EPTIt is generally accepted that Marco Polo traveled the Silk Road into China and lived there for 17 or so years, however there is lots of evidence that suggests that he in fact did not step a foot in China. So that reminded me of the famous quote from Napoleon "history is a set of lies agreed upon". I was wondering if there are any other largely accepted account of history that might be false? I'm not talking about little things that we are taught for simplicity's sake like Columbus actually did not discover that the earth was round, or an apple did not actually fall on Newtons head. I want historical accounts that almost everyone believes to be true, but there is evidence that says otherwise, like Marco Polo. Hopefully you guys can contribute something and in the meantime I will try to do some more research. If I find anything else I will update the OP. Let's get a discussion going here!
For those interested, here is some evidence that suggests that Marco Polo did not go to China:
+ Show Spoiler +
1. The names of places that Marco gave in his book are in the Persian form, rather then the Mongolian or Chinese form that one would expect from someone living in China(under Mongolian rule) for 17 years.
2. He does give any accounts of daily Chinese lifestyle, such as tea drinking, which was very important. There is no mention of Chinese writing, or calligraphy. He also fails to mention foot-binding(a process to shrink the feet of Chinese woman feet). Such a weird/odd practice to a westerner surely would have been documented.
3. There is no mention of the Great Wall!!
4. Probably the most convincing piece of evidence is that there is no account of Marco Polo in Chinese/Mongolian history. He supposedly worked under Kublai Khan(grandson of Genghis) for the majority of his time spent in China, doing missions and tasks appointed to him, so surely someone who worked off direct orders of the Emperor/Khan.
There is more evidence, but that those are the more important points.
So how did he write his book? He most likely got accounts from Persian and Islamic traders coming back from China along the Silk Road. It is also believed that he got accounts from his father and uncle who had traveled pretty far east.
2. He does give any accounts of daily Chinese lifestyle, such as tea drinking, which was very important. There is no mention of Chinese writing, or calligraphy. He also fails to mention foot-binding(a process to shrink the feet of Chinese woman feet). Such a weird/odd practice to a westerner surely would have been documented.
3. There is no mention of the Great Wall!!
4. Probably the most convincing piece of evidence is that there is no account of Marco Polo in Chinese/Mongolian history. He supposedly worked under Kublai Khan(grandson of Genghis) for the majority of his time spent in China, doing missions and tasks appointed to him, so surely someone who worked off direct orders of the Emperor/Khan.
There is more evidence, but that those are the more important points.
So how did he write his book? He most likely got accounts from Persian and Islamic traders coming back from China along the Silk Road. It is also believed that he got accounts from his father and uncle who had traveled pretty far east.
Here is another interesting account:
+ Show Spoiler +
It has been suggested that Merriweather Lewis (Lewis & Clark) was actually murdered instead of committing suicide in Tennessee while en route to Washington DC. Lewis was Thomas Jefferson's right hand man for years. He could be considered the first Presidential Aide. The General that had been appointed Gov over the Louisiana Territory by Jefferson was very corrupt. Jefferson wanted to replace the General and appoint Lewis. Lewis was traveling to Washington to collect money that the US owed him. He was staying the night at a lodge in Tennessee when the owners of the lodge found him dead with a bullet wound to the head. There were no witnesses. Jefferson was notified of Lewis's death by apparent suicide and was told that Lewis had been depressed before he killed himself. That is all it took for this to become the historical account. The President of the United States thought that Lewis had committed suicide. The body was attended to and buried in Tennessee. There is documentation by a doctor and others who saw the wound to Lewis's head before burial which suggest that the bullet entered the back of the head and exited in the front. The facts go on and on in this story, but there is an attempt at this moment to exhume the body to find out. Because the grave is considered of historical importance the US gov has the last word and the request for exhumation has been denied once.
