Beschreibung:
<jats:p>The trade-network of Afro-Eurasia changed radically in the 9th–10th centuries, instead of the former east-west routes the south-north came to the fore. The Volga-Kama region became the most important port of trade between the Islamic world and Eastern Europe in the beginning of the 10th century which set in motion the formation of the Volga Bulghar state and the conversion to Islam. The Volga Bulghars are mentioned in the Muslim sources as the center of trade. Ibn Faḍlān, al-Masʿūdī give a detailed picture of this intensive trade. The Muslim dirhams came from Samanid mints to the Volga region and the Volga Bulghar merchants bought northern merchandise (furs, slaves, wax, honey etc.) in the 10th century. Al-Muqaddasī gives an exhaustive list of trade goods from the Volga Bulgar area at the end of the 10th century. After the disappearance of the silver dirhams in the first decades of the 11th century the state of the Volga Bulghars remained a significant trade center. The Muslim maps of Ibn Ḥawqal, Maḥmūd al-Kāshġarī and al-Idrīsī reflect a river system called Etil which is waterway commercial network. It connects Central Asia via Siberia with the Volga-Kama region, the northern regions can be reached on the way along the Kama and perhaps the Vyatka, the northeastern network includes the Oka, Unzha and upper Volga. The southern routes represent the lower Volga from the territory of Volga Bulghars to the Caspian Sea and the Volga-Don portage plus the lower Don until its estuary to the Azov Sea.</jats:p>