Shahrisabz is a district-level city in Qashqadaryo Region in southern Uzbekistan . The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) has selected Shakhrisabz as its tourism capital for 2024.
132-565: It is located approximately 80 km south of Samarkand , at an elevation of 622 m. Its population is 140,500 as of 2021. Historically known as Kesh or Kish, Shahrisabz was once a major city of Central Asia and was an important urban center of Sogdiana , a province of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia. It is primarily known today as the birthplace of 14th-century Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur . Formerly known as Kesh or Kish ("heart-pleasing") and tentatively identified with
264-553: A language family of some 30 languages, spoken across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean , to Siberia and Manchuria and through to the Middle East. Some 170 million people have a Turkic language as their native language; an additional 20 million people speak a Turkic language as a second language . The Turkic language with the greatest number of speakers is Turkish proper , or Anatolian Turkish,
396-508: A Turkic language. Some scholars believe they were probably a confederation of various ethnic and linguistic groups. According to a study by Alexander Savelyev and Choongwon Jeong, published in 2020 in the journal Evolutionary Human Sciences by Cambridge University Press, "the predominant part of the Xiongnu population is likely to have spoken Turkic". However, genetic studies found a mixture of western and eastern Eurasian ancestries, suggesting
528-675: A collection of diverse ethnic groups of West , Central , East , and North Asia as well as parts of Europe , who speak Turkic languages . According to historians and linguists, the Proto-Turkic language originated in Central-East Asia, potentially in Altai-Sayan region , Mongolia or Tuva . Initially, Proto-Turkic speakers were potentially both hunter-gatherers and farmers; they later became nomadic pastoralists . Early and medieval Turkic groups exhibited
660-606: A common gene pool , and historical experiences. Some of the most notable modern Turkic ethnic groups include the Altai people , Azerbaijanis , Chuvash people , Gagauz people , Kazakhs , Kyrgyz people , Turkmens , Turkish people , Tuvans , Uyghurs , Uzbeks , and Yakuts . The first known mention of the term Turk ( Old Turkic : 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰 Türük or 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰:𐰜𐰇𐰛 Kök Türük , Chinese : 突厥 , Pinyin : Tūjué < Middle Chinese * tɦut-kyat < * dwət-kuɑt , Old Tibetan : drugu ) applied to only one Turkic group, namely,
792-694: A fruit) 'just fully ripe'; (of a human being) 'in the prime of life, young, and vigorous'". Hakan Aydemir (2022) also contends that Türk originally did not mean "strong, powerful" but "gathered; united, allied, confederated" and was derived from Pre- Proto-Turkic verb * türü "heap up, collect, gather, assemble". The earliest Turkic-speaking peoples identifiable in Chinese sources are the Yenisei Kyrgyz and Xinli , located in South Siberia. Another example of an early Turkic population would be
924-596: A generic name for Inner Asians (whether Turkic- or Mongolic-speaking). Only in modern era do modern historians use Turks to refer to all peoples speaking Turkic languages , differentiated from non-Turkic speakers. According to some researchers (Duan, Xue, Tang, Lung, Onogawa, etc.) the later Ashina tribe descended from the Tiele confederation . The Tiele however were probably one of many early Turkic groups, ancestral to later Turkic populations. However, according to Lee & Kuang (2017), Chinese histories do not describe
1056-508: A large genetic diversity within the Xiongnu. The Turkic-related component may be brought by eastern Eurasian genetic substratum. Using the only extant possibly Xiongnu writings, the rock art of the Yinshan and Helan Mountains , some scholars argue that the older Xiongnu writings are precursors to the earliest known Turkic alphabet, the Orkhon script . Petroglyphs of this region dates from
1188-466: A large number of astronomers and mathematicians of the Islamic world to this madrasah. Under Ulugh Beg, Samarkand became one of the world centers of medieval science. In the first half of the 15th century, a whole scientific school arose around Ulugh Beg, uniting prominent astronomers and mathematicians including Jamshid al-Kashi , Qāḍī Zāda al-Rūmī , and Ali Qushji . Ulugh Beg's main interest in science
