What is a caravan?
Q: What is a caravan?
A: A caravan is a group of people traveling together, usually on a trade expedition.
Q: Where were caravans used historically?
A: Caravans were used mainly in desert areas and throughout the Silk Road, as well as across East Asia and Europe.
Q: What type of goods did caravans transport?
A: Caravans often carried luxurious and lucrative goods such as silks or jewelry, which they would trade for salt, gold, copper or slaves.
Q: How were caravans transported?
A: At first donkey carts were used to transport caravans but they eventually replaced with single hump camels due to their ability to travel long distances on little water.
Q: What was the maximum size of a caravan?
A: The largest recorded caravan had up to 12,000 camels.
Q: How much cargo could a caravan carry compared to other methods of transportation?
A: 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.
Q: Are there still modern-day caravans in use today?
A: Yes, present-day caravans still transport important goods in less-developed areas of the world such as camel trains traversing the southern edges of the Sahara Desert and are often made up cars, trucks and busses.
