The Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor is a key section of the Silk Roads in Central Asia that connects other corridors from all directions. Located in rugged mountains, fertile river valleys, and uninhabitable desert, the 866-kilometre corridor runs from east to west along the Zarafshan River and further southwest following the ancient caravan roads crossing the Karakum Desert to the Merv Oasis. Channelling much of the east-west exchange along the Silk Roads from the 2nd century BCE to the 16th century CE, a large quantity of goods was traded along the corridor. People travelled, settled, conquered, or were defeated here, making it a melting pot of ethnicities, cultures, religions, sciences, and technologies.

Brief synthesis The Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor is one of the key sections of the Silk Roads in Central Asia that connects other corridors from all directions. Comprising thirty-four component parts located in rugged mountains, fertile river valleys, and uninhabited desert, the 866-kilometre corridor runs from east to west along the Zarafshan River and further southwest following the ancient caravan roads crossing the Karakum Desert to the Merv Oasis. Dotted along the corridor passing through varied geographical areas such as highland, piedmont, dry steppe, oases, fertile valleys, and arid-desert zones, the selected component parts reflect the complexity of landscapes and the adaption of societies to the control of the Silk Roads movement and trade. The variation in human responses between the fertile valleys and deltas, and the desert and river crossings, are clearly reflected in the selection of small towns, forts, and way stations; while the outcomes of the political and social capital generated by trading contacts are reflected in the range of commercial, elite, and religious buildings included in the nomination. It was the place where the Sogdians, some of the most international merchants in the world history, flourished. The control of these corridors was of vital significance to many of the great Silk Roads empires, such as the Sogdian, the Parthian, the Sassanian, the Timurid and the Seljuk, as they were fundamental to long-distance exchange along the Silk Roads…