Since our last update, published in Tajikistan, we’ve traveled firstly north into Uzbekistan and westwards along the Silk Road, which rejoins the Amu Darya river here having crossed the Kyzylkum (“Red Sand”) Desert.
We now find ourselves in Khiva, nearby the ancient oasis of Khorezm. If the Pamir Knot is the eastern nexus of the Silk Road, Khorezm is it’s western analogue, and acted as a gateway to both Persia and, onwards via the Caspian Sea, Turkey and Bulgaria.
Khorezm had a capital at Gurgan (Urgench), razed to the ground by the Mongol invasion in the 13th Century. A modest village now sits on the approximate site, while the city of Urgench which (confusingly) carries the name of the ancient capital sits 70kms or so to the south west.
With formidable deserts to the south and east, the Aral Sea to the north and arid steppe to the west, this oasis has acted as a cradle of civilisation since the Bronze Age - settled a millennia before Alexander crossed the Oxus to take Markan (Samarkand). During the Roman Period, Khorezm was a part of the Kushan Empire which connected the Indian Ocean trade routes with the desert caravans of the Silk Road.
Illi Kala (“Fifty Castles”), aka The Golden Circle of Khorezm, refers to the collective architectural remnants covering two and a half millennia of occupation. Through history this area was variously known as the land of a thousand castles, reflecting it’s geographical isolation and explaining it’s capacity to remain largely independent in the presence of superpowers to the west, south and east.
Most of the remaining ruins date from the Kushan period, but were constructed on sites fortified at least since the Achaemenid, Parthian and Sassanid eras and likely all the way back to the Bronze Age settlement.
Check out some pictures from a few of the better preserved sites.