"Silk Road Caravanserai" a Zeyn od Din Travel Page by grets

The Silk Road was one of the world’s most important trade routes connecting China and Central Asia with the Mediterranean and the west. It wasn’t so much a single road, as a series of routes along which traders would take the caravans loaded with goods for sale in the west. Camel caravans were often used, as well as mules and horses. Goods were shipped across the sea to places like Italy. The Silk Road can be attributed with being a significant factor in establishing many of the great civilisations around the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Not only did the Silk Route develop the cross-continental trade, it also meant that people were engaged in cultural exchanges along the way.

It is believed that a route through Iran, known as the Persian Royal Road, dates back as far as the 4th century BC when Darius I constructed a series of trade links. The Chinese are understood to have been exporting silk to Egypt as far back as 1700 BC, so the Silk Road has been in use for a little while. Caravans would skirt the edges of inhospitable lands, known as ‘Land of Death’, an area with extreme temperatures, desolate deserts and virtually impenetrable passes.

The term Silk Road was coined in 1877 by the German geographer Ferdinand van Richthofen.

A caravanserai is basically a roadside inn for travellers. These days it would be known as a motel. In those days, of course, people did not travel by motor vehicles, in this region camels were the most suitable mode of transport. It was nearly always based on the same formula, with an inner courtyard around which was smaller rooms for the animals and humans. The caravanserai would provide food for the weary travellers as well as the animals, and water for drinking and washing. Sometimes these inns were also a place of trade, where merchants would be able to sell their wares. The word is Persian from caravan* = a group of travellers journeying together and seray meaning dwelling.