Venice was a great place to become a world traveler. It was called “Queen of the Adriatic” because its port was so important in that sea. It traded a lot with its eastern neighbors.
The city had a strong merchant class. Marco’s father and two uncles were merchants. Venetian merchants traveled east all the time. They brought back all kinds of goods to sell to the rest of Europe: silk, dyes, furs, pepper, ginger, cotton, peacock feathers, timber. They also bought and sold enslaved people.
