Persian Caravan Route System

Timeline

1. 1501–1587Tabriz · East Azerbaijan ProvinceAfter Ismail I founded the Safavid dynasty and made Tabriz its capital, he inherited and integrated the caravan infrastructure left by the former Ilkhanate and Timurid Empire. Routes from Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulf (under Portuguese control) to Tabriz and Anatolia continued to operate, with Armenian merchants active in the nodal cities, forming the commercial pillar of the dynasty's early foreign trade.
2. 1587–1629Isfahan · Isfahan ProvinceAfter Abbas I moved the capital to Isfahan, he made road and caravanserai construction a state policy: according to historical records, hundreds of brick and stone caravanserais were built during his reign, one roughly every 30 to 40 kilometers, providing lodging, horse fodder, and storage for caravans. At the same time, he repaired the main trade routes from Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf (after expelling the Portuguese) to Isfahan, via Tabriz to the Ottoman border, and eastward to Kandahar, attracting British and Dutch merchants who exchanged silk for silver and forming a flourishing multilateral trade network.
3. 1621–1629Main road from Bandar Abbas to Isfahan · Persian Gulf CoastFrom 1621 to 1629, Bandar Abbas, after the expulsion of the Portuguese, became the new commercial gateway of the Persian Gulf. Large numbers of British East India Company merchants (which had received a Persian trade monopoly in 1619) and Dutch East India Company merchants settled there, while Armenian merchants (the New Julfa community) transported Persian silk by camel caravan through the caravanserai network to Antwerp and Amsterdam. Caravans were unprecedented in size, some comprising hundreds of camels, and the network of caravanserais along the route enabled them to cross deserts and mountains in safety.
4. 1629–1722Isfahan · PersiaAfter Abbas I, the caravan route network continued to operate largely intact, but the political weakness of his successors worsened border security. Repeated wars with the Ottomans and internal dynastic turmoil left some post-road facilities in disrepair, and it was only in 1722, when the Afghans captured Isfahan and the Safavid dynasty fell, that this carefully constructed caravanserai system collapsed along with the dynasty.