SILK, originally spun only in China,
was gradually traded as far west as Persia, before Medieval rulers managed to acquire silkworms and mulberry trees to set up their own silk industries - in Lebanon, in the Byzantine Empire and much later in Europe.
The trading routes from China to the Mediterranean and into Europe soon became known as the Silk Roads as silk was the main product.
Valued for its lustre and texture, silk rapidly became a symbol of luxury, wealth, power and social status. It was a major industry, bringing in much wealth.
The city of Bursa was the first capital of the Ottoman Empire. It was the centre of silk production and trade from early medieval times.
In 1490, Sultan Bayazit ordered the construction of a caravansaray, called the Koza Han, in Bursa.
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The vaulted corridor around the courtyard of the Koza Han |
[photo courtesy of Wikipedia]
This caravansaray provided lodging for merchants and their animals and goods, as well as workshops for the weavers and offices for business. In the 16th Century the commercial agent of the Medicis of Florence had his office in the Koza Han
The silk scarf below is one and a half metres wide but the silk is so fine the scarf slides easily through my wedding ring.
