თემურ-ლენგი, საქართველო და აბრეშუმის სავაჭრო გზები

Abstract

Great Central Asian conqueror Tamerlane sought to achieve several goals through his brutal 8 military campaigns against Georgia in late 14th-early 15th century. The religion – spread of Islam – played an important role, as did other strategic aims such as establising control over the Caucasus passes to deter the Holden Horde leader Tokhtamish from invading the Middle East. Indeed, if we look at his campaigns in other regions, Tamerlane’s campaigns often combined several goals: control over the trade routes, getting hold of available riches, and securing territorial expansion for greater military security. In this article, we have focused on Tamerlane’s trade and economic policy suggesting that one of the major goals of the Central Asian conqueror was to isolate Georgia from the regional trade routes the country still seemed to control. In the Georgian historiography, Tamerlane’s expeditions against Georgia are mainly viewed through a military-political prism. Yet, by considering the invader’s campaigns against Georgia in a broader regional context, it becomes clear that Tamerlane’s goal was also driven by the need to control trade routes criss-crossing the Caucasus and the neighboring territories. Tamerlane’s campaigns had a devastating effect on trade routes in Eurasia. After the Golden Horde lost its trade and economic potential following Tamerlane’s campaign of 1395, the major trade route shifted southward through Asia Minor and northern Iran. It was close to Georgia, but due to Georgia's weak economic position and despite the active military policy of the Georgian king, Giorgi VII, the country was unable to reap benefits from those transit routes. But a one-sided depiction of Tamerlane’s rule would not be entirely correct. The roads and cities that fit into his imperial agenda reached a high level of economic and political development. This was the case with Tabriz, which, second to the imperial capital Samarkand, was the richest city in the Timurid Empire. The description of the city given by the Castilian envoy Clavijo in early 15th century shows that it would not be entirely correct to portray Tamerlane solely as a destroyer of trade routes and economic prosperity. In addition to the southern trade route around Georgia, another important route was through Derbent on the western seashore of the Caspian Sea. The main directions of the military campaigns staged by Tokhtamish indicate that the west coast of the Caspian Sea was the main transit route from the Middle East to the Eurasian steppes meaning that trade was also quite widespread. These two trade routes were close to Georgia making it easier for Giorgi VII to mount attacks against Tamerlane’s plans for building effective trade routes from Central Asia to Asia Minor. The Georgian king ventured southward on several occasions. The mentioning of merchants in the 1401 peace agreement between Giorgi and Tamerlane is also quite indicative that the Asian conqueror was worried about potetial disrusptions from the Georgian side to the operation of trade routes. Despite its seeming military strength, Temurid empire was not a solid formation. Tamerlane’s campaigns and the strategic position of his empire were in many ways similar to those of Jalal ad-Din, Khwarezmian prince of early 13th century. The main strategic goal of both invaders in the Middle East was to prevent the formation of an opposing military coalition. Both wanted to accumulate wealth by conquering rich cities or receiving tribute as a result of an agreement. Yet, the two Asian rulers had different long-term political-economic goals. Jalal ad-Din’s goal was self-preservation. He thought less about controlling trade routes, though there are indications in the sources that he was intent on punishing those who ostructed trade. Its immediate purpose was to ensure the security of his army and work with regional powers toward a veritable anti-Mongol coalition. The imperial projects of Tamerlane and Jalal ad-Din produced a radical overhaul of the trade and economic patterns in Eurasia. None of the leaders, however, had enough power to secure long-term existence of their empires. Both rulers were surrounded by a number of potent powers that hindered a successful establishment of an empire in the heart of the Middle East. For Georgia, what started during Jalal ad-Din ended with the death of Tamerlane in 1405: growing isolation of the kingdom from major trade routes and pushing them southward to the Tabriz-Trebizond line. The process continued for about two centuries and ended in Georgia’s near-complete distancing from the regional and transcontinental trade routes. This had a direct impact on the country’s development in the following centuries. The 15th century was a time when the process of establishing new trade routes in the world was in full swing. Georgia, on the other hand, met this era as a politically and economically weakened state ever further removed from lucrative trade routes.