1320-513: A lower frequency of the Baikal component (c. 22%) and a lack of the Han-like component, being closer to other Indo-Iranian groups. A subsequent study in 2022 also found that the spread of Turkic-speaking populations into Central Asia happened after the spread of Indo-European speakers into the area. Another 2022 study found that all Altaic‐speaking (Turkic, Tungusic, and Mongolic) populations "were
1452-604: A madrasah were established in Samarkand, where medicine was also taught. The memorial complex Shah-i-Zinda was founded by the rulers of the Karakhanid dynasty in the 11th century. The most striking monument of the Qarakhanid era in Samarkand was the palace of Ibrahim ibn Hussein (1178–1202), which was built in the citadel in the 12th century. During the excavations, fragments of monumental painting were discovered. On
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#17327725346411584-553: A member of the KATE (Kesh Archaeological and Topographical Expedition). At that time, these three hills were identified as a citadel, the actual city, and the temple of Nautaka. The citadel of the city measures 270x74 meters and is located in the northern part on a high, rugged bank of the Shurabsay River. As a result of archaeological work at the site, four construction horizons have been identified. The oldest cultural layers of
1716-575: A mixture of dominant Siberian Neolithic ancestry and non-negligible YRB ancestry", suggesting their origins were somewhere in Northeast Asia, most likely the Amur river basin . Except Eastern and Southern Mongolic-speakers, all "possessed a high proportion of West Eurasian-related ancestry, in accordance with the linguistically documented language borrowing in Turkic languages". A 2023 study analyzed
1848-820: A possible source for this folk etymology, yet Golden thinks this connection requires more data. It is generally accepted that the name Türk is ultimately derived from the Old-Turkic migration-term 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰 Türük / Törük , which means 'created, born' or 'strong'. Turkologist Peter B. Golden agrees that the term Turk has roots in Old Turkic , yet is not convinced by attempts to link Dili , Dingling , Chile , Tele , and Tiele , which possibly transcribed * tegrek (probably meaning ' cart '), to Tujue , which transliterated to Türküt . Scholars, including Toru Haneda, Onogawa Hidemi, and Geng Shimin believed that Di , Dili , Dingling , Chile and Tujue all came from
1980-619: A powerful faction of northern China. They created two other dynasties, including the Later Jin and Later Han and Northern Han (Later Han and Northern Han were ruled by the same family, with the latter being a rump state of the former). The Shatuo Liu Zhiyuan was a Buddhist and he worshipped the Mengshan Giant Buddha in 945. The Shatuo dynasties were replaced by the Han Chinese Song dynasty . The Shatuo became
2112-507: A result of these excavations at Sangirtepa, a unique Zoroastrian temple was uncovered, featuring a hall in the center, an altar, and auxiliary rooms. The temple is one of the oldest religious structures in Central Asia . The city's economy is primarily focused on the processing of agricultural raw materials, including cotton cleaning and canning, among other activities. Additionally, traditional and cottage industries are well-developed in
2244-527: A shared "Neolithic Hongshan ancestry", but in contrary primary Ancient Northeast Asian (ANA) Neolithic ancestry from the Amur region , supporting an origin from Northeast Asia rather than Manchuria. Around 2,200 BC, the (agricultural) ancestors of the Turkic peoples probably migrated westwards into Mongolia , where they adopted a pastoral lifestyle, in part borrowed from Iranian peoples . Given nomadic peoples such as Xiongnu , Rouran and Xianbei share underlying genetic ancestry "that falls into or close to
2376-596: A significant portion of the Uyghur population abandoned their nomadic lifestyle for a sedentary one. The Uyghur Khaganate produced extensive literature, and a relatively high number of its inhabitants were literate. The official state religion of the early Uyghur Khaganate was Manichaeism , which was introduced through the conversion of Bögü Qaghan by the Sogdians after the An Lushan rebellion . The Uyghur Khaganate
