Samarkand
View of the Registan
Samarkand Location in Uzbekistan
Coordinates: 39°39′15″N 66°57′35″E / 39.65417, 66.95972
Country	‎  Uzbekistan
Province	Samarqand Province
Elevation	702 m (2,303 ft)
Population (2005)
- Total	412,300

Samarkand (Persian: سمرقند, Самарқанд, Uzbek: Samarqand, Russian: Самарканд, population 412,300 in 2005), is the second-largest city in Uzbekistan and the capital of Samarqand Province. Wikipedia talkFeatured lists for an explanation of this and other inclusion tags below -->This list of countries, arranged alphabetically Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi or Ўзбекистон Республикаси is a doubly Uzbekistan is divided into 12 Provinces ( viloyatlar, singular Viloyat, viloyati in compound e Samarqand Province (Samarkand Province (Samarqand viloyati is a Viloyat (province of Uzbekistan located in the center of the country in the basin of Zarafshan The elevation of a Geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point often the mean sea level. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit Uzbek ( O‘zbek tili or O'zbekcha in Latin script, Ўзбек тили in Cyrillic script; أۇزبېك ﺗﻴﻠی in Arabic Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi or Ўзбекистон Республикаси is a doubly Samarqand Province (Samarkand Province (Samarqand viloyati is a Viloyat (province of Uzbekistan located in the center of the country in the basin of Zarafshan The city is most noted for its central position on the Asian Shadow of the Silk Road between China and the west and for being an Islamic centre for scholarly study. The Silk Road, or Silk Routes, are an extensive interconnected network of Trade routes across the Asian continent connecting East South and Western Asia with the The Bibi-Khanym Mosque remains one of the city's most famous landmarks. Bibi-Khanym Mosque (مسجد بی بی خانم is a famous historical Mosque in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, whose name comes from the wife of 14th-century The Registan was the ancient centre of the city. The Registan was the heart of the ancient Samarkand, Uzbekistan. It is located at the altitude of 702 meters. In 2001, UNESCO inscribed the 2750-year-old city on the World Heritage List as Samarkand - Crossroads of Cultures. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on November 16 A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a Forest, Mountain, Lake, Desert, Monument, Building, complex

Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 3 Notable People born in Samarkand 4 In fiction 5 Non-fiction 6 Trivia 7 Sister cities 7.1 Other sister cities 8 See also 9 References 10 Photo gallery 11 External links

Etymology

Samarkand derives its name from the Old Persian asmara, "stone", "rock", and Sogdian kand, "fort", "town". The Old Persian language is one of the two attested Old Iranian languages (besides Avestan) The Sogdian language is a Middle Iranian language that was spoken in Sogdiana ( Zarafshan River Valley located in modern day Uzbekistan ^[1]

History

Samarkand is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, prospering from its location on the trade route between China and Europe (Silk Road). China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National The Silk Road, or Silk Routes, are an extensive interconnected network of Trade routes across the Asian continent connecting East South and Western Asia with the At times Samarkand has been one of the greatest cities of Central Asia. Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south Founded circa 700 BC it was already the capital of the Sogdian satrapy under the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia when Alexander the Great conquered it in 329 BC (see Afrasiab, Sogdiana). See also the related deity Satrapes. Satrap (Persian ساتراپ was the name given to the governors of the Provinces of ancient The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenid Persian Empire ( haχɒmaneʃijɒn (558–330 BC was the first of the Persian Empires to rule over significant portions of Alexander the Great ( or, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20 356 BC June 10 or June 11 323 BC also known as Alexander III of Macedon (el Ἀλέξανδρος Γ' Events By place Macedonian Empire From Phrada, Alexander the Great presses on up the valley of the Helmand River, Afrasiab ( afrāsiyāb) (افراسياب Avestan: Fraŋrasyan; Pahlavi: Frāsiyāv, Frāsiyāk and Freangrāsyāk History Hellenistic period The Sogdian Rock or Rock of Ariamazes a fortress in Sogdiana was captured in 327 BC by the forces of Alexander the Great

Samarkand – Crossroads of Culture*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party	Uzbekistan
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iv
Reference	603
Region†	Asia-Pacific
Inscription history
Inscription	2001  (25th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. † Region as classified by UNESCO.

Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran between the times of Alexander and the Arab conquest. A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a Forest, Mountain, Lake, Desert, Monument, Building, complex As of 2008 there are a total of 878 World Heritage Sites located in 145 "State Parties" Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi or Ўзбекистон Республикаси is a doubly A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a Forest, Mountain, Lake, Desert, Monument, Building, complex This is a list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Asia, Australia and the Pacific ( Australia) A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a Forest, Mountain, Lake, Desert, Monument, Building, complex The Greeks referred to Samarkand as Maracanda. ^[2] In the 6th Century it was within the domains of a Turkish kingdom. The Turkish people (Türk Halkı also known as " Turks " ( Türkler) are defined mainly as being speakers of Turkish as a First language ^[3]

At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came under Arab control. Under Abbasid rule, the legend goes ^[4], the secret of papermaking was obtained from two Chinese prisoners from the Battle of Talas in 751, which led to the first paper mill in the Islamic world to be founded in Samarkand. Papermaking is the process of making Paper, a material which is used ubiquitously today for writing and packaging Han Chinese ( are an Ethnic group native to China and by most modern definitions the largest single Ethnic group in the world. The Battle of Talas in 751 CE was a conflict between the Arab Abbasid Caliphate and the Chinese Tang Dynasty for control A paper mill is a Factory devoted to making Paper from wood pulp and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier Machine or similar apparatus The invention then spread to the rest of the Islamic world, and from there to Europe.

From the 6th to the 13th century it grew larger and more populous than modern Samarkand and was controlled by the Western Turks, Arabs (who converted the area to Islam), Persian Samanids, Kara-Khanid Turks, Seljuk Turks, Kara-Khitan, and Khorezmshah before being sacked by the Mongols under Genghis Khan in 1220 . The Western Turkic Khaganate was formed as a result of the internecine wars in the beginning of the 7th century ( 600 – 603 AD after the Göktürk The araB gene Promoter is a bacterial promoter activated by e L-arabinose binding For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. The Samanids (819–999 ( Sāmāniyān) were a Persian dynasty in Central Asia and Greater Khorasan, named after its founder Saman This article refers to the Turkic state Kara-Khanid Khanate (also designated as Qarakhanids The Seljuq (also Seljuq Turks, Seldjuks, Seldjuqs, Seljuks; in Turkish Selçuklular; in Ṣaljūqīyān; in This article refers to the Khitan Khanate. For the Turkic state see Kara-Khanid Khanate. The Khwarezmian Empire, more commonly known as the empire of the Khwarezm Shahs ( Khwārezmšhāḥīān, "Kings of Khwarezmia " Genghis Khan ( or;, Chinggis Khaan, ʧiŋgɪs χaːŋ Činggis Qaɣan; 1162–1227 born (meaning "ironworker" was the Mongol founder A small part of the population survived, but Samarkand suffered at least another Mongol sack by Khan Baraq to get treasure he needed to pay an army with. Baraq (1266-1271 was a khan of the Chagatai Khanate. He was the son of Yesünto'a and a grandson of Chagatai Khan. The town took many decades to recover from these disasters.

In 1365 a revolt against Mongol control occurred in Samarkand. ^[5]

In 1370, Timur the Lame, or Tamerlane, decided to make Samarkand the capital of his empire, which extended from India to Turkey. Timur also written Emir Timur or Amir Temur ( Chagatai: تیمور - Tēmōr " Iron " (1336 – 19 February 1405 among India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches During the next 35 years he built a new city and populated it with artisans and craftsmen from all of the places he had conquered. Timur gained a reputation as a patron of the arts and Samarkand grew to become the centre of the region of Transoxiana. Transoxiana (sometimes spelled Transoxania "河中“Chinese / Ma Wara'un-Nahr ( Arabic: ما وراء النهر / Farārood (فرارود During this time the city had a population of about 150,000. ^[6]

In 1499 the Uzbek Turks took control of Samarkand. ^[7] The Shaybanids emerged as the Uzbek leaders at or about this time.

