Marco Polo = Marko Pilich, the Croat?Marco Polo (1254 ? - 1324) was a famous explorer, who opened Europe to Asia, including China. Henry S. Hart in his book "Venetian Adventurer: Marco Polo" (Oklahoma, 1967) states that Marco Polo was "a descendant of an old Dalmatian family which had come from Sibenik, Dalmatia, and settled in Venice in the 11th Century." Hart then goes on to say, "The crews of the Venetian ships were freemen, so many of them Slavonians (Croatians) from the Dalmatian Coast, that the long quay by St. Mark's was and is known as Riva degli Sciavoni (Slavonian = Croatian)." Marco Polo was buried in a Slavic quarter in Venice, near the Riva degli Sciavoni (or "Riva od Hrvatov", according to Croatian sources).
Especially important is Marco Polo's Coat of Arms which
includes As indicated by dr Eterovic, the merchant and the noble class in Dalmatia did use two names, one Latin-Italian as citizens of Vencie, and their own Slavic name in their own circles. Bogdanich became Bogdaneo, Mladinich - Mladineo, Arnerich - Arneri, Glavinich - Capogrosso. Some simply used the Latin - Italian meaning of their name, such as Cvietkovich - Florio or Fiorini, Vukasinovich - Lupich, Pilich - Polo, etc. The Croatian Census of Population for 1948 lists DEPOLO on the Island of Korcula with 40 individuals in 15 families. Also the City of Drnis near Sibenik has over 25 families with more than 130 individuals named Pilich. How about Croatian Marco Polo? A British historian James A. Gilman founded "The Institute of Marco Polo" on the island of Korcula, believing that this was the place where he had been born. See [Gregory Peroche], p. 49.
I would like to thank Adam
Eterovich for permission to use
material from his publications as well as for personal
communication.
Sources and commentaries (see Eterovich's booklet for more
details):
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