2508-595: A single stone casket, on which inscriptions indicate that it was intended for Timur. However, the conqueror was buried in Samarkand, not at Shahrisabz, and mysteriously, his tomb in Shahrisabz contained two unidentified corpses. Also of interest are medieval baths and an 18th-century bazaar . To the north of the small village of Kumyrtepa in the Kitab District of the Kashkadarya Region , along
2640-463: A syncretic religion. The Göktürks were the first Turkic people to write Old Turkic in a runic script, the Orkhon script . The Khaganate was also the first state known as "Turk". It eventually collapsed due to a series of dynastic conflicts, but many states and peoples later used the name "Turk". The Göktürks ( First Turkic Kaganate ) quickly spread west to the Caspian Sea. Between 581 and 603
2772-660: A verse praising the madrasah. Zayn ad-din Vasifi, who visited the Sheibani-khan madrasah several years later, wrote in his memoirs that the veranda, hall and courtyard of the madrassah are spacious and magnificent. Abdulatif Khan, the son of Mirzo Ulugbek's grandson Kuchkunji Khan, who ruled in Samarkand from 1540 to 1551, was considered an expert in the history of Maverannahr and the Shibanid dynasty. He patronized poets and scientists. Abdulatif Khan himself wrote poetry under
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#17327725346412904-560: A wide range of both East Asian and West-Eurasian physical appearances and genetic origins, in part through long-term contact with neighboring peoples such as Iranic , Mongolic , Tocharian , Uralic and Yeniseian peoples. Many vastly differing ethnic groups have throughout history become part of the Turkic peoples through language shift , acculturation , conquest , intermixing , adoption , and religious conversion . Nevertheless, Turkic peoples share, to varying degrees, non-linguistic characteristics like cultural traits, ancestry from
3036-469: Is a Polish military cemetery in the city. Kesh was the birthplace of Timur in 1336, to the family of a minor local Barlas chief, and during the early years of the Timurid dynasty , the city enjoyed his considerable patronage. Timur regarded Kesh as his “home town” and planned it eventually to be the location of his tomb. However, during his reign, the center of activity shifted to Samarkand instead. In
3168-460: Is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central Asia . Samarkand is the capital of Samarqand Region and a district-level city, that includes the urban-type settlements Kimyogarlar , Farhod and Khishrav . With 551,700 inhabitants (2021), it is the third-largest city in Uzbekistan . There is evidence of human activity in the area of
3300-529: Is another mausoleum complex called Dorus-Saodat (Seat of Power and Might), which contains the Tomb of Jehangir, Timur's eldest and favorite son. The adjacent mosque is said to house the tomb of a revered 8th century imam Amir Kulal . Behind the Hazrat-i Imam Emsemble is a bunker with a door leading to an underground chamber, discovered by archaeologists in 1943. The room is nearly filled with
3432-551: 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 to the 8th–7th centuries BC. Archaeological excavations conducted within the city limits (Syob and midtown) as well as suburban areas (Hojamazgil, Sazag'on) unearthed 40,000-year-old evidence of human activity, dating back to
3564-650: Is to be associated with the Xinglongwa culture and the succeeding Hongshan culture , based on varying degrees of specific East Asian genetic substratum among modern Turkic speakers. According to historians, "the Proto-Turkic subsistence strategy included an agricultural component, a tradition that ultimately went back to the origin of millet agriculture in Northeast China". This view is however questioned by other geneticists, who found no evidence for
3696-840: The Tongdian , they were "mixed barbarians" ( 雜胡 ; záhú ) who migrated from Pingliang (now in modern Gansu province , China ) to the Rourans seeking inclusion in their confederacy and protection from the prevailing dynasty. Alternatively, according to the Book of Zhou , History of the Northern Dynasties , and New Book of Tang , the Ashina clan was a component of the Xiongnu confederation. Göktürks were also posited as having originated from an obscure Suo state (索國), north of
