Historical Figures

Are there living relatives of Marco Polo?

The Polo family tree is well-documented, and there are indeed living descendants of Marco Polo, including the following notable individuals:

- Marco Polo's last direct descendants were his daughter Fantina and his son-in-law Marco Bragadin, who had two sons: Marco and Jacopo. While the line of Jacopo died out, Marco Bragadin had several children, including a daughter named Taddea who married into a noble Venetian family. Through this line, Marco Polo has numerous descendants living today, though only a few bear the Polo surname.

- Niccolo Polo, Marco's father, had two other children: Maffeo and Giovannie. While Marco's line did not continue, some individuals believe they are descended from Maffeo and Giovannie.

- In 1998, a study of the Y chromosome of Marco Polo's remains, exhumed from a church in Venice, was conducted. The study revealed that Marco Polo belonged to a relatively common haplogroup (haplogroup R-M269), which is found in many parts of Europe and Asia. This suggests that while it's difficult to trace an exact lineage, there are potential distant genetic relatives of Marco Polo living today.

It's worth noting that the Polo family had several branches and distant relatives and that many individuals may have genealogical connections to Marco Polo, but tracing direct descendance can be challenging due to lack of documentation, adoption, or name changes over time.