Calliope articles from April 2009

Calliope archives from April 2009

5 Tantalizing travel facts.(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... 1. Only officers had sleeping accommodations on boats until the late 1500s, when crews adapted the hammocks they saw in the Americas. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 2. Car travelers in the U.S. today can cover up to...

Marco Milione.(MUSINGS)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I have not told the half of what I saw --Marco Polo [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IF YOUR FATHER ASKED YOU to accompany him on a trip that would take two years just to reach your destination, what would you...

Marco's City.(Venice)(City overview)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Few cities have ever been considered as beautiful or as wealthy as Venice. Thanks to fits skillful sea traders and the stability of the government, enormous riches lay in its treasury. The Venetians, who loved fine...

Trade links East and West.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Spices that we take for granted today, such as cinnamon and pepper, were not readily available in the 1200s. People risked their lives and made their fortunes by carrying these and other valuable commodities from...

At work for the Khan.(Kublai Khan)
April 1, 2009... Leaving Venice in 1271, Marco Polo knew the 5,000-mile journey to China would not be easy. Bandits along the Silk Road caused fearful merchants to move together in caravans. The sound of whistling wind or, some say, evil spirits in the Desert...

Polo maze.(ACTIVITY)(Marco Polo)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Can you find your way through this maze, from Marco Polo's house to Kublai Khan's court. Let the 21 letters guide you, but be careful: Only 9 of them are real clues, and each represents the initial letter of a place Marco stopped on his...

Who were the Mongols?
April 1, 2009... The Mongol people have inhabited the vast regions of Central Asia for thousands of years. They speak a language of the Altaic family, which is related to Turkish. Modern Mongolia is the homeland of the descendants of Genghis Khan, but people...

The 'yam' as glue.( yam postal system )
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caravans laden with merchandise and information had been trudging along the trade routes between Europe and China for more than 1,000 years when Kublai's grandfather, Genghis Khan, took control of the Mongol Empire....

Modes of travel.
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] People were on the move in the Middle Ages, even though travel times were long, roads hazardous, and conditions uncomfortable. We hear of Benedict Biscop, who traveled from Yorkshire in northern England to Rome in...

Fun with words.
April 1, 2009... Affluent This adjective means "flowing freely" and "wealthy"--exactly what its roots are: the Latin preposition ad ("to") and the Latin verb fluere ("to flow"). Merchant In this issue, we read much about merchants, people involved...

Polo's princess.(Marco Polo, Cocachin )
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Marco Polo traveled east to areas of the world that few Europeans of his day had ever considered visiting. Returning home, however, presented a problem, and it would take the help of a 17-year-old princess to make...

Travelers' tales.(The Travels of Sir John Mandeville )(Book review)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I, John Mandeville, knight, although I am unworthy, who was born in England in the town of St. Albans and passed the sea the year of Our Lord Jesus Christ 1322, on Michaelmas Day, and since have been a long time...

Ask Calliope.(Glossary)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [?] What is DNA? --Bailey, Web post [!] DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the master molecule that determines what a cell is and does. Read correctly, it can tell us who we are, reveal our ancestors, and...