Caravanserai

Caravanserai of Qalaat al-Madiq, in northern Syria

A caravanserai (/kærəˈvænsəri/;[1] was a roadside inn where travelers (caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey.[2] Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information, and people across the network of trade routes covering Asia, North Africa, and Southeast Europe, especially along the Silk Road.

These were found frequently along the Achaemenid Empire's Royal Road, a 2,500-kilometre-long (1,600 mi) ancient highway that stretched from Sardis to Susa according to Herodotus: "Now the true account of the road in question is the following: Royal stations exist along its whole length, and excellent caravanserais; and throughout, it traverses an inhabited tract, and is free from danger."[3] Major urban caravanserais were also built along the Grand Trunk Road in the Indian subcontinent, especially in the region of Mughal Delhi.

Garghabazar Caravanserai in Azerbaijan (1681)

Etymology

Look up caravanserai in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Caravanserai

Izadkhvast caravanserai, Fars Province, Iran

The word is also rendered as caravansary, caravansaray, caravanseray and caravansara. The Persian word کاروانسرای kārvānsarāy is a compound word combining kārvān "caravan" with sarāy "palace", "building with enclosed courts", to which the Persian suffix -yi is added. Here "caravan" means a group of traders, pilgrims, or other travelers, engaged in long distance travel. The word serai is sometimes used with the implication of caravanserai.

A number of place-names based on the word sarai have grown up: Mughal Serai, Sarai Alamgir and the Delhi Sarai Rohilla railway station for example, and a great many other places are also based on the original meaning of "palace".

Khan

Illustration of a Caravanserai in Kashan, Iran by Jean Chardin in 1723

The Persian caravanserai was built as a large road station, outside of towns. An inn built inside a town would be smaller[4] and was known in Persian as a khan (خان) (from Middle Persian hʾn' (xān, “house”)). In the Middle-East the term "khan" covers both meanings, of roadside inn as well as of inner-town inn. In Turkish the word is rendered as han. The same word was used in Bosnian, having arrived through Ottoman conquest. The Greek pandocheion, lit.: "welcoming all",[5] thus meaning 'inn', led to funduq in Arabic (فندق), pundak in Hebrew (פונדק), fundaco in Venice, fondaco in Genoa and alhóndiga[6] in Spanish.

Caravanserai in Arab literature

Al-Muqaddasi the Arab geographer wrote in 985 CE about the hostelries, or wayfarers' inns, in the Province of Palestine, a country 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..."[7] 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.

Architecture

A sample floor plan of a Safavid Empire-era caravanserai

Most typically a caravanserai was a building with a square or rectangular walled exterior, with a single portal wide enough to permit large or heavily laden beasts such as camels to enter. The courtyard was almost always open to the sky, and the inside walls of the enclosure were outfitted with a number of identical animal stalls, bays, niches, or chambers to accommodate merchants and their servants, animals, and merchandise.[8]

Caravanserais provided water for human and animal consumption, washing, and ritual purification such as wudu and ghusl. Sometimes they had elaborate baths. They also kept fodder for animals and had shops for travelers where they could acquire new supplies. In addition, some shops bought goods from the traveling merchants.[9]

Notable caravanserais

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Dictionary.com – caravansary". Retrieved 31 Jan 2016.)
  2. ↑  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Caravanserai". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  3. ↑ "The History - Herodotus" - http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.mb.txt
  4. ↑ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/316248/khan
  5. ↑ http://biblehub.com/greek/3829.htm
  6. ↑ alhóndiga in the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española
  7. ↑ Mukaddasi, Description of Syria, Including Palestine, ed. Guy Le Strange, London 1886, pp. 91, 37
  8. ↑ Sims, Eleanor. 1978. Trade and Travel: Markets and Caravansary.' In: Michell, George. (ed.). 1978. Architecture of the Islamic World - Its History and Social Meaning. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 101.
  9. ↑ Ciolek, T. Matthew. 2004-present. Catalogue of Georeferenced Caravansaras/Khans Archived 2005-02-07 at the Wayback Machine.. Old World Trade Routes (OWTRAD) Project. Canberra: www.ciolek.com - Asia Pacific Research Online.
  10. ↑ Vladimir Braginskiy. Tourist Attractions in the USSR: A Guide. Raduga Publishers, 1982. 254 pages. Page 104.
    The whole of the centre of Sheki has been proclaimed a reserve protected by the state. To take you back to the time of the caravans, two large eighteenth-century caravanserais have been preserved with spacious courtyards where the camels used to rest, cellars where goods were stored, and rooms for travellers.

Further reading

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