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Timurid postal relay system
The Timurid yam was an official relay and express-post system established in Central Asia in the late 14th century, following and reforming the Mongo…
Timeline
- 1370–1385Samarkand · UzbekistanAfter unifying Transoxiana and Khorasan, Timur followed the Mongol relay tradition, setting up the first yam stations around Samarkand with regulations on distances, horse changes, and provisions for military levies and envoys.
- 1390–1400Herat–Samarkand relay road · KhorasanAround his conquests of West Asia, relay roads extended west toward Herat and Diyarbakir and east to Tashkent and Semirechye; by the late 14th century envoys and military dispatches could cover hundreds of li a day by relay.
- 1405–1507Herat · HeratDuring the divided rule of Timur's descendants the relays still sustained regional administration, with Shah Rukh retaining some yam stations centered on Herat; after the Uzbek invasions of the 16th century the system gradually collapsed.
Sources
- The Timurid Dynasty — Beatrice Forbes Manz (1999)
- Yam (postal system) https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/yam