Original Article The importance of Silk Road in the Economy of Badakhshan People Abdul Aziz Qurbani Scholar of History, Faculty of Social Sciences, Badakhshan University. Abstract The present paper evaluates the process of this question: What role has the failure and falling from the prosperity of the Silk Road played in the political and economic situation of Badakhshan? To this end, the importance of the Silk Road process has been addressed. This is a question that plays a big role in the anomalies of the people of Badakhshan and the conduction of its political, economic, and social developments. The primary trade statistics in Badakhshan are analyzed by P. B. Lord, in the first half of the 19th century, the most important of which was the strategic plan on the importance of Silk Road. Silk Road has been used by merchants since ancient times and was a good source of income for the people of Badakhshan. Along with describing the importance of silk trade; national and civic affairs, historical position, economic conditions, cultural features, and issues like the first road of Mica Stone Root and Graphite Stone, Wick Stone, construction of buildings, and transportation are also included. Trading and transportations taking place on both sides of the Silk Road, both sides of the Amu and Kokcha rivers, all through the Pamir and Khan mountain ranges, along with a valuable collection of gold and silver vessels in Badakhshan, could be evidence of trade with the region and the world. Keywords: Badakhshan, Silk Road, Economic Trade, Gemstones, and Wakhan were located on the side of this road, which passed through INTRODUCTION the heart of amazing cliffs and deserts, in the foothills such as The Silk Trade Road was a winding economic, Broghil, Yuli, Pamir, and Wakhan mountains. It also has communicational, and cultural road in Badakhshan, which made Badakhshan more colorful and has given it special was a long route from China through Badakhshan and to the features. Mediterranean Sea, a well-known commercial and transportation route. It has mediated the exchange of cultures Therefore, on the way to this road, all kinds of goods and between East and West and paved the way for better precious stones such as Lal, ruby, azure, silver, gold, economic conditions in Badakhshan. diamond, quartz, and emerald were available and exposed for trade. Today, considering the raised issue of Silk Road and its expansion, the issue has been presented in the form of an The term Silk Road initiative in the rise of the civilizations of the time, thus the According to the German explorer Frank and Braxton in the importance of its route from China to Badakhshan has been 19th century, the name of the Silk Road was first coined by identified. In the past, Badakhshan grew up on the Silk Road in the context of the ever-increasing merchants, and became a constant route for merchants and bankers, as it was a well- Address for correspondence: Abdul Aziz Qurbani, Scholar of known route between East and West. History, Faculty of Social Sciences, Badakhshan University. Email: [email protected] This road was considered the source of wealth and the place of transport of goods, among the towns and villages. Badakhshan has been a vital area of monetary economic This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, participation and trade in goods and precious stones. This tweak, and build upon the work non commercially, as long as the author is credited land was the reference point for the silk, the passageway for and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. trade caravans, and its importance and role in the civilization and culture of the region has been prominent. How to cite this article: Qurbani, A. A. The importance of Silk Road in the Economy of Badakhshan People. Arch Pharma Pract The silk trade, as the most famous, lightest, and most 2020;11(S1):49-55. expensive commodity, used to travel east and west along through this road. The first cities, villages, and caravanserais © 2020 Archives of Pharmacy Practice 1 49 Abdul Aziz Qurbani.: The importance of Silk Road in the Economy of Badakhshan People the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen, who eastern Pamir, to the last mountainous part of the Pamir of called the Asian Highway the Silk Road. According to his Badakhshan, from which the two rivers Seyhoun and Jeyhun writings, in addition to the silk trade, along this road, the most flow. This road passes through the cities of Shan, Khatanga, important commodity exchange is paper and so it is known as Yarghand, and Bukhara, and through Kashgar to the the paper road as well. (This naming as the Silk Road is for mountainous Pamir of Badakhshan. [2]. the silk