A caravan is a group of people traveling together, often on a trade expedition. Caravans were used mainly in desert areas and throughout the Silk Road, where traveling in groups aided in defense against bandits as well as helped to improve economies of scale in trade.
Caravan routes or the corridors of the Silk Roads were a unique instrument of transmission of economic, linguistic, cultural, religious, military, and political values and innovations between different civilizations across the Eurasian continent.