Samarkand
(Samarqand or Самарқанд in
Uzbek) (population 400,000) is the second-largest city in
Uzbekistan, capital of the Samarkand region (
Samarqand_Wiloyati).
''Gur-i Mir Mausoleum''
History
The city of Samarkand was founded prior to the
3rd millennium BCE.
Lying on the trade routes (
silk_road) between
China and the
Middle_East, Samarkand prospered. At times in its history Samarkand has been the greatest city of
Central_Asia.
Alexander_the_Great captured the town in
329_BC (see
Afrasiab,
Sogdiana).
Under
Arab rule (from the
7th_century CE), the city flourished as a trade center until the devastation of the city by the
Mongols led by
Genghis_Khan (
1220).
Timur (Tamerlane) (
1336 -
1405) was born at
Kesh, situated some 50 miles south of Samarkand. Upon taking power as a chieftain, Timur rebuilt the city to its former glory. Samarkand became the capital of his empire, which extended from
India to
Turkey. In 1404 Timur ordered the mausoleum called ''Guri-Emir'' ("Tomb of the Emir") for his beloved grandson, Mukhammad Sultan. The mausoleum became the burial site of the
Timurid dynasty
Ulugh_Beg, grandson of Timur, became the shah's governor in Samarkand in
1409 and ruled the country for 40 years. In Samarkand Ulugbek created a scientific school, which united outstanding astronomers and mathematicians. At Ulugbek's observatory (built 1428 1429) there was a gigantic but precisely made marble sextant there, with a radius of 40.212 meters. The length of the arc is 63 meters.
In
1868, the city came under
Russian rule, and it became the capital of the
Uzbek_SSR in
1925 before being replaced by
Tashkent.
Sights
The vast central Registan forms perhaps the most magnificent sight in Samarkand. The Registan is bounded on three sides by spectacular buildings, the Madrassa Ulugbek (1417 - 1420), Sher Dor (1619 - 1636), Tilla Kari (1647 - 1660).
Shahi-Zinda, a series of tombs mostly belonging to Timur and Ulughbek's family and to a cousin of the prophet Muhammad.
The Biblical prophet Daniel's tomb lies in the city, with remains carried there from his original burial place. The tomb has a length of roughly 70 feet, because the scientists who had measured the body length before and after the journey found that the body had grown; they assumed that this process would continue.
''Registan''
The main bazaar around the Bibi-Khanym Mosque.
The city also contains numerous former mosques and madrassas.
Samarkand in literature
Samarkand can appear as an archetype of romantic exoticism, notably in the work by James_Elroy_Flecker: ''The Golden Journey to Samarkand''.
''Samarcande'' is the title of a novel by Amin_Maalouf.
External link
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Copyright (c) 2004
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2
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