CARAVAN TRADE ROUTES

CARAVAN TRADE ROUTES, a system of trade routes, connecting the countries of the East and the West in Antiquity, and the Middle Ages. Information on routes from Central Asia and the Caucasus to the Urals is contained in the writings of ancient authors (Herodotus, Ptolemy) and 9—10th centuries Arab‑Persian geographic literature (Ibn Hordadbeh, Ibn Fadlan, etc). The most famous among C.t.r. was the Great Silk Road, which branched into the Southern and Northern (steppe) roads. The northern road passed through Turfan (China), further, crossing the Pamirs and the Aral Sea steppes, went to the Southern Urals, and from there (through the Volga region and Fore‑Caucasus) – to Europe. Kanifa Yuly (Kanifa Road) is the most famous caravan road which passed through the territory of historic Bashkortostan. It went from Central Asia through the Ustyurt Plateau to the mouth of the River Or (a tributary of the Ural River), crossed the Ural River, then went along the left bank the Sakmara River and the ranges of the Southern Urals (now the territory of the Khaibullinsky, Zilairsky, Baymaksky, Abzelilovsky and Uchalinsky raions of the RB) and, finally, it extended into the modern Chelyabinsk Obl. territory. Nowadays, Zilairsky and Khaibullinsky raions territory have a small preserved part of this road. It runs through the mountains and uplands of the Sakmara River left bank, from Derevnya Yuldybayevo to the southern borders of the RB. The name of the road is associated with alegendabout a Bashkir girl named Kanifa who fled from Kazakh captivity. Also known the ancient road that ran from the Volga territory to the East along the Samara River and, then, along the right bank of the Ural River to the mouth of the Or River, where it connected to the Kanifa Yuly. According to archaeological data, coins, jewelry and utensils made of precious metals, mirrors, toreutics and silk products, etc, came to the Urals. The earliest findings of items brought from the countries of the East to the Urals date back to the 5th century BC.