The Role of Trade Routes in Georgian History

Trade routes played an integral part in Georgia’s history: from ancient times to modern, various routes enabled the country to position itself as an important regional power.

Control over the trade routes on Georgian territory was a major reason for the century-long wars between Byzantium and Sasanian Iran in late antiquity. Projection of power to Syria, the Arabian Peninsula, South Caucasus and Asia Minor also led to attempts by Sasanian rulers to reach the Mediterranean and Black seas. Thus, it should come as no surprise that at the time of Khosrow I Anushirvan, the Sasanian Empire was trying to reach the shores of the Black Sea – what is nowadays western Georgia. Iran clearly wanted to control regional trade routes and reach transcontinental highways linking the Mediterranean in the south with India, and to the north via the Eurasian steppes with Central Asia.

Then came the 7th-10th centuries, when two major foreign policy developments played an important role in Georgian history. First was the emergence of the Arabs and the spread of Islam and, second, the formation of a powerful semi-nomadic state by the Khazars to the north of the Caucasus in the lower reaches of the Volga River.

The wars between the Arabs and the Byzantines, as well as the competition between the Arabs and the Khazars, severely undermined the economic potential of the South Caucasus. Famous for various trade routes in late antiquity, those corridors almost ceased to operate in the 7th century. However, it was at this time that new trade routes (corridors) slowly began to form. From the turn of the 7th-8th centuries, economic activity began to shift from Armenian cities to the Georgian territory, which led to the expansion of Tbilisi and various cities in the surrounding territory.

Another important factor contributing to the economic growth of the eastern part of the South Caucasus were close economic contacts, which from the end of the 8th century were formed between the Islamic world and the Khazars. The South Caucasus in the late 8th and 9th centuries was at the epicenter of economic activity between the Arab world and the modern Russian territory.

In the 9th-10th cc., Georgian cities experienced a significant development due to a general economic growth taking place in the South Caucasus and the Middle East. It is notable that the long and difficult process of unifying Georgia coincided with the above-mentioned distinct economic growth of Georgian cities and villages. Another important process was the slow dissolution of the Arab (Abbasid) State, especially from the beginning of the 10th century.

These economic and political events led to the development of a whole network of regional trade routes along Georgia's borders, which in turn were linked to much larger, transcontinental trade routes running through Mesopotamia, northern Iran and Byzantium.

The appearance of the Seljuks in the late 11th century only slightly slowed the functioning of trade routes near the Georgian borders. From the 11th-12th centuries, we again see the economic growth of the cities of Arran, Shirvan (modern-day Azerbaijan), and Armenia, well evident in the Georgian, Persian-Arabic and Armenian written sources.

Like the large transcontinental routes, roads of regional importance too were located outside the Georgian territory, but near the borders of the Kingdom of Georgia. This meant that at the time of the unification of Georgia (late 10th c.), the country (except for Tbilisi and Dmanisi, which were outside of Georgian control) was more or less at the periphery of major economic activity in the region.

Since the establishment of the trade-economic routes running through Arran, Shirvan and Armenia took place simultaneously with the formation of a united Georgian monarchy, the Bagrationis (the ruling Georgian dynasty) tried to correct the peripheral trade and economic position of their newly-created kingdom. This could explain the 11th-13th centuries Georgian territorial expansion towards Arran, Shirvan, and Armenia. The desire to master the regional trade routes which criss-crossed Dvin, Barda, Ganja, Tbilisi, Ani, Trebizond, Ahlat, Tabriz and many other major cities, would have been reason enough for the territorial expansion of the Georgian monarchy.

The invasion of the Mongols upturned the entire fabric of the 13th century trade routes crisscrossing the Caucasus, which kicked off the gradual loss of control by the Georgians over regional trade. There were periods when Italians and other Europeans traded with the western Georgian ports in 14-17th cc., or when the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti in the 18th c. tried to revitalize its north Caucasus commerce, but overall the country lost the trade transit role it once possessed. This effectively lasted until the late 20th century when, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a number of roads, pipelines, railroads and other infrastructure projects began to run from the Caspian to the Black Sea through the Georgian territory.

By Emil Avdaliani

Image source: worldview.stratfor.com