caravan

 

group of travelers or merchants banded together and organized for mutual assistance and defense while traveling through unsettled or hostile country. Caravan trade is associated with the history of the Middle East as far back as the records of ancient civilizations extend and seems to have been well developed before sea commerce began. It is evident that all trade from one fertile area to another in this region had to be organized from the first, since long distances of desert trail separated settled parts and since local governments could not guarantee protection against tribes eager for loot and pillage. Such wares as jewels, spices, perfumes, dyes, metals, rare woods, ivory, oils, and textiles (chiefly silk) are associated with the trade. Camels were the main carriers from Egypt to Mesopotamia and throughout the Arabian peninsula. They were introduced into N Africa and the Sahara region in the 3d cent. A.D. Donkeys were used in Asia Minor. Trade naturally prospered in the period of the great empires, when the caravan routes could be controlled and protected; and it was to secure control of such routes that many wars were fought and conquests made in ancient times. An empire provided for the establishment of inns, or caravansaries, for the accommodation of travelers along the way. Such improvements facilitated the movement of troops to protect the routes. Cities rose and fell in ancient times in proportion to the rise and fall in the trade of the caravan routes upon which they were located. Basically the caravan system underwent little change until challenged in modern times by the motor truck and the airplane. Travelers having occasion to cross desert spaces usually joined merchant caravans. After the advent of Islam, the pilgrimage of the devout to Mecca gave rise to long pilgrim caravans that were a feature of the pilgrimage season each year. The closest approach to caravan trade in the New World was the wagon train commerce that developed over the Sante Fe Trail.

Caravan may refer to:

• Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together
• Convoy, a group of vehicles or ships traveling together for mutual support
  • Camel train, a series of camels carrying goods or passengers in a group
  • Wagon train, a series of wagons, moving together and forming a line
• Travel trailer, an American term for what would be regarded elsewhere as a caravan, a small trailer in which people can live and travel
• Recreational vehicle, used as both a vehicle and temporary travel home
• Dodge Caravan, a brand of minivan
• Nissan Caravan, a Japanese multi-purpose van
• Opel Caravan, GM's continental European make's station cars
• Cessna Caravan, a utility airplane
• Caravan Tours, an escorted tour company
• Curtiss-Wright C-76 Caravan, an American 1940s medium military transport aircraft
• Caravan (publishing), an Iranian Publishing House

In entertainment

• Caravan (band), a British rock/jazz band of the Canterbury scene
• Caravan (1975 novel), by Stephen Goldin
• "Caravan" (song), a jazz standard, composed by Juan Tizol; first performed by the Duke Ellington Orchestra
• Caravan (Van Morrison song), a song by Van Morrison from his 1970 album Moondance
• Caravan (Thai band), a pleng phua cheewit group from the 1970s
• The Caravans, a female gospel group
• Caravans (novel), by James Michener
• Caravan (1971 film), a 1971 film from India
• Caravan Pictures a former unit of Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group
• Caravan (play), an Australian play which showed at the Sydney Opera House
• Caravan (1934 film), a 1934 film

See also

• Caravanserai, a roadside inn catering to caravans
• Bonnaroo Caravan

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