Khorasan in The Saljuks Period from The perspective of Islamic geography scholars

The Horasan region, occupying a wide geography has hosted a variety of civilizations. Etymologically, Horasan means "land of the sun" and this actually points out the fact that it is an important center of the world. Because it has a fertile geography and it includes strategic trade routes, the states from the other regions fighted to conquer it throughout the history. Before the Islamic era, the Aryan race; later than that some other states, and lastly Gokturks and Sassanids dominated the region. With the Islamic conquers in the era of Hz. Omar and Hz. Usman governances, and thereafter in the era of the Umayyads and the Abbasids, the Horasan region was ruled. Similarly, the Turkic states made efforts to dominate the region. The first time that Horasan met with the Turkish culture was with the Ghaznavids. After the Seljuks' dominance, it fully became a Turkic state. As the the center of Seljuks, Horasan increased the power of Sultans with its strategic characteristics like being educational and trade center. Even though Horasan witnessed lots of wars, it stayed to be the center of the Seljuks. Two of the capital cities of the state were within this region, namely Nîsâbur, and Merv. Despite the fact that the Seljuks was forced to act in this region, they quickly adapted here and they put efforts to form an empire by spreading their words and cultures. Thanks to these strategic moves, they consolidated their existence in the region. Thus, they dominated Horasan for a long time. As the Horasan area is actually a large geography, it has lots of cities in it. Those, mainly, are Belh, Herat, Merv, Nîsabûr and some other central cities besides villages which are connected to these bigger ones. Most of these cities were put a great emphasis because they have a strategic importance like being on the trade routes. Since Saljuks was quite aware of the importance of the region, they invested a lot on education through madrasas like they did on the other subjects. Thanks to the political, economic, and cultural innovations, they impacted other regions, as well. Currently, the Horasan region is located within the borders of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and Iran. Some cities that we mentioned in our thesis maintain their importance with the unchanged names. However, most of the other cities left the stage of history by joining the bigger cities.