Samarkand
Samarkand is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central Asia. Samarkand is the capital of the Samarkand Region and a district-level city, that includes the urban-type settlements Kimyogarlar, Farhod and Khishrav. With 551,700 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Uzbekistan.
There is evidence of human activity in the area of the city dating from the late Paleolithic Era. Though there is no direct evidence of when Samarkand was founded, several theories propose that it was founded between the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Prospering from its location on the Silk Road between China, Persia and Europe, at times Samarkand was one of the largest cities in Central Asia, By the time of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, it was the capital of the Sogdian satrapy. The city was conquered by Alexander the Great in 329 BC, when it was known as Markanda, which was rendered in Greek as Μαράκανδα. The city was ruled by a succession of Iranian and Turkic rulers until it was conquered by the Mongols under Genghis Khan in 1220.
Since the 11th century, the city has been under Turkic/Uzbek political control, but the city’s culture and dominant language has always been Persian.
The city is noted as a centre of Islamic scholarly study and the birthplace of the Timurid Renaissance. In the 14th century, Timur made it the capital of his empire and the site of his mausoleum, the Gur-e Amir. The Bibi-Khanym Mosque, rebuilt during the Soviet era, remains one of the city's most notable landmarks. Samarkand's Registan square was the city's ancient centre and is bounded by three monumental religious buildings. The city has carefully preserved the traditions of ancient crafts: embroidery, goldwork, silk weaving, copper engraving, ceramics, wood carving, and wood painting. In 2001, UNESCO added the city to its World Heritage List as Samarkand – Crossroads of Cultures.
Modern Samarkand is divided into two parts: the old city, which includes historical monuments, shops, and old private houses; and the new city, which was developed during the days of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union and includes administrative buildings along with cultural centres and educational institutions. On 15 and 16 September 2022, the city hosted the 2022 SCO summit.
Samarkand has a multicultural and plurilingual history that was significantly modified by the process of national delimitation in Central Asia. Small group of inhabitants of the city are bilingual speakers of the Tajik language, whereas Uzbek is the official language and Russian is also widely used in the public sphere, as per Uzbekistan's language policy.
Etymology
The name comes from the Iranian languages Persian and Sogdian samar "stone, rock" and kand "fort, town." In this respect, Samarkand shares the same meaning as the name of the Uzbek capital Tashkent, with tash- being the Turkic term for "stone" and -kent the Turkic analogue of kand borrowed from Iranian languages.According to 11th-century scholar Mahmud al-Kashghari, the city was known in Karakhanid Turkic as , meaning "fat city." 16th-century Mughal emperor Babur also mentioned the city under this name, and 15th-century Castillian traveler Ruy González de Clavijo stated that Samarkand was simply a distorted form of it.
History
Early history
Along with Bukhara, Samarkand is one of the oldest inhabited cities in Central Asia, prospering from its location on the trade route between China and Europe. There is no direct evidence of when it was founded. Researchers at the Institute of Archaeology of Samarkand date the city's founding around 700 BC.Archaeological excavations conducted within the city limits as well as suburban areas unearthed 40,000-year-old evidence of human activity, dating back to the Upper Paleolithic. A group of Mesolithic archaeological sites were discovered in the suburbs of Sazag'on-1, Zamichatosh, and Okhalik. The Syob and Darg'om canals, supplying the city and its suburbs with water, appeared around the 7th–5th centuries BC.
From its earliest days, Samarkand was one of the main centres of Sogdian civilization. By the time of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia, the city had become the capital of the Sogdian satrapy.
Hellenistic period
conquered Samarkand in 329 BC. The city was known as Maracanda by the Greeks. Written sources offer small clues as to the subsequent system of government. They mention one Orepius who became ruler "not from ancestors, but as a gift of Alexander."While Samarkand suffered significant damage during Alexander's initial conquest, the city recovered rapidly and flourished under the new Hellenic influence. There were also major new construction techniques. Oblong bricks were replaced with square ones and superior methods of masonry and plastering were introduced.
Alexander's conquests introduced classical Greek culture into Central Asia and for a time, Greek aesthetics heavily influenced local artisans. This Hellenistic legacy continued as the city became part of various successor states in the centuries following Alexander's death, the Greek Seleucid Empire, Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and Kushan Empire. After the Kushan state lost control of Sogdia during the 3rd century AD, Samarkand went into decline as a centre of economic, cultural, and political power. It did not significantly revive until the 5th century.
