Horseback riding in Central Asia.

"You and I are like two shafts of a tent; if one breaks, the ox will not be able to pull the tent; you and I are like two wheels of a tent; if one breaks, it will not move."

Words of Genghis Khan to Wang Khan of Kerait.

"Of all the possessions of Hu, only here are there oxen with carts. Traders use them in their travels to different countries."

Tanin. "On Khorezm."

Arba as a means of transport in Central Asia.

The external reason for considering the topic that constitutes the subject of the report were the words of the book by A. Metz "Die Renaissance des Islams" "Dec Strassenwirtschaft des Orients konnte die Herrschaft der Araber keinen Aufschwung geben.
"Here is an example of Genghis Khan's concern for bridges and wheeled roads. Until recently, the nomads did not have wheeled vehicles; travel and transport of goods were done only by animals. The question of when and how this change occurred has not yet been sufficiently clarified.
1 Die Renaissance, S. 461. "The domination of the Arabs could not give any rise to the road system of the East. They are a people of horsemen, who have no idea about military roads and wheeled transport. The cart was so unfamiliar to them that when chess was borrowed from India, the figure of the chariot (ratha) was not understood and turned into "Rukh".
The Tatar world was the first to travel in the north by cart." (Archaeological materials show that two-wheeled carts appeared in the steppes of Eastern Europe as early as the era of the emergence of nomadic cattle breeding in the 2nd millennium BC. Strabo, 412.
(Carts were also used by the Central Asian nomads. Thus, Herodotus (I, 216) reports on carts among the Massagetae.) Bichurin, Collection of Information, III, 246; Chavannes, Documents, p. 145. As is well known, Greek literature speaks of nomads in southeastern Europe who moved and even lived on carts, for example, the expression in Strabo.
The Chinese speak of carts in Central Asia, even among sedentary peoples, as an exception; thus, in Taninu it is said about Khorezm: “Of all the possessions of Hu, only here are there oxen with carts. Traders use them in their travels to different countries.”
In The same work (Tang-shu) speaks of one nomadic people, nicknamed "high carts"; these "Tilisians" had one-wheeled carts on high wheels with many spokes; during weddings, the groom's relatives would take away horses from the carts and allow each relative of the bride to choose any horse.
The Arabic name for a cart was Persian Turkish originally qayli, the word araba, or arba, is first encountered in the "Codex Comanicus" and in Ibn Battuta. The Arabic is explained in Freytag's dictionary as a cart harnessed to oxen; about kangly it is said by Mahmud of Kashgar that it is a cart for transporting goods; according to Rashid ad-Din, it was used for storing spoils; Abulgazi explains the word kangly as an onomatopoeia for the creaking of a cart.
The Russian "kibitka" comes from the Turkish kibit, which means a bench (as in Mahmud of Kashgar, in Kutadgu bilik and in Zamakhshari; apparently, shops were sometimes placed on carts). In Central Asia, two main types of carts are now known, on the one hand, the Khorezm or Kashgar, on the other - the Kokand; judging by the finds of the so-called Amu Darya treasure, the first type is more ancient.
In the first case, a person sits in the cart and drives the reins, in the second - sits on the back of the horse, placing his feet on the ends of the shafts, and drives a short riding bridle. Riding on a cart in the Mongol period is described in most detail by Ibn Battuta.
When describing the route from Kerch to Crimea, four-wheeled carts are mentioned, harnessed by horses, bulls and camels; the driver sat on one of the horses. The journey from Sarai to Khorezm was made in carts harnessed camels; the large cart for Ibn Battuta's companions was harnessed to three camels, with the driver sitting on one of them.
The carts are often mentioned in the Yuan-chao bi-shi of Rashid ad-Din, in Changchun, in Plano Carpini, in Rubruck and Marco Polo, but nowhere is it said, as in Ibn Battuta, about four-wheeled carts; nowhere is it it is also said that the driver should sit on the animal harnessed to the cart.
The words of Chingiz Khan to Van Khan of Kerait are quoted: "You and I are like two shafts of a cart; if one breaks, the ox will not be able to pull the cart; you and I are like two wheels of a cart; if one breaks, it will not move." From this we can conclude that the carts were two-wheeled.
It is said everywhere that the carts were covered with black felt; sometimes black carts and white yurts are contrasted with each other. There were a great many carts in large headquarters; in the headquarters of Chingiz Khan's brother, Otchigin, black carts and felt yurts stood side by side in the number of several thousand.
Of the 26 wives of Batu, each had a large house, to each of these houses were adjoined 200 carts. During stops, supplies were stored in the carts. A cart with sheep's wool is mentioned behind the dwelling; when plundering an enemy camp, mare's milk was searched for in the back of the carts.
Women and children with household goods traveled in carts. Only residential (poor) yurts were transported on pack animals. Large yurts were placed on carts and were not disassembled; sometimes one bull served for transportation, sometimes three, four or more.
Rubruk mentions a cart that was pulled by 22 bulls: 11 in one row along the width of the cart and another 11 in front of them. The axle of the cart was as big as the mast of a ship; a man, standing on the cart at the entrance to the house, drove the bulls.
Another detail is mentioned that when the house was on the cart, it protruded beyond the wheels by at least five feet on both sides. In the well-known study by N. N. Kharuzin on the development of housing among Turkish and Mongolian nomads, when describing (according to Ananyev) the Karanogai wedding cart, it is said that the diameter of the frame placed on the cart is 1% times greater than the width of the cart with wheels.
Most often, bulls were harnessed to the cart, sometimes camels; the woman driving the cart sat inside it. Only when capturing a cart with women, the captor took it away, sitting on a horse, according to Mongolian custom. Sometimes women were pulled out of the cart and put on horses; the carts had doors.
According to Kharuzin, kibitkas on wheels are "an offspring caused by living conditions - large movements in treeless areas." Facts (for example, Nogai carts) show that this type of housing lasted longest in the Volga and North Caucasian steppes. In the history of Timur, only when describing the return from the Golden Horde campaign of 1391, is there talk about such a dwelling, called Timur, carts with yurts placed on them were taken away, which gives the historian a reason to talk in his poems about the difference between Timur's exploits and all others; in other cases, during a raid on a country, property is taken away, houses remain; Timur took away both property and houses, and those sitting in the houses (women).
Clavijo, when describing the Chagatai migrations in Western Asia, does not mention carts. Women rode on horseback and placed cradles in front of them, tied with wide braids, which they put on themselves. The poor carried children and tents on camels, "which is very inconvenient, since camels walk very awkwardly.
The main reason for the disappearance of carts, apparently, should be recognized as the economic decline among the nomads after the XVth century.

Authority:
V.V. Barthold. "On Wheeled and Horseback Movement in Central Asia." (Summary of the last report given on May 10, 1930 at GAIMK). Published: ZIVAN, VI, M. - L., 1937, pp. 3 - 7. Volume IV. Publishing House of Eastern Literature. Moscow. 1966.

Photos by:
Alexander Petrov.