SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN XXI CENTURY
HISTORY AND ARCHEOLOGY, ARCHIVAL STUDIES
UDC 930.85:339(5-191.2)
Aniyozov Ruslan Botirovich PhD student, Urganch State University
ACTIVITIES OF CARVAN ROUTES IN MOVAROUNNAHR (9th-12th centuries)
Annotation. This article provides a brief overview of the caravan routes of Movarounnahr in the 9th and 12th centuries. Keywords: Movarounnahr, Great Silk Route, caravan routes, caravanserai (a station in ancient form where caravan stops and rests), embassy, trade, yom (station), postage, customs, boundary.
Introduction The advanced period of the Middle Ages was a time of growth and development of large cities with trade and cultural centers and played an important role in the development of domestic and foreign economic and cultural ties. Movarounnahr cities, through which central Silk Route directions passed, also played an important role in international transit relations. During that period which is considered as the first Muslim revival period, the routes which passed through Zarafshan and Kashkadarya oasis, Surkhon, Vakhsh and Kofirnihon, Shash and Fergana, Yettisuv and Khorezm oasis and the steppe territories of the region, were of great importance and they were treated as important components of transit trade routes. It is desirable to begin the consideration of the region’s caravan routes of the 9th and 12th centuries, starting from Merv to Shash Valley, Fergana Valley and Yettsuv through the Zarafshan oasis and the Ustrushana region – the main direction important in the internal and external connections of that period.
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Literature overview The first part of this route was organized by the Merv-Bukhara road. This route, which ran through the Amul Pass on the Amu Darya, played an important role in linking Baghdad, the capital of the Khilafate and the Iranian cities with the shopping centers of Movarounnahr. This trade route connecting Fergana, Chach, Samarkand and Bukhara with Merv was one of the main routes of the Great Silk Route through our region. This caravan route led from Merv to Herat through Sarakhs and to the Khalifate’s ccapital Baghdad through the Iranian cities Mashhad, Nishapur and other cities. This route, from Baghdad to Bukhara through the cities of Iran and Merv, is widely described in the work of Ibn Fadlan. Some sources state that the distance from Merv to Sarakhs is 30 farsahs (Persian unit of length, 1 farsahs equal to 5549 metres) and about 40 fps from there to Nishapur. The distance from Merv to Amul is 36 farsahs and caravans usually travelled within 6 days. According to the sources, the route Merv-Amul ran through the rabots (Arabic: fortress) Kushmayhan, Devab (water of Giant) or Rabot al-Hadid (Iron Rabot), Al Mansaf or Nasrak Rabot, Al-Ahsa, well “Uthman”, Al Aqir, located 3 to 8 miles from each other. Amul was one of the main crossings of the Amu Darya River that played a major role in Movarounnahr’s relationship with Khurasan and Iran during the period under review. It is mentioned in sources that the transit trade route from Bukhara to Merv, the largest shopping center of Khurasan, passed through that river crossing. The caravans which came to Amul from Merv through the Kyzyl-Kum desert, passed to the right side of the Amu Darya on boats and ships. Caravans were provided with proper service at a place called Farob. From Farob, the caravan road crossed the sandy desert to Poykent (12 farsahss). Poykent, named in the sources as “Mis Shahar (Copper City)” and “City of Merchants”, was one of the region’s major cities during the Arab invasion. Arabic sources also note that the city’s residents were mainly engaged in commerce and in international trade with China and other countries through the water route of the Amu
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Darya River. More than one thousand rabots were built around Poykent in the 10th and 11th centuries and it was recorded in the sources that the distance between Bukhara and Poykent was 5 farsahss or a one-day distance. Some researchers suggested that this distance had been 7 to 8 farsahss based on sources. Some researchers believe that the latter is true considering the fact that the ruins of Poykent are 55 km from Bukhara. Result The city of Bukhara was one of the largest trade cities in Movarounnahr in the Middle Ages, containing castles, cities and rabots. Transit caravan routes connected Bukhara with many cities in Movarounnahr, Yettisuv, Khrezm and Khurasan, with large trade centers. Lots of cities and villages around Bukhara were also interconnected by local and transit caravan routes. The main direction of the trading route ran from Iran and Merv – the center of Khurasan to China through Bukhara, passed from Samarkand to Shash oasis, Fergana Valley or Yettisuv. The first important part of this major transit trade route was the Bukhara – Samarkand route. It’s also known that in the Middle Ages, this direction was also called as “Shokh yoli (King’s Path)”. The Bukhara – Samarkand road was 37 or 39 farsahss and passed through cities and fortresses such as Sharg (Jarg), Tavavis (Tawus), Karmana, Dabusia, Arbinjan (Rebinjon), Zarmana, Qasr al-Alqama. Narshakhi notes that the distance from Karmana to Bukhara was 14 farsahs and Samani notes it as 18 farsahs. The Raboti Malik Monument, located near Karmana, was one of the stops in the 10th and 12th centuries in the Bukhara – Samarkand trade route. Samarkand, known as a major cultural and trade center in the Middle Ages, was a city consisting of castles, cities and rabats and they contained large markets, caravanserais, handicraft settlements. According to sources, Samarkand had four gates and the Eastern Gate was called as China Gate, the Western Gate – Navbakhor, the north Gate – Bukhara Gate, the Southern Gate – the Big Gate, or the Kesh Gate. Such naming of the city gates illustrates the directions of Samarkand’s economic and cultural ties and their significance for the city.
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Conclusion We can state the followings as a conclusion to the above mentioned ideas: firstly, in the 9th and 12th centuries the caravan routes of the region functioned as a comprehensive system providing excellent service on the highways, river crossings, steppes and deserts, covering all major cities and villages, rich mineral deposits and vast pastures; secondly, some of the local trade routes th at crossed the various cities and provinces of Movarounnahr were also of great importance as the international transit networks of the Great Silk Route. In particular, the caravan routes from the Mediterranean coast to Baghdad, Iran, Movarounnahr, Eastern Turkestan and China, from Maverounnahr to Volga – Hazar and Bulgarian kingdoms, and Eastern European countries were consistently used.
References: 1. Mavlonov U. Ancient Roads of Central Asia. – Т., Академия. 2008. – P. 223. 2. Nosir Hisrov. Safarname / the translation from Persian by Ghulom Karim. – Tashkent: Sharq, 2003. – P. 16. 3. Mavlonov U. The above mentioned source. – P. 281. 4. Adilov Sh.T. Historical topography of one of the routes in the Middle Ages to the directions of Bukhara-Khorezm // Archeology and history of Central Asia. Dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the academician Yuriy Fedorovich Buryakov at the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan Republic. – Samarkand, 2004. – P. 19. 5. Kamoliddinov Sh.S. “Kitab al ansab” Abu Saida Abdalkarima ibn Muhammada as-Samani as a source of history and the history of culture in Central Asia. – Tashkent: Fan, 1993. – P. 64-70.
6. Narshahi. History of Bukhara. (translated by A. Rasulov from Persian) / Мерос … – P . 95.
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