses and elephants.
The Sultan was "famous for acts of great generosity but also for his extreme cruelty." If the Sultan liked the gifts bestowed upon him, he would respond by giving gifts worth three times their value in return.
So, in addition to other goods, Giovanni & Co. shrewdly brought with them the latest marvels of European technology: a mechanical clock and a mechanical fountain. Both gifts had been made in Venice by the goldsmith Mondino da Cremona, the go-to guy for gifts for world leaders. A few years earlier, da Cremona had sold a clock to the king of Cyprus for an impressive 800 ducats, equal to almost 3kg (6.61 lbs) of gold.
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| Parchment of the 1350 court case - Photo: Cat Bauer |
How do we know all this?
The Archivio di Stato in Venice is one of the largest in Italy, and is located inside the former convent of Santa Maria dei Frari. Venetians were terrific about keeping written records. The Venice State Archive preserves more than 1000 years of Venetian history, covering about 80 km (50 miles) of shelves.
Hidden within the labyrinthine archives of Venice was a fragile 1350 parchment about a court case brought by Alberto de Calle against the heirs of his son-in-law -- who happened to be our protagonist, Giovanni Loredan.
The 14th century parchment had been found and forgotten in the State Archives decades ago, and had been lost for more than 70 years.. It was largely overlooked by scholars of Venetian history, and in very poor condition.
Then, when the celebration of the 700th anniversary of Marco
Polo's death in 2024 was approaching, historian Dr. Luca Molà remembered
the parchment. Molà convinced the University of Warwick, where he is a professor, to fund the restoration of the document. The restoration allowed Dr. Molà and his colleague, Marcello Bolognari, to bring the ancient document -- written mostly in Latin with testimonies in Venetian vulgar dialect -- to life.
The 1350 parchment is the record of a long court case. It offers a rich glimpse into a pivotal moment in Silk Road history, and provides a rare insight into Venetian trade with Asia just years after Marco Polo's death in 1324.
The 1350 parchment is the record of a long court case. It offers a rich glimpse into a pivotal moment in Silk Road history, and provides a rare insight into Venetian trade with Asia just years after Marco Polo's death in 1324.
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| Bust of Marco Polo by Augusto Gambo (1862-63) |
Marco Polo, the Original Gangster
Marco Polo was the OG. The six noble Venetian merchants were continuing his journey into the exotic world of the East. In fact, Giovanni Loredan was a distant relative of Marco Polo's. All the other travelers were Marco Polo's neighbors in Venice.
Marco Polo was the OG. The six noble Venetian merchants were continuing his journey into the exotic world of the East. In fact, Giovanni Loredan was a distant relative of Marco Polo's. All the other travelers were Marco Polo's neighbors in Venice.
Marco Polo wasn't the first European to make the journey to the East, but he wrote the best seller, Il Milione -- commonly known as The Travels of Marco Polo -- so he is the one we know the best.
Born around 1254 in Venice, Marco Polo came from a family of seasoned merchants. Details are murky, but apparently Marco's mother died when he was young, and he was raised by his extended family.
His father, Niccolò, was one of three brothers who were also business partners. The eldest brother, also named Marco, was a resident of Constantinople; the youngest brother was Maffeo. All three made regular journeys to Crimea and beyond.
While Niccolò and Maffeo were in Bukhara (Uzbekistan) in 1260, a center of trade on the Silk Road, they met messengers on their way to meet the great Mongol ruler Kublai Khan. The envoys persuaded the Venetians to accompany them to what is now Beijing.
When they arrived, Kublai Khan -- who was a Buddhist -- was fascinated by what the Polos told him about Europe and the Christian religion. He sent them back West as his special envoys with a letter to Pope Clement IV requesting holy oil from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, where Jesus Christ was buried, and a 100 missionaries to instruct his people in Christianity.
So, off went the Polo brothers. The dates are blurry, but they reached Acre around 1269, then the capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which roughly corresponds to what is now Israel and the Palestinian territories, southern Lebanon and southwestern Jordan. They met with the papal legate, Teobaldo Visconti, who was representing the Pope in the Holy Land. Visconti was assisting Prince Edward of England (who would become King Edward I) with the Ninth Crusade.
The Polos found out that Pope Clement IV had died and the election for his successor was embroiled in turmoil. Visconti suggested that the Polos return to Venice to await the election of a new Pope before attempting to fulfill Kublai Khan's request for the 100 learned Christians and holy oil.
Marco was about 15 years old when his father and uncle returned to Venice sometime in 1269 or 1270. The young Venetian was riveted by the tales of their mission for the great Mongolian Emperor Kublai Khan, the first non-Chinese emperor of China, and founder of the Yuan Dynasty.
Kublai Khan's great desire was to rule all of China, a goal he would go on to achieve in 1279 backed by his fierce Mongol fighting forces. Under Kublai Khan, the Mongol Empire grew to 9 million square miles, making it the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world.
Kublai Khan's great desire was to rule all of China, a goal he would go on to achieve in 1279 backed by his fierce Mongol fighting forces. Under Kublai Khan, the Mongol Empire grew to 9 million square miles, making it the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world.
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| Map of Mongol Empire - World History Encyclopedia |
The Second Journey to Kublai Khan
In 1271, Niccolò and Maffeo, set off on their second voyage to meet the
Great Khan -- this time accompanied by the teenage Marco. They headed to Acre to meet again with the papal legate, Teobaldo Visconti, who was still in the Holy Land. In a remarkable and fortunate turn of events -- after the longest papal vacancy in the history of the Roman Catholic Church -- from 1268 to 1271 -- a new pope was finally elected.
And it was Teobaldo Visconti! Who was as surprised as anyone to receive the news that he had been elected as the new Pope.
