A Study on the Route of Silk Road in Lake Van Basin

Abstract

The historical Silk Road, involves commercial through road networks used especially for economical targets between Asia and Europe. It has pass routes for miles starting from Asia to East Anatolia Region via Iran and to Istanbul and Europe through different routes. One of the routes is Lake Van Basin. There are two provinces, Bitlis and Van in Lake Van Basin. During the history, the Lake Van Basin has hosted many civilizations such as Hurri, The Urartus, Med, The Persians, The Byzantine, The Sasanians, The Seljuks and The OttomansBecause of situation on the route of Silk Road, the importance given to accommodation structures in the basin has increased. Due to today’s highways in the basin, the old Silk Road route has lost its visibility. The exact route of Silk Road in Lake Van Basin is not known. In order to determine the original route of Sil Road, the historical bridges, shelters, castles and caravanserais can be taken into account. On as much as, especially during The Seljuks and The Ottomans periods, to carry out the journeys safely, castles, shelters and caravanserais have been built at certain intervals on the route of Silk Road. Besides, the historical bridges on the junction points of rivers flowed into Lake Van and Silk Road, should also been evaluated. In the basin, there are a lot of historical bridges, castles, shelters and caravanserais linking to Silk Road and access roads. In this study, in order to determineSilk Road route passing on Lake Van Basin, the historical castles, shelters, caravanserais and bridges survived today are presented. The original route of Silk Road passing on the basin is tried to detected through considering those historical structures. In conclusion and suggestions chapters, to revive Silk Road in Lake Van Basin which its route has been detected, the required measures are discussed. The study is expected to continue tourism in Lake Van Basin.

Key words: Lake Van Basin, Silk Road, Bitlis, Van, historical structures, road, transportation.