what is a caravanserai used for

A caravanserai (or caravansary; / kærəˈvænsəˌraɪ /) was a roadside inn where travelers (caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering Asia, North Africa and Southeast Europe, most notably the Silk Road.

Full Answer

What is a caravansary?

Jul 23, 2019 · Variously described as “guest houses,” “roadside inns,” and “hostels,” caravanserais were buildings designed to provide overnight housing to travelers. Merchants and their caravan s were the most frequent visitors. In furnishing, safe respite for guests from near and far, caravanserais also became centers for the exchange of goods and culture.

What is the history of caravanserais?

Caravansary, also spelled caravanserai, in the Middle East and parts of North Africa and Central Asia, a public building used for sheltering caravans and other travelers. The caravansary is usually constructed outside the walls of a town or village. Click to see full answer. Beside this, why is the caravanserai important?

What is a Persian Caravanserai?

A “caravanserai”, is a roadside inn built to shelter men, goods and animals along ancient caravan routes in the Muslim world. It is especially known to be linked with the trade routes along the former Silk Roads. But more than that, there was an extensive network of caravanserais built along the whole network of trade routes in the Middle East and Central Asia.

What is a khan caravanserai?

The inland routes of the Silk Roads were dotted with caravanserais, large guest houses or hostels designed to welcome travelling merchants and their caravans as they made their way along these trade routes.

What were three different roles that caravanserai played?

Found across Silk Roads countries from Turkey to China, they provided not only a regular opportunity for merchants to eat well, rest and prepare themselves in safety for their onward journey, and also to exchange goods, trade with to local markets, and to meet other merchant travelers, and in doing so, to exchange ...

What are three characteristics of caravanserai?

Some caravansaries are of modest architectural merit, with well-hewn, massive walls and impressive proportions. Their gates are often decorated with intricate carving, as is the prayer niche within.

When was the caravanserai built?

The first caravanserais in Iran were built when the Achaemenid Empire (circa 550-330 BC) ruled Persia. Along with the development of road systems and the increase in the number of travelers and merchants during this time, these old roadside inns increased and flourished along the trade routes of the old Silk Road.

What did the traders share with each other in the caravanserai?

Merchants on the silk road transported goods and traded at bazaars or caravanserai along the way. They traded goods such as silk, spices, tea, ivory, cotton, wool, precious metals, and ideas.Aug 2, 2019

How did credit increase luxury good trade?

Improved commercial practices expanded the geographical range of existing and newly active trade networks by allowing things like credit, so that more people could get more items, and people could use the money promised to them to travel, trade, etc. Because of this, the range of the trading expanded.

What would be a modern example of a caravanserai?

A number of 12th to 13th-century caravanserais or hans were built throughout the Seljuk Empire, many examples of which have survived across Turkey today (e.g. the large Sultan Han in Aksaray Province) as well as in Iran (e.g. the Ribat-i Sharaf in Khorasan).

Who invented caravanserai?

According to the studies, the first types of Persian Caravanserais were the buildings which was built by Acheamenied rulers 2500 years ago across the main road of empire for safeguarding of the road and for supporting the governmental express messengers which called Chapar.Feb 2, 2017

What is caravan route?

in some parts of Asia and Africa) a company of traders or other travellers journeying together, often with a train of camels, through the desert. 3 a group of wagons, pack mules, camels, etc., esp. travelling in single file.

What was the purpose of caravanserai?

A caravanserai (or caravansary; / kærəˈvænsəˌraɪ /) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering Asia, North Africa and Southeast Europe, most notably the Silk Road.

What is caravanserai?

Caravanserai. The word کاروانسرای kārvānsarāy is a Persian compound word combining kārvān " caravan " with sarāy "palace", "building with enclosed courts". <Silk/> Here "caravan" means a group of traders, pilgrims or other travellers, engaged in long-distance travel. The word is also rendered as caravansary, caravansaray, caravanseray, caravansara, ...

Where does the word "khan" come from?

Khan. The word khan ( خان) derives from Middle Persian hʾn' ( xān, "house"). It could refer to an "urban caravanserai" built within a town or a city, or generally to any caravanserai, including those built in the countryside and along desert routes. In Turkish the word is rendered as han.

