Silk Road and Spread of Religions in Kazakhstan

Abstract

The "Great Silk Road" began to function as a regular trade artery connecting the Mediterranean and China, West and East in the 2nd century B.C. But only as late as the 6th - 7th centuries the northern segment of the Silk Road via south Kazakhstan and Semirechie became one of the most active though the former route via Fergana and Kashgar was shorter and more convenient. The shifting of trade roads was reasoned first of all by the fact that the Turkic Khanates' headquarters housed at that time in Semirechie took under their control the trade roads through Central Asia and made their efforts to gain maximum profits from international trade. Second, the road via Fergana was dangerous in the 7th century because of intertribal conflicts.