3828-604: The 9th millennium BCE to the 19th century, and consists mainly of engraved signs (petroglyphs) and few painted images. Excavations done during 1924–1925 in Noin-Ula kurgans located in the Selenga River in the northern Mongolian hills north of Ulaanbaatar produced objects with over 20 carved characters, which were either identical or very similar to the runic letters of the Turkic Orkhon script discovered in
3960-683: The Achaemenid dynasty of Persia, the city had become the capital of the Sogdian satrapy . Alexander the Great conquered Samarkand in 329 BC. The city was known as Maracanda (Μαράκανδα) 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,
4092-473: The Caucasus , China, and northern Iraq. The Turkic language family was traditionally considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family . Howeover since the 1950s, a majority of linguists have rejected the proposal, after supposed cognates were found not to be valid, hypothesized sound shifts were not found, and Turkic and Mongolic languages were found to be converging rather than diverging over
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4224-815: The Chagatai Khanate (one of four Mongol successor realms) until 1370. The Travels of Marco Polo , where Polo records his journey along the Silk Road in the late 13th century, describes Samarkand as "a very large and splendid city..." The Yenisei area had a community of weavers of Chinese origin , and Samarkand and Outer Mongolia both had artisans of Chinese origin, as reported by Changchun . After Genghis Khan conquered Central Asia, foreigners were chosen as governmental administrators; Chinese and Qara-Khitays (Khitans) were appointed as co-managers of gardens and fields in Samarkand, which Muslims were not permitted to manage on their own. The khanate allowed
4356-708: The Dingling . In Late Antiquity itself, as well as in and the Middle Ages , the name "Scythians" was used in Greco-Roman and Byzantine literature for various groups of nomadic " barbarians " living on the Pontic-Caspian Steppe who were not related to the actual Scythians. Medieval European chroniclers subsumed various Turkic peoples of the Eurasian steppe as "Scythians". Between 400 CE and
4488-618: The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period starting with Later Tang. The Shatuo chief Zhuye Chixin's family was adopted by the Tang dynasty and given the title prince of Jin and the Tang dynasty imperial surname of Li, which is why the Shatuo of Later Tang claimed to be restoring the Tang dynasty and not founding a new one. The official language of these dynasties was Chinese and they used Chinese titles and names. Some Shaotuo Turk emperors (of
4620-529: The Göktürks , who were also mentioned, as türüg ~ török , in the 6th-century Khüis Tolgoi inscription , most likely not later than 587 AD. A letter by Ishbara Qaghan to Emperor Wen of Sui in 585 described him as "the Great Turk Khan". The Bugut (584 CE) and Orkhon inscriptions (735 CE) use the terms Türküt , Türk and Türük . During the first century CE, Pomponius Mela refers to
4752-780: The Jin in the Spring and Autumn period . Historically they were established after the 6th century BCE. The Tiele were first mentioned in Chinese literature from the 6th to 8th centuries. Some scholars (Haneda, Onogawa, Geng, etc.) proposed that Tiele , Dili , Dingling , Chile , Tele , & Tujue all transliterated underlying Türk ; however, Golden proposed that Dili , Dingling , Chile , Tele , & Tiele transliterated Tegrek while Tujue transliterated Türküt , plural of Türk . The appellation Türük ( Old Turkic : 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰) ~ Türk (OT: 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰚) (whence Middle Chinese 突厥 * dwət-kuɑt > * tɦut-kyat > standard Chinese : Tūjué )
4884-594: The Khalaj people , who in the Early Middle Ages lived in Tokharistan – the modern territories of southern Uzbekistan , Tajikistan and northern Afghanistan . The Turks of Central Asia worshiped the following deities: Tengri (sky), Umai (Mother Goddess), Yer-sub (Earth-Water) and Erklig (Lord of Hell), among which Tengri held the predominant position. Tengri was the most important. Kesh was conquered by
