The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

Chapter 6, “The Road of Furs,” looks at the increasingly important role played by steppes of Central and East Asia in commerce following the Muslim conquests. While the Muslim world often viewed the steppes with anxiety (correspondents such as Ibn Faḑlān produced and published reports of the strange nomadic tribes to the West), their economic contributions were also extremely important. Livestock and agricultural produce, and animal pelts “above all else” (103), were central to the economy of the steppes. Animal pelts in particular served several key practical purposes, not only providing warmth in winter but also in setting exchange rates in an economy that was not yet monetized. In the Muslim world, the prosperity from the conquests of the seventh and eighth centuries created a high demand for furs and led to the rise of a “fur road” (104).

In the steppes, these new commercial links fed competition between tribal groupings and brought them into closer contact with the West. The Khazars, who became very powerful, even converted to Judaism in the middle of the ninth century.

The burgeoning economy of the steppes also led to the movement of missionaries and merchants from West to East.