User:Marco polo

Greetings, fellow Wikipedians.

I joined Wikipedia in 2006.

I live in Boston in the United States and am a native speaker of American English.

I am presently employed as an editor with a print publisher. I also write on history and geography for publication.

I was previously employed as an editor (and ghost writer) of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Prior to that, I worked as a freelance contributor and editor for Microsoft Encarta, for which I authored some articles. I have also worked editorially on other reference and travel publications.

I have a doctorate in geography from the University of California at Berkeley. My dissertation concerned the development of hygiene and sanitary infrastructure in 19th-century Berlin, Germany.

For my first major project here, I worked to improve the article on Berlin.

I have an abiding passion for history, geography, and languages. I also love to be outdoors hiking or exploring cities, rural landscapes, or the natural world.

Beyond my Babel-coded languages, I can decipher Portuguese, Catalan, Italian, Dutch and most West Germanic dialects.

Feel free to contact me here.

		The Geography Barnstar
		For your knowledge and ability to present it in an informative way at the Wikipedia reference desks, I award you this Geography Barnstar. Keep up the good work! DirkvdM 07:02, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

		The Barnstar of Diligence
		For dedication above the call of duty to answering questions, fixing errors, and just generally being a great asset to the project, we the community say, "Thanks!" Jouster  (whisper) 05:17, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

		The Reference Desk Barnstar
		For outstanding contributions to the Humanities Reference Desk. --Belchman (talk) 10:15, 9 May 2010 (UTC)

		The Reference Desk Barnstar
		For an outstanding answer on the Miscellaneous Reference Desk Rimush (talk) 09:39, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

	This user is a member of WikiProject Reference Desk Article Collaboration

Wikipedia:Babel
en This user is a native speaker of English. de-3 Dieser Benutzer hat sehr gute Deutschkenntnisse. fr-2 Cet utilisateur peut contribuer avec un niveau intermédiaire en français. es-2 Este usuario puede contribuir con un nivel intermedio de español.
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This user is a Reference desk regular.