In the 16th century, the Shaybanids moved their capital to Bukhara and Samarkand went into decline. The Shaybanid dynasty was a 16th-century Uzbek dynasty founded by Muhammad Shaybani. Bukhara (Buxoro Бухоро بُخارا Бухара also spelled as Bukhoro and Bokhara, from the Soghdian βuxārak ("lucky After an assault by the Persian king, Nadir Shah, the city was abandoned in the 18th century, about 1720 or a few years latter. Nāder Shāh Afshār ( also known as Nāder Qoli Beg - نادر قلی بیگ or Tahmāsp Qoli Khān - تهماسپ قلی خان) (November ^[8]

From 1784 Samarkand was ruled by the emirs of Bukhara. Bukhara (Buxoro Бухоро بُخارا Бухара also spelled as Bukhoro and Bokhara, from the Soghdian βuxārak ("lucky ^[9]

The city came under Russian rule after the citadel had been taken by a force under Colonel Alexander Abramov in 1868. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Alexander Konstantinovich Abramov (Александр Константинович Абрамов (1836-1886 was a Russian general Shortly thereafter the small Russian garrison of 500 men were themselves besieged. The assault, which was led by Abdul Malik Tura, the rebellious elder son of the Bukharan Emir, and Bek of Shahrisabz, was beaten off with heavy losses. The Emirate of Bukhara ( Buxoro Amirligi; Аморати Бухоро was a Central Asian state that existed from 1785 to 1920 Shahrisabz or Shahr-e Sabz (Shahrisabz/Шахрисабз is a city in Uzbekistan located approximately 80 km south of Samarkand with the population of Abramov, now a general, became the first Governor of the Military Okrug which the Russians established along the course of the River Zeravshan, with Samarkand as the administrative centre. Okrug (окръг Serbian and о́круг округа translit Zeravshan River (also Zarafshan or Zarafshon, Дарёи Зарафшон Zarafshon from the Persian word زر افشان zar afshān, meaning The Russian section of the city was built after this point, largely to the west of the old city.

The city later became the capital of the Samarkand Oblast of Russian Turkestan and grew in importance still further when the Trans-Caspian railway reached the city in 1888 . Oblast (во́бласць oblast о́бласт oblast о́бласть област/ oblast; oblasť област о́бласть is a type of Administrative division Russian Turkestan ( Russian: Русский Туркестан also known as Turkestansky Krai (Туркестанский край was Turkestan within The Trans-Caspian Railway (also called the Central Asian Railway, Russian Среднеазиатская железная дорога is a Railway that follows It became the capital of the Uzbek SSR in 1925 before being replaced by Tashkent in 1930. The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Ўзбекистон Совет Социалистик Республикаси O`zbekiston Sovet Sotsialistik Respublikasi; Узбекская

In 1939 Samarkand had a population of 134,346. ^[10]

Notable People born in Samarkand

• Babur Al-Sultan al-'Azam wal Khaqan al-Mukarram Zahir ud-din Muhammad Jalal ud-din Babur Padshah Ghazi

In fiction

• In Jinyong's wuxia novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes (1957), the Mongol conquest is mentioned in the story. Babur ( February 14 1483 - December 26 1530) was a Muslim conqueror from Central Asia who following a series of setbacks Louis Cha, GBM, OBE ( born 6 February 1924) known with his pen name Jin Yong ( is one of the most influential modern Chinese-language The Legend of Condor Heroes ( is one of the most acclaimed Wuxia novels by Jinyong, first published in 1957 in Hong Kong Commercial

• In The Arabian Nights (ca. AD 900) King Schahzaman is king of Samarkand.

• Samarkand can appear as an archetype of romantic exoticism, notably in the work by James Elroy Flecker: The Golden Journey to Samarkand (1913). James Elroy Flecker ( November 5 1884 - January 3 1915) was an English poet novelist and playwright

• Samarcande (1988) is the title of a novel by Amin Maalouf, about Omar Khayyám's life. Amin Maalouf ( أمين معلوف) born 25 February, 1949 in Beirut, is a Lebanese Author. For the Thoroughbred racehorse see Omar Khayyam (horse Ghiyās od-Dīn Abol-Fath Omār ibn Ebrāhīm Khayyām Neyshābūri (غیاث الدین

• Samarkand is the name of a planet in the 2001 novel Gridlinked by Neal Asher. Gridlinked is Neal Asher 's first novel published by the Macmillan Publishers imprint Pan Books in 2001. Neal Asher (born 1961 in Billericay, Essex, England) is an English Science fiction writer The protagonist travels there to investigate after its teleporter explodes with enough force to destroy most of the colony.

• Samarkand is one of the cities Audre Lorde describes visiting in her collection of essays and speeches, Sister Outsider.

