Samarkand papermaking industry

Timeline

1. c. 1171–1180Outskirts of Samarkand · SamarkandPapermaking workshops lined the rivers on Samarkand's outskirts, drawing raw materials from flax fields in the Zarafshan valley and surrounding mulberry groves; artisan families passed down pulping, forming, and sizing techniques across generations, and their products were renowned for fineness and durability.
2. c. 1175–1180Samarkand market · SamarkandIn the 1170s Samarkand paper supplied through markets to religious academies for copying scriptures, government offices for issuing documents, and caravans for recording cargo lists, and spread west along the Silk Road to Persia and Anatolia, consolidating its status as Central Asia's papermaking center.