Foreign Trade of Transoxiana in the Samanids Era

Trade was one of the most important economic criteria of Transoxiana (Mawara al-Nahr) and merchants in this region had business relations with surrounding regions for a long time. Although domestic trade in Transoxiana was prosperous at the early Islamic centuries, its foreign trade flourished from fourth century AH, along with the consolidation of Samanids rule over this region. Using a descriptive-analytical method, the present article aims at explaining how and with the help of which factors the Samanids developed the foreign trade of Transoxiana and with which regions they had the most foreign trade. Findings show that the economic and business revival of Transoxiana at the time of Samanids is a reflection of the social and political discipline and security of this era. Samanid rulers, in addition to creating political unity, brought about the growth of foreign trade and the flow of trade caravans to this land by organizing economic affairs and creating a proper communication network and also reducing duties and taxes. The foreign trade of Transoxiana in the Samanids era was mainly with businessmen from China, Tibet, the land of Turks, Eastern Europe, Khorasan and Iraq.