• Samarqand is the center of the Islamic Renaissance in Kim Stanley Robinson's The Years of Rice and Salt. Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23 1952) is an American Science fiction Writer, probably best known for his award-winning The Years of Rice and Salt ( 2002) is an alternate history Novel with major Buddhist and Islamic religious elements written

• In the science fiction setting of BattleTech, there is a human-populated world named New Samarkand. BattleTech is a Wargaming and Science fiction franchise launched by FASA Corporation and currently owned by WizKids.

• The Nightingale of Samarkand is a character in the Broadway musical Once Upon a Mattress. Once Upon a Mattress is a musical Comedy that opened Off-Broadway on May 11, 1959, and then moved to Broadway

• Angela Carter's short story The Kiss discusses the legend of Tamburlaine's mosque in Samarkand. Angela Carter ( May 7, 1940 – February 16, 1992) was an English novelist and journalist known for her Feminist,

• In Islamic literature and discussions, Samarkand has taken on a semi-mythological status and is often cited as an ideal of Islamic philosophy and society, a place of justice, fairness, and righteous moderation.

• For part of the history espoused in Clive Barker's Galilee, the city of Samarkand is held as a shining light of humanity, and one of the characters longs to go there. Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English author film director and visual artist

• The markets of Samrkand are referenced to more than once in the 1920 Edith Wharton novel The Age of Innocence. Year 1920 ( MCMXX) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display 1920 of the Gregorian calendar Edith Wharton ( January 24 1862 &ndash August 11 1937) was an American Novelist, Short story Writer The Age of Innocence (1920 is a novel by Edith Wharton, which won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize.

• The Amulet of Samarkand is the first book in the Bartimaeus Trilogy written by Jonathan Stroud. The Amulet of Samarkand is the first book in the Bartimaeus Trilogy written by Jonathan Stroud. The Bartimaeus Trilogy is a Fantasy series by Jonathan Stroud and was published as a series of three novels between 2003 and 2005 Jonathan Anthony Stroud ( 27 october 1970, Bedford, England) is an Author of Fantasy books mainly for children and

• Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, explores the metaphysical significance of the marketplace in a volume of poetry entitle, Samarkand and Other Markets I Have Known, 2002. The Nobel Prize in Literature (Nobelpriset i litteratur is awarded annually since 1901 to an author from any country who has in the words from the will of Alfred

• Robert E. Howard wrote a short story in 1932 for Oriental Stories titled "Lord of Samarkand". Robert Ervin Howard ( January 22 1906 &ndash June 11 1936) was an American pulp writer of Fantasy,

• In the novel Fitzpatrick's War, by Theodore Judson, Samarkand is the site of the new capitol of a new global empire modeled after that of Alexander the Great. Fitzpatrick's War is a work of Post-apocalyptic fiction by Theodore Judson. Theodore Judson is an American Science fiction writer He is the author of Tom Wedderburn's Life (2002 Fitzpatrick's War Alexander the Great ( or, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20 356 BC June 10 or June 11 323 BC also known as Alexander III of Macedon (el Ἀλέξανδρος Γ'

• In the American film classic It's a Wonderful Life, the character George Bailey (played by James Stewart) shops for a suitcase, saying, "I want something for a thousand and one nights, with plenty of room for labels from Italy and Baghdad, Samarkand. James Stewart may refer to Actors James Stewart (actor (1908&ndash1997 Hollywood movie actor and USAF Brigadier General . . a great big one. "

• In Iris Murdoch's The Nice and The Good, Kate Gray wants to go to Samarkand for holiday but knows nothing about it. Dame Jean Iris Murdoch DBE ( 15 July 1919 &ndash 8 February 1999) was a Dublin -born writer and philosopher

• In the Technicolor movie The Golden Horde, the main character, played by David Farrar, defends Samarkand against the Horde. He utters the memorable line, "He who comes to destroy Samarkand shall himself be destroyed. "

• In the Jonas Wergeland Trilogy by Jan Kjærstad Samarkand plays a significant role in the first volume The Seducer (Forføreren)

• The second novel in author Janeen Webb's young adult series, the Sinbad Chronicles, is called "The Silken Road to Samarkand". Jan Kjærstad (born March 6, 1953) is a Norwegian author Kjærstad is a theology graduate from MF Norwegian School of Theology and the Janeen Webb (nee Pemberton is an Australian writer critic and editor working mainly in the field of Science fiction and Fantasy.

