How did Marco Polo’s family first establish contact with Kublai Khan?

Marco Polo’s father, Niccolò, and his uncle, Maffeo, first established contact with Kublai Khan through a series of long-distance travels driven by trade.

Around 1260, the brothers left Constantinople and traveled to the Volga River, where they successfully managed their affairs at the court of Berke Khan. When political instability prevented their return to Venice, they continued eastward through Bukhara. By 1265, they reached the Mongol emperor’s summer residence at Shangdu. There, they established friendly relations with Kublai Khan, who eventually sent them back to Europe as his ambassadors with requests for religious and intellectual exchanges.12