5016-908: The Ongud Turks living in Inner Mongolia after the Song dynasty conquered the last Shatuo dynasty of Northern Han. The Ongud assimilated to the Mongols. The Yenisei Kyrgyz allied with China to destroy the Uyghur Khaganate in the year 840 AD. From the Yenisei River , the Kyrgyz pushed south and eastward in to Xinjiang and the Orkhon Valley in central Mongolia, leaving much of the Uyghur civilization in ruins. Much of
5148-628: The Orkhon Valley . The earliest certain mentioning of the politonym "Turk" was in the Chinese Book of Zhou . In the 540s AD, this text mentions that the Turks came to China's border seeking silk goods and a trade relationship. A Sogdian diplomat represented China in a series of embassies between the Western Wei dynasty and the Turks in the years 545 and 546. According to the Book of Sui and
5280-453: The Samanid dynasty, urban life gradually moved to the southwest of old Kesh, the site of the large village of Barknon. In 1038, Ibrahim ibn Nasr, who also was known as Böritigin , son of the conqueror of Transoxiana , captured Chaghaniyan , from where he invaded central Transoxiana. In 1040 he conquered Kesh. By the 10th century, the Karakhanid state had a literary language that continued
5412-660: The Soviet Union , a number of Samarkand's citizens were sent to Smolensk to fight the enemy . Many were taken captive or killed by the Nazis . Additionally, thousands of refugees from the occupied western regions of the USSR fled to the city, and it served as one of the main hubs for the fleeing civilians in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union as a whole. European study of
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5544-506: The Tafsir , a commentary on the Quran , was translated into the turkic language. The 11th century scholar Mahmud Kashgari laid the foundations of turkic linguistics. He lists the names of many turkic tribes of Central Asia . One of the famous scholars was the historian Majid al-Din al-Surhakati, who wrote "History of Turkestan", which outlined the history of the Karakhanid dynasty. During
5676-593: 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 . 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
5808-419: The Timurid Empire , made Samarkand his capital. Timur used various tools for legitimisation, including urban planning in his capital, Samarkand. Over the next 35 years, he rebuilt most of the city and populated it with great artisans and craftsmen from across the empire. Timur gained a reputation as a patron of the arts, and Samarkand grew to become the centre of the region of Transoxiana . Timur's commitment to
5940-585: The Turcae in the forests north of the Sea of Azov , and Pliny the Elder lists the Tyrcae among the people of the same area. However, English archaeologist Ellis Minns contended that Tyrcae Τῦρκαι is "a false correction" for Iyrcae Ἱύρκαι, a people who dwelt beyond the Thyssagetae , according to Herodotus ( Histories , iv. 22), and were likely Ugric ancestors of Magyars . There are references to certain groups in antiquity whose names might have been foreign transcriptions of Tür(ü)k , such as Togarma , Turukha / Turuška , Turukku and so on; but
6072-410: The Upper Paleolithic . A group of Mesolithic (12th–7th millennia BC) 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 (early Iron Age ). From its earliest days, Samarkand was one of the main centres of Sogdian civilization. By the time of
6204-434: The Western Turkic Khaganate in Kazakhstan separated from the Eastern Turkic Khaganate in Mongolia and Manchuria during a civil war. The Han-Chinese successfully overthrew the Eastern Turks in 630 and created a military Protectorate until 682. After that time the Second Turkic Khaganate ruled large parts of the former Göktürk area. After several wars between Turks, Chinese and Tibetans, the weakened Second Turkic Khaganate
6336-552: The "western Eurasian origin and multiple origin hypotheses". However, they also noted that "Central Steppe and early Medieval Türk exhibited a high but variable degree of West Eurasian ancestry, indicating there was a genetic substructure of the Türkic empire." The early medieval Türk samples were modelled as having 37.8% West Eurasian ancestry and 62.2% Ancient Northeast Asian ancestry and historic Central Steppe Türk samples were also an admixture of West Eurasian and Ancient Northeast Asian ancestry, while historic Karakhanid, Kipchak and
