Research

Medieval Near Eastern Trade Routes

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Primary Researcher: Dr. Florin Curta

Center For Medieval and Early Modern Studies, UF History Department

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This project is a comparatively analysis of the Ilkhanate and Golden Horde through the lens of transcontinental trade, arguing that the two nations’ territorial differences determined how both states interacted with the Silk Roads, other polities, and each other. The Ilkhanate's inheritance of the Persian administrative apparatus and its possession of vital trade cities such as Tabriz allowed it to engage with trans-Eurasian trade as a major player and destination for Silk Road merchants. Conversely, the Golden Horde, bereft of existing economic waypoints, was forced to position itself as a facilitator and throughway for the trade that its southern neighbor so easily took advantage of. These differences, exacerbated by the Silk Road’s vitality to both nations, defined the Ilkhanate and Golden Horde’s relationship; a relationship that formed the basis of Near Eastern, Transcaucasian, and Eastern European geopolitics.

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My project responsibilities, currently, are the discovery of primary and secondary sources relating to this research, for the purpose of arraying current scholarship into a 'map' of connections and relationships that would form the root of a suitable academic bibliography.