The Status of Kashghar on the Silk Road

The Silk Road was one of the most important routes connecting ancient civilizations. It was also the main road used for commercial exchanges between the East and the West. This very long route enjoyed great splendor and significance in the course of history and played a major role in the world’s economic relationships. Along the course of this commercial route, not only goods but also cultures, traditions, customs, and rituals were exchanged between China and the West. The importance and fundamental role of this road in the history of the economic, cultural, and social relationships in the world is known to everyone. Here, the important stations and stopping places held specific significance in the course of history. One of the important cities on the Silk Road was Kashghar which, due to its geographical location, attracted the attention of many writers and historians. Accordingly, it has been mentioned several times in ancient historical and geographical texts, and the process of its development has been clearly manifested therein. Iran is one of the oldest Asian countries which is located in the middle of the Silk Road. It played a mediating role in connecting China and Western countries, which is why Iranian writers, historian, literarymen, and geographers have always written about this commercial route and, particularly, about Kashghar and its stations and transferred their knowledge in this regard from generation to generation. The study of such sources and introducing them to others could greatly contribute to clarifying the quality of the economic and cultural exchanges through the Silk Road. The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief explanation of the status of Kashghar on the Silk Road through a study of Islamic texts. Moreover, it mainly intends to introduce the writers of these works and provide a selection of known facts about this city. In doing so, the writer has tried to classify the related Persian texts and briefly introduce them. Therefore, the present paper explores and evaluates the status of Kashghar on the Silk Road as a historical problem in three categories: “Kashghar in the historical, geographical, and literary texts of the early centuries of the rise of Islam until the Safavid era”, “Kashghar in Persian prose texts”, and “status of Kashghar on the Silk Road according to a historical map from the Mongol Period”.