6468-530: The 13th century; in the 14th century, Islam became the official religion under Uzbeg Khan where the general population (Turks) as well as the aristocracy (Mongols) came to speak the Kipchak language and were collectively known as " Tatars " by Russians and Westerners. This country was also known as the Kipchak Khanate and covered most of what is today Ukraine , as well as the entirety of modern-day southern and eastern Russia (the European section). The Golden Horde disintegrated into several khanates and hordes in
6600-421: The 15th and 16th century including the Crimean Khanate , Khanate of Kazan , and Kazakh Khanate (among others), which were one by one conquered and annexed by the Russian Empire in the 16th through 19th centuries. In Siberia, the Siberian Khanate was established in the 1490s by fleeing Tatar aristocrats of the disintegrating Golden Horde who established Islam as the official religion in western Siberia over
6732-432: The 16th century, Byzantine sources use the name Σκύθαι ( Skuthai ) in reference to twelve different Turkic peoples. In the modern Turkish language as used in the Republic of Turkey, a distinction is made between "Turks" and the "Turkic peoples" in loosely speaking: the term Türk corresponds specifically to the "Turkish-speaking" people (in this context, "Turkish-speaking" is considered the same as "Turkic-speaking"), while
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#17327725346416864-455: 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. The armies of the Umayyad Caliphate under Qutayba ibn Muslim captured the city from the Tang dynasty c. 710 CE. During this period, Samarkand
6996-410: 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. After the Hephtalites ("White Huns") 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
7128-450: The 5th century. Samarkand was conquered by the Persian Sassanians c. 260 AD. Under Sassanian rule, the region became an essential site for Manichaeism and facilitated the dissemination of the religion throughout Central Asia. 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
7260-453: The 5th–16th centuries, partially overlapping with the Mongol Empire period. Based on single-path IBD tracts, the common Turkic ancestral population lived prior to these migration events, and likely stem from a similar source population as Mongolic peoples further East. Historical data suggests that the Mongol Empire period acted as secondary force of "turkification", as the Mongol conquest "did not involve massive re-settlements of Mongols over
7392-431: The 8th century, and the alphabets were generally replaced by the Old Uyghur alphabet in the East and Central Asia , Arabic script in the Middle and Western Asia, Cyrillic in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans, and Latin alphabet in Central Europe. The latest recorded use of Turkic alphabet was recorded in Central Europe's Hungary in 1699 CE. The Turkic runiform scripts, unlike other typologically close scripts of
7524-408: The Arabs in the 8th century. During the Arab invasion, the Kashkadarya Valley and especially Kesh was the epicenter of an anti-Arab and anti-Islamic liberation movement led by Al-Muqanna , known in history as the "Revolt of the Men in White Clothes". The resistance eventually led to the decline of the capital city. Around 701–704, there were battles between Turks and Arabs at Nessef and Kesh. During
7656-421: The Ashina and the Göktürks as descending from the Dingling or the Tiele confederation. It has even been suggested that the Xiongnu themselves, who were mentioned in Han dynasty records, were Proto-Turkic speakers. The Turks may ultimately have been of Xiongnu descent. Although little is known for certain about the Xiongnu language(s), it seems likely that at least a considerable part of Xiongnu tribes spoke
7788-427: The DNA of Empress Ashina (568–578 AD), a Royal Göktürk, whose remains were recovered from a mausoleum in Xianyang , China . The authors determined that Empress Ashina belonged to the North-East Asian mtDNA haplogroup F1d , and that approximately 96-98% of her autosomal ancestry was of Ancient Northeast Asian origin, while roughly 2-4% was of West Eurasian origin, indicating ancient admixture. This study weakened
