The Silk Road in Azerbaijan.. What is the story of the greatest trade network in history?

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Azerbaijan was once famous for its silk and spice trade. At the crossroads between Europe and Asia, the Silk Road was the trade network linking East and West.

In the 19th century, Shaki served as a global center for the silk industry. So what is the condition of this charming Azerbaijani city?

The small UNESCO World Heritage town of Sheki is located against the densely forested foothills of Azerbaijan's Greater Caucasus Mountains. The Great Silk Road was the legendary overland supply chain that allowed Chinese goods to reach ancient Rome from the 2nd century BC.

In the ancient world, in the absence of trains or planes, transporting valuable goods across vast, inhospitable expanses of Eurasia required well-equipped teams of animals, usually camels, traveling in groups, known as caravans. Caravans usually looked for a safe place to stop, sturdy containers with walls, where traders could find lodging and living.

These containers developed into what are known as "caravanserais", i.e. caravan palaces, which were distributed along trade routes, serving as the prototype of traveler's lodges, in the pre-engine era. Despite what the name suggests, the Silk Road was a widespread network and not just one “road,” and trade consisted of many goods, not just silk.

Pepper and spices were also in demand in pre-medieval Europe, while much silver and gold flowed east to pay for these precious goods, as Rome faced a balance of payments crisis during the third century AD on a scale reminiscent of the world's current large debts owed to China. A geopolitical opportunity The most famous sections of the Silk Road, such as the Central Asian desert and Iran, have witnessed turmoil in many historical periods, from insecurity or tension in international politics, to the blocking of major roads.

Transcaucasian routes were becoming increasingly popular when trade conditions were unfavorable across the Persian world. Today's geopolitical problems in both Iran and Russia can be seen as another such phase.

The "Silk Road" of the 21st century clearly symbolizes the newly opened railway line between Istanbul and Baku, called the "Iron Silk Road", which parallels the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline for most of its route. As in the good old days, with increasing trade volumes come a host of associated benefits, not least the rediscovery of ancient layers of Silk Road history in the region, as an incentive for greater trade and tourism.

Other Silk Road Legacies One of the reasons that led to Sheki becoming a silk center was the destruction of the former provincial capital, Shamakhi, by military siege (1742) and earthquakes (especially 1859). However, other remnants of the Silk Road remain elsewhere.

Today, Baku is the largest and richest city in Azerbaijan, but it was relatively unimportant before the “oil boom” of the late 19th century. Its previous period of splendor was between the 12th and 15th centuries, and four small stone caravanserai palaces from that era have survived.

As of late 2022, both the 14th-century Multani Khan and the 15th-century Bukhara Khan have undergone renovation, as part of Azerbaijan's "rediscovery" of its Silk Road heritage. In order to fully restore Azerbaijan's Silk Road network, one final reconnection awaits, namely the historically vibrant trade route along the Araz River, which flows through a border state between Turkey, Armenia, Iran and Azerbaijan.

Due to international conflicts, transportation efforts along this route, which constituted one of the most important trade threads in the region in the Middle Ages, were paralyzed for decades. But if this route is revived in the future, the magical journey to Türkiye via the ancient city of Nakhchivan (in an isolated region of Azerbaijan) should once again become a major corridor for trade and tourism.