Atabegs of Yazd

Dynasty

The names of the first members of the dynasty indicate that they were seemingly ethnically Persian, but like the Hazaraspids they had accepted the Turkish title of Atabeg. Most of the Atabegs of Yazd were tributaries to the Seljuks and the Mongol Il-Khans until they were finally overthrown by the Muzaffarids.

In 1272, the Italian explorer Marco Polo passed through Yazd on his way to China. He referred to Yazd as a "Noble City" that was safe and busy with trade, and functioned like a "desert port" on the "caravan route". The city was then a major silk-weaving center, and Marco Polo wrote about its fine silk. In the book The Travels of Marco Polo, he wrote:

Concerning the Great City of Yasdi. It is a good and noble city, and has a great amount of trade. They weave there quantities of a certain silk tissue known as Yasdi, which merchants carry into many quarters to dispose of. When you leave this city to travel further, you ride for seven days over great plains, finding harbour to receive you at three places only. There are many fine woods producing dates upon the way, such as one can easily ride through; and in them there is great sport to be had in hunting and hawking, there being partridges and quails and abundance of other game, so that the merchants who pass that way have plenty of diversion. There are also wild asses, handsome creatures. At the end of those seven marches over the plain, you come to a fine kingdom which is called Kerman.