Economic life under the Samanids and the decline

In the 9th–10th centuries most people in Transoxiana practised irrigated farming; grain, rice, cotton, vegetables and gardening flourished, and income from the kharaj made up a large share of state revenue. Textiles, pottery, glassmaking, jewellery and other crafts developed in the towns; Samarkand produced high-quality paper, and Ilaq had silver mines and a mint. Ribats and caravanserais were built along the caravan routes, and merchants handed money to a money-changer and received a “check”. In the home market the copper fals was used and in international trade the silver dirham; dirhams were struck only in the ruler’s name at Merv, Samarkand, Bukhara and Chach. Land ownership had five main types — mulk-i sultani, mulk, waqf, mulk-i khass and communal land — and in the 10th century iqta grew. Wars, court quarrels and the wilfulness of governors caused an economic crisis: in 942 taxes were collected twice, in 947 Ibrahim and Abu Ali Chaghani rebelled, and in 961 Bukhara’s soldiers looted and burned the palace.