Map of caravanserais inhabited by the ancient Aryan traders along the Aryan trade roads
The Red Squares show the Map of caravanserais which were concentrated mainly in IRAN, Armenia, Turkey, and China in the East along the Aryan trade roads. The map is developed by Prof. Lebigre and Dr E.Thompoulos (EVCAU researchers at The Ecole d’Architecture Paris Val de Seine (EAPVS) and courtesy of K.E Eduljee).
Aryans started trading between themselves and with their neighbors as early as the Stone Ages. The Aryan trade routes were known as the Silk Roads and Aryan trade extended from the Iranian plateau and the Indus valley, to Armenia and Asia Minor (Turkey), and to China in the East.
The principle method ancient Aryan Traders used to travel and carry their goods along the trade routes was the caravan (From Persian karvan). Trading also required special infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and inns and most importantly security along the routes: Isidorus Characenus & Herodotus (in Histories 5.52) have both mentioned the existence of “Caravanserais “, the established stops and rest-places for the traders and their animals.
Caravanserais (Persian: karvansara) were the inns at which the Aryan traders and travelers stayed overnight while conducting their trade. In Asia Minor (Turkey), they were called kervansaraylar, and Isidorus calls them Stations.
The Caravanserais were built at specific distances to cover a day’s journey, which was about thirty to fifty kilometers, apart, And provided board and lodging as well as courtyards for the animals and storage areas for their goods.
Xenophon (Cyropedia: 8.6, 17) ascribes the institution of way-stations or rest-stations to King Cyrus the Great, who, having found out what distance a horse could cover in a day, divided the roads into corresponding stages depending on the terrain, and at these junctions built stations consisting of stables and rooms, and stationed horses, couriers and men in charge.
Herodotus, in his Histories gives an account of the Persian Royal Roads and caravanseries which ran from Sardes to Susa. The distance between the rest stations along the road varied depending of the terrain and its difficulty level. Because of the animals, the distance between caravan stations (4 parasangs, or 24 km) was shorter than the distance of a day’s march by say a soldier (30-40 km), A parasang is equivalent to about 6-8 km, perhaps an hour’s travel by caravan.
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