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{{Short description|Group of people or animals traveling together in a row}}
[[File:Weeks Edwin Lord Arrival of a Caravan Outside The City of Morocco.jpg|thumb|[[Edwin Lord Weeks]], ''Arrival of a Caravan Outside the City of Morocco'']]
[[File:Isle of Graia3.jpg|thumb|A trade caravan passing the Isle of Graia in the [[Gulf of Aqaba|Gulf of Akabah]], Arabia Petraea,1839 lithograph by [[Louis Haghe]] from an original by [[David Roberts (painter)|David Roberts]]]]
[[File:Caravan in the desert.jpg|thumb|Camel caravan in Morocco, November 2013]]
{{Other uses|Caravan (disambiguation){{!}}Caravan}}
A '''caravan''' (from [[Persian language|Persian]] {{wt|fa|کاروان}} {{transl|fa|kârvân}}) or '''cafila''' (from [[Arabic language|Arabic]] {{wt|ar|قَافِلَة}} {{transl|ar|qāfila}} {{IPA|[qaːfl]}} ({{pronunciation|Q203494-ar.ogg|listen|help=no}})) is a group of people traveling together, often on a trade expedition.<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Caravan}}</ref> Caravans were used mainly in desert areas and throughout the [[Silk Road]], where traveling in groups aided in defense against bandits as well as helped to improve [[economies of scale]] in trade.<ref name=EB1911/> Some of the first caravans on the Silk Road were sent out by [[Emperor Wu of Han]] in the 2nd century BCE when this vast network of roads was 'born', and as China began exporting large quantities of silk and other goods west, particularly destined for the [[Roman Empire]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dean |first=Riaz |title=The Stone Tower: Ptolemy, the Silk Road, and a 2,000-Year-Old Riddle |publisher=Penguin Viking |year=2022 |isbn=978-0670093625 |location=Delhi |pages=44-55 (Ch. 5, The First Caravans) |language=English}}</ref>

==Description==
In historical times, caravans connecting [[East Asia]] and [[Europe]] often carried luxurious and lucrative goods, such as silks or jewelry. Caravans could therefore require considerable investment and were a lucrative target for bandits. The profits from a successfully undertaken journey could be enormous, comparable to the later European [[spice trade]]. The luxurious goods brought by caravans attracted many rulers along important trade routes to construct [[caravanserai]]s. These were roadside stations which supported the flow of commerce, information, and people across the network of [[trade routes]] covering Asia, North Africa, and [[southeastern Europe]], especially along the [[Silk Road]]. Caravanserais provided water for human and animal consumption, washing, and ritual [[Ritual purification|ablutions]]. Sometimes they had elaborate baths. They kept [[fodder]] for animals and had shops for travelers where they could acquire new supplies. Some shops bought goods from the traveling merchants.<ref>Ciolek, T. Matthew. 2004-present. [http://www.ciolek.com/OWTRAD/caravanserais-catalogue-00.html Catalogue of Georeferenced Caravansaras/Khans] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050207084049/http://www.ciolek.com/OWTRAD/caravanserais-catalogue-00.html |date=2005-02-07 }}. Old World Trade Routes (OWTRAD) Project. Canberra: www.ciolek.com - Asia Pacific Research Online.</ref>

However, the volume a caravan could transport was limited even by Classical or Medieval standards. For example, a caravan of 500 camels could only transport as much as a third or half of the goods carried by a regular [[Byzantine]] merchant sailing ship.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Present-day caravans in less-developed areas of the world often still transport important goods through badly passable areas, such as seeds required for [[agriculture]] in arid regions. An example are the [[camel train]]s traversing the southern edges of the [[Sahara Desert]].


