Mahmud Yalavač

Mahmud Yalavač was a Muslim merchant from Khwarazm in Central Asia and eventually was appointed as the administrator of Central Asia in the Mongol Empire.

The region of Central Asia played a vital role in Silk Road trade but had been devastated during the Mongol invasions. Ogodei Khan (r. 1229 – 1241) appointed Mahmud Yalavač to restore the region’s economy. He fixed the irrigation networks along the Amu Darya and Syr Darya Rivers, which were the lifeblood of the Central Asian oases and towns. With the cities like Samarkand and Bukhara restored, trade along the Silk Road, via Central Asia, could be regenerated. By the mid-1230s, with agriculture and commerce reviving, Yalavač began to impose regular taxes in order to provide a steady stream of revenues for the khanate. At the end of the 1230s Yalavač was transferred to govern in northern China. Yalavač’s son, Masud Bag continued to govern the region of Central Asia until his death in 1389.