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1060s Samarkand Silk Road Trade
In the 1060s, Samarkand under the western Karakhanid khans remained a key trading hub linking China's Western Regions, the Indian subcontinent, and t…
Timeline
- 1061–1065Samarkand · TransoxianaCaravans from Kashgar, Khotan, India, and Persia assembled in Samarkand to trade; the market chiefly dealt in silk, cotton cloth, gems, spices, and livestock, while the khans' court levied customs duties on transit goods and issued travel passes to secure the caravans.
- 1066–1070Samarkand · TransoxianaAround 1068, during a change of khans, merchants adjusted routes to avoid political volatility; some caravans rerouted via Bukhara or detoured southward, yet Samarkand, thanks to its mature infrastructure and financial networks, retained its position as Transoxiana's foremost trading hub.
Sources
- S. Frederick Starr, Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane — S. Frederick Starr (2013)