Средневековые города Илийской долины (Северо-Восточное Жетысу-Семиречье) на Великом Шелковом пути в VIII–XIV вв.

Abstract

This article considers the problems of tracing one of the corridors along the Great Silk Route that passed through Northeast Zhetysu (Semirechie) and South Kazakhstan. The localization of these historic towns along this corridor and their identification with the actual archaeological remains of these towns of the X-XIV cc. are of great importance. Almost all the cities of the Ili Valley are localized and identified with ancient settlements. So, Urung-Arge — with the settlement Kastek, Almaty — with the settlement of Almaty 2, Talhir (Talhiza) — with the settlement of Talgar, the ruins of the castle with the settlement of Chingilda, the city of Iki-Oguz with the settlement of Dungene, the city of Kayalyk (Koylak) with the settlement of Antonovskoye, Nestorian a village with the Lepsy settlement, the capital of the region — with the Koktum settlement, the city of Ilanbalyk (or Bali) with the Ucharal settlement. This corridor existed during the epoch of Karakhanidians, the Great Mongol Empire and the Chagataid State. Analysis of Arabic, Persian, Chinese and European textual sources along with archaeological researches allows us for the first time to define the location of all Zhetysu towns during this period and to identify them with archaeological monuments. The results of this research have delineated the possible directions and routes of the Great Silk Road and its branches.