==See also==
*[[Convoy]]
*[[Camel train]]
*[[Wagon train]]
*[[Central American migrant caravans]] of 2017–22

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Kevin Shillington (ed), [http://www.routledge-ny.com/ref/africanhist/tuareg.html "Tuareg: Takedda and trans-Saharan trade"] in: ''Encyclopaedia of African History'', Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004, {{ISBN|1-57958-245-1}}
*T. Lewicki, "The Role of the Sahara and Saharians in Relationships between North and South", in: ''UNESCO General History of Africa: Volume 3'', University of California Press, 1994, {{ISBN|92-3-601709-6}}
*[[Fernand Braudel]], ''The Perspective of the World,'' vol III of ''Civilization and Capitalism'' 1984 (translated from the French)

;Antiquity and Middle Ages
*[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/gold/hd_gold.htm The Trans-Saharan Gold Trade 7th-14th Century]; Metropolitan Museum of Art
*René Mouterde, André Poidebard, « La voie antique des caravanes entre Palmyre et Hît, au IIe siècle après Jésus-Christ, d'après une inscription retrouvée au Sud-Est de Palmyre (1930) », ''Syria'', vol. 12, No. 12–22, 1931, pp. 101–115 (available online at: [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/syria_0039-7946_1931_num_12_2_3527 Persee.fr]) {{in lang|fr}}
*Ernest Will, « Marchands et chefs de caravanes à Palmyre », ''Syria'', vol. 34, No. 34-3-4, 1957, pp. 262–277 (available online at: [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/syria_0039-7946_1957_num_34_3_5237 Persee.fr]) {{in lang|fr}}

;17th century
*[[René Caillié]] ''Journal d'un voyage à Temboctou et à Jenné, dans l'Afrique centrale, précédé d'observations faites chez les Maures Braknas, les Nalous et autres peuples ; pendant les années 1824, 1825, 1826, 1827, 1828: par René Caillié. Avec une carte itinéraire, et des remarques géographiques, par M. [[Edme François Jomard|Jomard]], membre de l'institut.'' Imprimé à [[Paris]] en mars 1830, par l'imprimerie royale, en trois tomes et un atlas. Une réédition en fac-similé a été réalisée par les éditions Anthropos en 1965. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yzhCAAAAcAAJ&dq=bouliban%C3%A9&pg=PP1 downloadable version]
** modern edition: ''Voyage à Tombouctou''. 2 vols. Paris: La Découverte, 1996 {{ISBN|2-7071-2586-5}}

;20th century
*[[Owen Lattimore|Lattimore, Owen]] (1928/9) ''The Desert Road to Turkestan''. London, Methuen and Co; & various later editions. Caravan logistics and organization is discussed in Chap. VIII, "Camel-Men All"
* Tuladhar, Kamal Ratna (2011). ''[[Caravan to Lhasa]]: A Merchant of Kathmandu in Traditional Tibet.'' Kathmandu: Lijala & Tisa. {{ISBN|99946-58-91-3}}.

;Contemporary caravans
*Julien Brachet, « Le négoce caravanier au Sahara central: histoire, évolution des pratiques et enjeux chez les Touaregs Kel Aïr (Niger) », ''Les Cahiers d'outre-mer'', No. 226–227, 2004, pp. 117–136 (available online at: [http://com.revues.org/index512.html Com.revues] {{in lang|fr}})
*Michel Museur, « Un exemple spécifique d'économie caravanière : l'échange sel-mil », ''Journal des africanistes'', vol. 47, No. 2, 1977, pp. 49–80 (available online at: [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/jafr_0399-0346_1977_num_47_2_1795 Persee.fr]) {{in lang|fr}}
*M'hammad Sabour and Knut S. Vikør (eds), ''[https://web.archive.org/web/19981206194916/http://www.hf-fak.uib.no/institutter/smi/paj/Masonen.html Ethnic Encounter and Culture Change]'', Bergen, 1997, [https://www.google.com/search?q=cache:5XWSfLiHmtMJ:www.uta.fi/~hipema/trans.htm+trans-Saharan-trade&hl=en] Google Cache Last Retrieved Jan. 2005.

==External links==
* {{commonscat-inline|Caravans (travel group)|Caravans}}
* {{cite encyclopedia | title = Caravan | last = Fragner | first = Bert G. | author-link = Bert Fragner | url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aravan-pers | encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. IV, Fasc. 7 | pages = 795–798 | year = 1990 }}
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[[Category:Trade routes]]
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Caravan (travellers) - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article