Analysis and Investigation of the Naming of the Silk Road Based on Economic Geography

Abstract

The road that is known as silk today has been the longest and one of the most used trade routes throughout the history of East. A large part of this road, which connected the westernmost regions of China to the easternmost shores of the Mediterranean, passed through Great Khorasan (from Qoms to Jayhun).In the 19th century, in European studies, the name "Silk Road" was used for this road and soon it became popular. Even today, everyone, from the east and the west, knows and calls this historical road by the same name. This naming is due to the fact that according to these researchers, silk was the main and most important commodity that was exchanged along the road.In this research, the question of correctness or incorrectness of this naming has been investigated. Based on the findings of this research, this naming cannot be based on historical and objective facts for two main reasons.The first is that until before the 19th century, none of the Islamic, Afghan and Iranian geographical sources mentioned the name of silk, and most of it was called "Khorasan Road". It has been mentioned and the second is that the study of economic geography and traded goods was carried out. Look, it shows that silk is only one of the hundreds of traded goods and has no special advantage over other goods.