being produced in China). Jonathan Bloom also calls the Silk Road as the paper road in his work. It is worth And even Sogdian merchants contributed to the Silk Road mentioning that the first person who called this road "Silk trade. Sogdia covered a large part of the plain between the Road", in his researches was Richthofen, followed by Jean- rivers Jeyhun and Amu Darya and Seyhoun and is one of the Pierre Derge and Emil M. “Silk had a common connection provinces whose most important export was the azure stone with East and West along this road. Through the road, goods of Badakhshan which after being traded in the Silk Road was such as spices, tea, paper, gemstones, and porcelain were transported from China to the western lands of the exchanged”. According to the two, "Silk has given its name Badakhshan Pamir, and instead, the warhorses needed by the to the whole road, for its luxurious feature, and also played Chinese cavalry were transported to China from Fergana, the role of common currency among the nations. The Chinese northeast of the Badakhshan Pamir. [3]. This great highway also paid this silk to their neighbors living in tents as ransom has long been a source of special commercial value through and tribute to provide security and comfort." Pierre Derge which Asian, Egyptian, and Eastern European countries also adds "The Silk Road is a new concept, and it was at the always traded silk goods from China to India and Europe in end of the 19th century that Ferdinand von and Richthofen transferring Indian building materials to other parts of the used the term silk road without any explanation to describe world. The Silk Road passed through the city of Chi Chia and the trade routes between China and Central Asia and the west of Yang Shu, and with two major tradelines, it extended West. Since then, the Silk Road has been used to visualize a through the west, then branched off towards Yarkand, series of trade routes between China and the West." Khatan, and Aksu. Later, in Central Asia, it reached to According to Lynn, the term Silk Road was used in the 19th Badakhshan via Sangyang, and from there it extended to century to refer to the East and West trade networks that Balkh [4]. passed through Asia and the Indian Ocean. Before that, both desert routes and sea routes were included. Tourists from The eastern road, Wakhan and Khatan roads (Marco Polo Islamic countries believe:” The term Silk Road does not route) passed through Khatl, Badakhshan, Jaryab River, imply that silk was the only commodity on the road, but that Meng, Sangi Bridge, Vakhshab, Liukand, Hellarud, Arhan, commodities such as precious stones, spices, and others were and Halabak crossings. That is why silk pieces are so traded, and that silk was more important and because of its common in Badakhshan. It is still known for cocooning and purely luxurious properties this road is known as the Silk silk production. The silk trade went from Badakhshan to the Road." [1]. old Balkh, until it entered Herat into Mashhad and spread to Tehran and Turkey. Then the silk was traded, on the The Silk Road has been the highway to the economy Mediterranean coast with their other partners [5]. throughout history, and the way the caravans have passed through has been a major source of revenue for countries and It is a cultural and ancient province and is famous for the rapid has led to the development of those areas. A study of the growth of the Amu civilization and the azure stone of general route of the ancient Silk Road shows that Badakhshan in the world. These valuable objects were linked Afghanistan, and especially Badakhshan, was one of the main in business exchanges and were even influential in the culture and important pillars of this route. of the people of Badakhshan. [6]. Badakhshan Silk Road has gained fame and glory in the ancient world and has been Badakhshan location on the Silk Road addressed as the Great Silk Highway, which has formed a Far past, Central Asia was the site of world civilization and transit channel to the world's continents through the Hindu culture. Most religions and civilizations were built along the Kush and Great Pamir dynasties. On the other hand, the Silk Road. Along the Silk Road, which began on the shores existence of large mines such as ruby, lapis lazuli (azure of China along the Pacific Ocean and passed through the stone), mica stone, and Graphite, among other valuable soaring mountains of the Himalayas, Tian Shan, Hindu Kush, treasures, has given this province its glory. Faizabad is the and Pamir Badakhshan, commodities like silk, spices, and center of Badakhshan. It is well-known for its famous Silk other goods were transported to Europe, so the Europeans Road [7].