And it was Teobaldo Visconti! Who was as surprised as anyone to receive the news that he had been elected as the new Pope.
Before Visconti left the Holy Land to return to Italy to assume the papal mantle as Pope Gregory X, he gave the Polo Trio the sacred oil from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, but not the 100 learned Christians requested by Kublai Khan. Instead, they were accompanied by two friars, who did not finish the voyage out of fear.
When the Polo Trio arrived in China about four years later, the now 21-year-old Marco Polo met Kublai Khan for the first time. And he was a big hit with the Mongol emperor. Kublai Khan adored the young Venetian and sent him out on diplomatic missions as a foreign emissary throughout this vast empire.
The Polos spent about 20 years in China. Apparently Kublai Khan appreciated the Venetians so much that he would not agree to their departure. Around 1295, when he was about 40, Marco finally was able to return to Venice after escorting a Mongolian princess to her betrothed.
To this day, Marco Polo is the symbol of the link between Venice and Asia, West and East. How different would the world be today if the young Venetian had not charmed the exotic ruler of the largest contiguous land empire in the history of the world?
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| Veneto-Byzantine marble arch, remnants of the Polo family home in Venice - Photo: Cat Bauer |
6 Venetian Merchants on the 1338 Silk Road Trip
Thanks to Il Milione, for the first time, Europeans got
a glimpse into the great wealth of the Mongol Empire. For Venetian
merchants, the temptation to tap into the exotic trade of the Eastern
world was irresistible. By the end of the 13th century, China -- then called Catai -- had suddenly become reachable thanks to the security of the caravan routes guaranteed by the Mongols.
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| The Itinerary - Photo: Cat Bauer |
Giovanni Loredan and the societas first stopped in the Byzantine capital of Constantinople, in what is now Istanbul. From there they embarked on four galleys bound for Tana, a commercial emporium on the Sea of Azov at the mouth of the Don. Tana was the most distant emporium of the entire Venetian colonial system, where both Venetian and Genoese merchants had permanent residences.
Here is a map of where the ancient territory would be in 2025:
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| Map at Geography |
From Tana, the next stop was Sarai on the Volga river, a thriving metropolis and capital of the Tatar Khanate of the Golden Horde. From Saraj the merchants headed first to Astrakhan, around 55 miles from the Caspian Sea. They waited there for about 50 days before fording the Volga and traveling to Urgench in Uzbekistan -- now an important UNESCO World Heritage archeological site called Old Urgench in Turkmenistan.
Here began the hardest part of the journey. They had to cross the Amu Darya River to reach the Pamir Plateau, known as the Roof of the World, in a range of mountains between Central and South Asia. The Pamir spills over into Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China.
Where our voyagers were now is so utterly complicated that I will direct you to a site called Big Think that will break it down for you:
Somehow the merchants got down out of the mountains and into Ghazni in Afghanistan at the gates of the Sultanate of Delhi.
Where our voyagers were now is so utterly complicated that I will direct you to a site called Big Think that will break it down for you:
The “Roof of the World,” in eight simple lines
Somehow the merchants got down out of the mountains and into Ghazni in Afghanistan at the gates of the Sultanate of Delhi.
And there in Afghanistan is why Giovanni Loredan should have listened to his mother, Caterina. Because Giovanni Loredan died in Ghazni and never did meet the Sultan.
After several more perilous months, the remaining merchants reached India.
The gifts the Venetians brought pleased the Sultan so much that he rewarded the merchants with the fabulous sum of 200,000 Indian coins. The Venetians invested half the money in pearls.
On the way back to Venice, another merchant, Boldovino Querini lost his life.
The remaining four Venetians made it back to Venice by the end of 1341, having made a substantial return on the initial investment.
In 1350, Alberto de Calle sued the heirs of his deceased son-in-law, Giovanni Loredan, for his share of the profit of his investment. The trial involved Giovanni's three sons and his wife, Filipppa, Alberto's own daughter. The court case took place before the Judges of the Procurator, the magistracy that dealt with testamentary matters and the protection of minors.
Go to 1338 Da Venezia a Delhi. Sei mercanti sulle Vie della seta for more information (in Italian).
The Parchment
The ancient parchment recording the 1350 trial has arrived to us in the
year 2025 thanks to the determination of scholars and their enlightened supporters who are dedicated to the preservation of human nature. It gives us the opportunity to learn from history instead of
repeating it.
Honestly, the story told by that parchment gave me goosebumps. Writing and researching this post has been an in-depth history, geography, and economics lesson. From Palestine to Crimea to Afghanistan and beyond, it seems that similar upheavals are happening in the same regions today.
Honestly, the story told by that parchment gave me goosebumps. Writing and researching this post has been an in-depth history, geography, and economics lesson. From Palestine to Crimea to Afghanistan and beyond, it seems that similar upheavals are happening in the same regions today.
Professor Luca Molà said, "This is by far the most detailed
document we have on the activities of Venetian merchants in Asia,
ranging from China to India and involving the trade of goods from the
whole Eurasian continent. The restoration of the parchment has ensured
the survival of an extremely valuable cultural asset."
The parchment illustrates the sophisticated and extensive trade networks that existed in the 14th century, connecting Europe with distant regions like China and India.
The parchment illustrates the sophisticated and extensive trade networks that existed in the 14th century, connecting Europe with distant regions like China and India.
The 1350 parchment serves as a powerful reminder that globalization is not a new phenomenon but has deep historical roots.
1338 From Venice to Delhi. Six Merchants on the Silk Roads runs through May 4, 2025. You will find the 1350 parchment in the Museum of Oriental Art on the top floor of Ca' Pesaro, Venice's International Gallery of Modern Art. Museo d'Arte Orientale is home to one of the largest collections in Europe of Japanese art from the Edo period.
Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
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