Sasanian era
Samarkand was conquered by the Persian Sasanians c. 260 AD. Under Sasanian rule, the region became an essential site for Manichaeism and facilitated the dissemination of the religion throughout Central Asia.Hephthalites and Turkic Khaganate era
Between AD 350 and 375, Samarkand was conquered by the nomadic tribes of Xionites, the origin of which remains controversial. The resettlement of nomadic groups to Samarkand confirms archaeological material from the 4th century. The culture of nomads from the Middle Syrdarya basin is spreading in the region. Between 457 and 509, Samarkand was part of the Kidarite state.File:Turkish officers during a audience with king Varkhuman of Samarkand. 648-651 CE, Afrasiyab, Samarkand.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Turkic officers during an audience with king Varkhuman of Samarkand. 648–651 CE, Afrasiyab murals, Samarkand.
After the Hephthalites conquered Samarkand, they controlled it until the Göktürks, in an alliance with the Sassanid Persians, won it at the Battle of Bukhara, c. 560 AD.
In the middle of the 6th century, a Turkic state was formed in Altai, founded by the Ashina dynasty. The new state formation was named the Turkic Khaganate after the people of the Turks, which were headed by the ruler – the Khagan. From 557 to 561, the Hephthalites empire was defeated by the joint actions of the Turks and Sassanids, which led to the establishment of a common border between the two empires.
In the early Middle Ages, Samarkand was surrounded by four rows of defensive walls and had four gates.
An ancient Turkic burial with a horse was investigated on the territory of Samarkand. It dates back to the 6th century.
During the period of the ruler of the Western Turkic Khaganate, Tong Yabghu Qaghan, family relations were established with the ruler of Samarkand – Tong Yabghu Qaghan gave him his daughter.
Some parts of Samarkand have been Christian since the 4th century. In the 5th century, a Nestorian chair was established in Samarkand. At the beginning of the 8th century, it was transformed into a Nestorian metropolitanate. Discussions and polemics arose between the Sogdian followers of Christianity and Manichaeism, reflected in the documents.
Early Islamic era
The armies of the Umayyad Caliphate under Qutayba ibn Muslim captured the city from the Tang dynasty c. 710 CE. During this period, Samarkand was a diverse religious community and was home to a number of religions, including Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Manichaeism, Judaism, and Nestorian Christianity, with most of the population following Zoroastrianism.Qutayba generally did not settle Arabs in Central Asia; he forced the local rulers to pay him tribute but largely left them to their own devices. Samarkand was the major exception to this policy: Qutayba established an Arab garrison and Arab governmental administration in the city, its Zoroastrian fire temples were razed, and a mosque was built. Much of the city's population converted to Islam.
As a long-term result, Samarkand developed into a center of Islamic and Arabic learning. At the end of the 740s, a movement of those dissatisfied with the power of the Umayyads emerged in the Arab Caliphate, led by the Abbasid commander Abu Muslim, who, after the victory of the uprising, became the governor of Khorasan and Maverannahr. He chose Samarkand as his residence. His name is associated with the construction of a multi-kilometer defensive wall around the city and the palace.
Legend has it that during Abbasid rule, the secret of papermaking was obtained from two Chinese prisoners from the Battle of Talas in 751, which led to the foundation of the first paper mill in the Islamic world at Samarkand. The invention then spread to the rest of the Islamic world and thence to Europe.
File:Dinar of al-Mu'tazz, AH 253.jpg|250px|thumb|Gold dinar of caliph al-Mu'tazz, minted at Samarkand in AH 253. His reign marks the apogee of the decline of the Caliphate's central authority
Abbasid control of Samarkand soon dissipated and was replaced with that of the Samanids, though the Samanids were still nominal vassals of the Caliph during their control of Samarkand. Under Samanid rule the city became a capital of the Samanid dynasty and an even more important node of numerous trade routes. The Samanids were overthrown by the Karakhanids around 999. Over the next 200 years, Samarkand would be ruled by a succession of Turkic tribes, including the Seljuqs and the Khwarazmshahs.
The 10th-century Persian author Istakhri, who travelled in Transoxiana, provides a vivid description of the natural riches of the region he calls "Smarkandian Sogd":
I know no place in it or in Samarkand itself where if one ascends some elevated ground one does not see greenery and a pleasant place, and nowhere near it are mountains lacking in trees or a dusty steppe... Samakandian Sogd... eight days travel through unbroken greenery and gardens.... The greenery of the trees and sown land extends along both sides of the river ... and beyond these fields is pasture for flocks. Every town and settlement has a fortress... It is the most fruitful of all the countries of Allah; in it are the best trees and fruits, in every home are gardens, cisterns and flowing water.