The historical bazaar of Isfahan as one of the oldest and largest bazaars of the Middle East dates far back in time but most of what remains today is built from the 16th century onwards. Generally bazaars are divided into three categories based on the period of usage: permanent, periodical and short time markets.  The main market of Isfahan is a permanent bazaar, but it is necessary to know that based on historical documents sometimes there were some short time markets in Naghsh-e-Jahan square (close to the main Bazaar) until the 18th century. While holding these temporary markets, the traders who were mostly foreigners filled all of the space of the square to sell their products.

The first evidence of a bazaar in Isfahan is based on "Hamze Isfahani", who wrote that in the bazaar of the city, which is closed to Yahoudiye, there are some squares for businessmen, craftsmen and workers (750 CE). After him "Moghadasi", a famous historian in the tenth century, described it into a long street with some roofed quarters and some non-roofed quarters.

More precise information about this bazaar is available in the texts of Nasir Khusru, the famous Persian poet, which were written during his travels in Iran and Arab countries. He illustrates one branch of the Bazaar, which is the place of more than 200 bankers. Also he explains that only in this part of the bazaar, named Kutaraz, there were fifty caravanserais. This shows the vastness of the market and the developed trade through Isfahan in the 12th century.

The Bazaar of Isfahan consisted of two parts, the old section, which started from the old square, close to the Friday mosque, and the new section, which started from Naghsh-e-Jahan square and connected to the old section. 

By the 11th century, after selecting Isfahan as the capital of Seljuk dynasty, the old square had become the center of the city. It had a castle, a drum house, a qaiseria and shops selling silk, brocade, materials, precious stones, ivory and many other goods. There were some peripheral markets along the main streets radiating from the old square from at least that time. The 1.5 Km (1,650-yard) shopping street is still the main street in the bazaar, the longest vaulted bazaar street in the world.

After selecting Isfahan as the seat of Shah Abbas, a new bazaar was designed between the old bazaar and the square. Shah Abbas redeveloped the city extensively and had a number of new bazaars built: the buildings surrounding the Naghsh-e-Jahan square (originally including a large number of coffee houses), both the Hasan-abad and mosque bazaars to the southeast and the large bazaar to the north, where the old bazaar was located.

It has about 5 km (3miles) of shopping streets, some with brick arches, some with poplar beams, over a hundred caravanserais and sarais, innumerable covered halls and connecting wings.

As mentioned, Naghsh-e-Jahan is surrounded by a layer of shops. Behind these shops there are several parts of the bazaar, like caravanserais and peripheral markets for different businesses. 

However, the bazaar was the backbone of the city and it was also used as the main street in Isfahan and a place for meeting people, seeing and being seen. This kind of bazaar acted as a real heart of the city. By counting the number of madrasas (Islamic schools), mosques and hammams (bathhouses) in the bazaar we can understand to what extent the bazaar acted as the center of Isfahan. Also there are some other small buildings in the bazaar such as water stores, warehouses and stables. 

After Qajar in the 18th century, some bazaars were added to every residential quarter. These bazaars, called neighborhood bazaars, acted as quarter centers. They consisted of a set of facilities, such as shops, hammam, maktab (schools) as well as commercial activities. They served as large public centers for gathering all of the people to participate in social activities such as religious festivals and making decisions about the quarter (mahalleh) in light of central government. 

In some historical texts there is written that many of the social and religious ceremonies were conducted in the main Bazaar and neighborhood bazaars. It was common to invite a group of merchants to lunch in the bazaar. 

Unfortunately, in recent years the economic role of the main bazaar has been decreased. The main reason for this phenomena is the import of goods from western countries and establishing many economic complexes on the outside of the bazaar, which have provided possibilities in all parts of the city to provide their needs without any need to come into the bazaar. 

Some parts of the bazaar were ruined in the Pahlavi era, when modern streets were designed in Isfahan. But fortunately, traditional life and the increasing number of tourists cause the bazaar still to survive and continue its life as the heart of Isfahan. 

Bazaar means a marketplace or assemblage of shops where miscellaneous goods and services are displayed to buy and sell. 

The word "bazaar" refers to "waazaar", which is an ancient Persian word. This word, bazaar, has been transferred into Arab countries, Ottoman Turkey, Europe and India and even China through economic interactions between Persia and these countries. A study of the usage of the word "bazaar" since ancient times reveals the economic exchanges between Persia and other countries.

Archaeologists have found evidence of bazaars in different parts of Iran. It is certain that the creation of cities was based on not only the growth of the population but also on the increase of production, which brought about the growth of trade and accumulation of wealth. 

Archeologists could find proof of the existence of bazaars in different areas of the country; Kermanshah (9000 B.C.), Zagheh hills in Ghazvin(7000 B.C.), Sialk hills in Kashan(6000 B.C.), Hasanlu in Kerman (6000 B.C.), Tal Eblis in Kerman (5000 B.C.), Khabis in Kerman (4000 B.C.), "the burned city" in Sistan (3000 B.C.) and Shush (from 4000 B.C.).