What is the meaning of the word "Wikala"?

The Arabic word wikala (وكالة), sometimes spelled wakala or wekala, is a term found frequently in historic Cairo for an urban caravanserai which housed merchants and their goods and served as a center for trade, storage, transactions and other commercial activity . The word wikala means roughly "agency" in Arabic, in this case a commercial agency, which may also have been a reference to the customs offices that could be located here to deal with imported goods. The term khan was also frequently used for this type of building in Egypt.

What did Al Muqaddasi say about the hostelries?

Al-Muqaddasi the Arab geographer wrote in 985 CE about the hostelries, or wayfarers' inns, in the Province of Palestine, a province at that time listed under the topography of Syria, saying: "Taxes are not heavy in Syria, with the exception of those levied on the Caravanserais ( Fanduk ); Here, however, the duties are oppressive..." The reference here being to the imposts and duties charged by government officials on the importation of goods and merchandise, the importers of which and their beasts of burden usually stopping to take rest in these places. Guards were stationed at every gate to ensure that taxes for these goods be paid in full, while the revenues therefrom accruing to the Fatimid kingdom of Egypt.

Where are caravanserais located?

Urban versions of caravanserais also became important centers of economic activity in cities across these different regions of the Muslim world, often concentrated near the main souq areas, with many examples still standing in the historic areas of Damascus, Aleppo, Cairo, Istanbul, Fes, etc.

Where did the term "funduq" come from?

The word comes from Greek pandocheion, lit .: "welcoming all", thus meaning 'inn', led to funduq in Arabic ( فندق ), pundak in Hebrew ( פונדק ‎), fundaco in Venice, fondaco in Genoa and alhóndiga or fonda in Spanish ( funduq is the origin of Spanish term fonda ). In the cities of this region such buildings were also frequently used as housing for artisan workshops.

What is caravanserai in Islam?

A “caravanserai”, is a roadside inn built to shelter men, goods and animals along ancient caravan routes in the Muslim world. It is especially known to be linked with the trade routes along the former Silk Roads. But more than that, there was an extensive network of caravanserais built along the whole network of trade routes in ...

Where is the caravansary?

From www.britannica.com: “Caravansary also spelled "caravanserai" in the Middle East and parts of North Africa and Central Asia, a public building used for sheltering caravans and other travelers. The caravansary is usually constructed outside the walls of a town or village.

What is the ground floor used for?

The ground floor is used for storing the bales of merchandise or stabling the camels , and meals are cooked in the corner of the quadrangle; upstairs rooms are for lodging. The central court is paved with flagstones and is usually large enough to contain 300 or 400 crouching camels or tethered mules.

If you want to know, what is a caravanserai and what was it used for, read on.

The Silk Road was a network of trade routes connecting the East and the West. As early as 500 BC, the Persian Royal Road connected the city of Susa to Smyrna (modern Izmir in Turkey). The road network developed eventually to create complex trade routes covering large land masses.

Caravanserai : Origin of the Word

As per Wikipedia, Caravanserai is the Persian compound word variant combining kārvān “Caravan” with sarāy “palace”, “building with enclosed courts”. Here, “caravan” means a group of traders, pilgrims or other travellers, engaged in long-distance travel. Caravanserais were called by different names in different regions.

Caravanserais were cultural melting pots

The caravanserais often resembled forts due to their protective high walls and secure gates. The ground floor had sections for storing goods and resting place for animals. There were unfurnished rooms for residents. Some of them had a prayer room and a bathhouse.

10 Interesting Caravanserais

This structure was built in 1229, during the reign of the Seljuk Sultan Kayqubad I (1220-1237), on the route connecting Konya to Aksaray and continuing into Persia. After it was partially destroyed by a fire, it was restored and extended in 1278. It is one of the largest and most well preserved caravanserai.

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Overview

A caravanserai was a roadside inn where travelers (caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering Asia, North Africa and Southeast Europe, most notably the Silk Road. Although many were located along rural roads in the countryside, urban versions of caravanserais were also historically common in cities throughout the Islamic world, though they …

Terms and etymology

History

Caravanserai in Arab literature

Architecture

Notable caravanserais

See also

Further reading