ABSTRACT
This chapter describes trade around the Caucasus from the Middle Ages up to the fifteenth century, explaining the effects of the waxing and waning of adjoining empires including the Kievan Rus, Great Khazaria, the Arab Caliphate, Byzantium and the Mongol Tatars. The significance of the Great Silk Route, passing immediately to the south of the area, is described. Within Dagestan, shifting power-struggles between local tribes paralleled the external forces. Examples of the many trade-goods are described; Dagestan produced steel mail and bulat blades, ‘Avar helmets’, Derbent madder and quality fabrics, but was also at the centre of trade in goods from the Russian north, the Persian south and further east.