• In Leon Uris' novel QBVII, San Francisco is referred to America's Samarkand, a city well-known as a cultural center.

• Samarkand (Maracanda) and its environs are central to the events in Stephen Pressfields historical novel "The Afghan Campaign. Steven Pressfield (born September 1943 in Port of Spain, Trinidad) is an American novelist and author of screenplays principally of Military "

• Samarkand has been cited as an inspiration for the fictional city of Zanarkand from Squaresoft's Final Fantasy X^[11]. was a Japanese Video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. is a Console role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) and the tenth installment in the Final Fantasy series

Non-fiction

• In The Travels of Marco Polo, where Polo records his journey along the Silk Roads, Samarkand is described as a "a very large and splendid city. The Travels of Marco Polo is the usual English title of Marco Polo 's travel book nicknamed Il Milione ( The Million Marco Polo ( September 15 1254 – January 9 1324 at earliest but no later than June 1325 was a Venetian trader and explorer . . " Here also is related the story of Christian church in Samarkand, which miraculously remained standing after a portion of its central supporting column was removed. A column in Structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural

• See No Evil by Robert Baer is an autobiography about the author's experiences working for the CIA, at one point visiting Samarkand while serving in Tajikistan in the early 1990s. See No Evil The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War Against Terrorism is a 2003 memoir by Robert Baer, a former CIA case officer Robert "Bobby" Baer (born July 1 1952 is an author and former case officer at the Central Intelligence Agency. near as long as it used to be several months ago It has been actively summarized and split into sub-articles and there is a dynamic talk page discussion of all Tajikistan (təˈdʒɪkɨstæn or /təˈdʒiːkɨstæn/ Тоҷикистон tɔʤikɪsˈtɔn or, Persian تاجیکستان‎ taajikestaan officially the Republic of

• Robert D. Kaplan's 1996 political travelogue The Ends Of The Earth has him traversing through a number of places in Africa, Europe, and Asia. Robert D Kaplan (born 1953 is an American Journalist, currently an editor for the Atlantic Monthly. In that book, one of the countries is Uzbekistan, and Samarkand is one of the places in Uzbekistan he visits, along with a young translator whose namesake is Ulug Beg. Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi or Ўзбекистон Республикаси is a doubly Ulugh Beg ( Chaghatay / - also Uluğ Bey, Ulugh Bek and Ulug Bek) (c

• Murder in Samarkand by Craig Murray is a book about the UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan's experiences in this role, until he resigned over human rights abused in the country in October 2004. Craig Murray (born October 1958 is a British Political activist, former Ambassador to Uzbekistan and current Rector of the University

Trivia

In Turkey, there is a monthly religious magazine called Semerkand, named after this city because Samarkand has long been a major centre for Islamic scholars. Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation.

Sister cities

These cities were major cities of Greater Khorasan:

• Balkh, Afghanistan
• Merv, Turkmenistan
• Bukhara, Uzbekistan
• Nishapur, Iran

Other sister cities

• Cusco, Peru
• Lahore, Pakistan
• Lviv, Ukraine
• Istanbul, Turkey
• İzmir, Turkey

See also

• Samarkand Airport

References

Photo gallery

A sitting man enjoying the scene of the Registan	Façade of the Bibi-Khanym Mosque	Decorations inside Tilla-Kari Medressa	Decorations inside Gur-e Amir
Colour photograph of a Madrasa taken in Samarkand ca. 1912 by Prokudin-Gorskii.	Fields near Samarkand	Jewish Children with their teacher in Samarkand, before 1915	Prokudin-Gorskii-17. jpg Shah-e Zindah Tombs

External links

• Discover Samarkand
• Samarkand Facts
• The Golden Journey ('Road') to Samarkand
• Samarkand - Silk Road Seattle Project / Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington
• Photos of Samarkand and Uzbekistan
• Murder in Samarkand by Craig Murray
• The history of Samarkand, according to Columbia University's Encyclopedia Iranica
• Samarkand in modern and old photos
• Bukharian Jewish Global Portal -- Jews from Samarkand

there are photographs of bibi khanim (1890) in paul Nadar's book-l'odyssée de paul Nadar au Turkestan-édition du patrimoine

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