Map questions

I don't think that Ibn and Marco are typical of their time period, because they traveled across the entire eastern hemisphere by themselves. At that time, individuals did not often make such long trips on their own. For example, merchants used roads and sea lanes to conduct trade with each other in stages, as opposed to doing it all by themselves. I think they are much more typical of this time period, because today individuals often do make voyages by themselves over very long distances. This is because of rising technology, such as cars and planes, which are much more effective methods of transportation than was available in the times of Ibn and Marco. With new technologies such as these, Ibn and Marco would fit perfectly into the modern time period.