THE SILK ROAD
Before the Soviets drew up the current map of Central Asia, creating arbitrary boundaries between historic lands – the Stans we know today – this was a constantly evolving region, defined by three great conquerors who swept through: Alexander the Great, three centuries before Christ; Genghis Khan in the 13th century; and Timur, the most pitiless of all, a century later.
Our The Stans Vacations
Central Asia overland tour, the stans
An epic journey through the five 'stans' of Central Asia
The Silk Road small group tour
Discover the Silk Road in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China
Silk Road overland vacation
Once in a lifetime Trans-Asian Silk Road Adventure
Silk Road overland truck tour
Overland through Central Asia's highlights
The five stans silk road vacation
Step into the pages of history on a silk road tour
Uzbekistan small group tour, Uzbekistan odyssey
Ancient cities, architecture & traditional craftsmanship
Small group tour of the Stans
Get under the skin of all five 'Stans'
Silk Road overland tour, Istanbul to Beijing
Travel the entire length of the Silk Road overland!
Silk Road vacation, five Stans of Central Asia
Journey through the 5 stans of Central Asia
Uzbekistan & Turkmenistan vacation, Silk Road explorer
Discover the fascinating ancient history of the Silk Road
Small group vacation to the Stans
Tread in the footsteps of the ancient Silk Road
Uzbekistan to Iran overland tour
Trace the western section of the Silk Road
Istanbul to Ulaanbaatar Silk route tour by overland truck
Overland the entire Silk Road and then head up to Mongolia
Silk Road vacation, small group
Discover amazing Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan
Woven through this history of conquest, like the silken threads of an Uzbek rug, was the Silk Road trade that made Central Asia so worth fighting over. Spices, paper, tools, precious stones and metals, tea, salt, porcelain, wine, wool and ivory were all traded from east to west and west to east, in addition to the silk that gave this network of trading routes its name.
By the 8th century, the Sogdians came into conflict with Islam spreading eastwards and lost their dominance. By the 9th century, an Islamic golden age was in full effect in the cities of the Silk Road, with advances in algebra, architecture, astronomy and philosophy chief among its achievements. At the epicentre of all this commerce and culture, craftsmanship and creative thinking was modern day Uzbekistan. In the 9th century, Bukhara was an intellectual powerhouse, and the world’s finest thinkers were based in Silk Road cities from here to Baghdad.
Our top The Stans Vacation
Central Asia overland tour, the stans
An epic journey through the five 'stans' of Central Asia
2019: 31 Aug
2020: 29 Aug
Decline of the Silk Road
Uzbekistan’s commercial power had weakened rapidly after the death of Timur in 1405, and the Timurid Empire that the Silk Road passed through for so many miles quickly began to break up into a series of khanates that frequently went to war with one another. The Russians arrived in the region in the mid 19th century to restore peace and ruled Central Asia until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then, Uzbekistan in particular has been shrugging off its Soviet past and reclaiming its Silk Road history. Statues of Lenin and Stalin have been replaced with statues of Timur, and the spectacular buildings of Samarkand that Timur had built are being carefully restored, after years of neglect and earthquakes had ravaged them. There’s a great dusting off and reclaiming of the ancient, Timurid era artistic skills, too – ceramic art, tile making, wood carving – as today’s craftspeople rediscover the art of their Silk Road ancestors.