7920-530: The First Turkic Khaganate. The original Old Turkic name Kök Türk derives from kök ~ kö:k , "sky, sky-coloured, blue, blue-grey". Unlike its Xiongnu predecessor, the Göktürk Khaganate had its temporary Khagans from the Ashina clan, who were subordinate to a sovereign authority controlled by a council of tribal chiefs. The Khaganate retained elements of its original animistic- shamanistic religion, that later evolved into Tengriism , although it received missionaries of Buddhist monks and practiced
8052-481: The Great's rule, the city was abandoned, and only the acropolis of Padayaktepa continued to be inhabited. A new city emerged on the high right bank of the Aksu River, on the site of the Kalandartepa settlement, within the boundaries of the modern city of Kitab . Remnants of the fortification wall of the city are visible near the village of Kumyrtepa in the form of a low mound measuring more than 650 meters in length and 20 meters in width. At one time, this wall encircled
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#17327725346418184-413: The Kangar union was located in the Ulytau mountains. Among the Pechenegs, the Kangar formed the elite of the Pecheneg tribes. After being defeated by the Kipchaks , Oghuz Turks , and the Khazars , they migrated west and defeated Magyars , and after forming an alliance with the Bulgars , they defeated the Byzantine Army. The Pecheneg state was established by the 11th century and at its peak carried
8316-416: The Later Jin, Later Han and Northern Han) also claimed patrilineal Han Chinese ancestry. After the fall of the Tang dynasty in 907, the Shatuo Turks replaced them and created the Later Tang dynasty in 923. The Shatuo Turks ruled over a large part of northern China, including Beijing . They adopted Chinese names and united Turkic and Chinese traditions. Later Tang fell in 937 but the Shatuo rose to become
8448-667: The Proto-Turkic Urheimat: the southern Altai-Sayan region, and in Southern Siberia , from Lake Baikal to eastern Mongolia . Other studies suggested an early presence of Turkic peoples in Mongolia, or Tuva . A possible genealogical link of the Turkic languages to Mongolic and Tungusic languages, specifically a hypothetical homeland in Manchuria , such as proposed in the Transeurasian hypothesis , by Martine Robbeets , has received support but also criticism, with opponents attributing similarities to long-term contact. The proto-Turkic-speakers may be linked to Neolithic East Asian agricultural societies in Northeastern China , which
8580-400: The Qarakhanids split into two parts, Samarkand became a part of the West Karakhanid Kaganate and from 1040 to 1212 was its capital. The founder of the Western Qarakhanid Kaganate was Ibrahim Tamgach Khan (1040–1068). For the first time, he built a madrasah in Samarkand with state funds and supported the development of culture in the region. During his reign, a public hospital (bemoristan) and
8712-407: 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
8844-418: The Shaybani Khan madrasah dates back to 1504 (it was completely destroyed during the years of Soviet power). Muhammad Salikh wrote that Sheibani Khan built a madrasah in Samarkand to perpetuate the memory of his brother Mahmud Sultan. Fazlallah ibn Ruzbihan in "Mikhmon-namei Bukhara" expresses his admiration for the majestic building of the madrasah, its gilded roof, high hujras, spacious courtyard and quotes
8976-415: The Tang dynasty in fighting against their fellow Turkic people in the Uyghur Khaganate . In 839, when the Uyghur khaganate (Huigu) general Jueluowu (掘羅勿) rose against the rule of then-reigning Zhangxin Khan , he elicited the help from Zhuye Chixin by giving Zhuye 300 horses, and together, they defeated Zhangxin Khan, who then committed suicide, precipitating the subsequent collapse of the Uyghur Khaganate. In
9108-417: The Timurid era. Alexander the Great 's general Ptolemy captured the satrap of Bactria and pretender to the Persian throne, Bessus , at Nautaca thus ending the once great Achaemenid Empire. Alexander the Great chose to spend his winters and met his wife Roxanna in the area around 328–327 BC. Between 567 and 658 AD, rulers of Kesh paid taxes to khagans of Turkic and Western Turkic khaganates. In 710
9240-400: The Turkic Karluk samples had 50.6%-61.1% West Eurasian ancestry and 38.9%–49.4% Iron Age Yellow River farmer ancestry. A 2020 study also found "high genetic heterogeneity and diversity during the Türkic and Uyghur periods" in the early medieval period in Eastern Eurasian Steppe . The earliest separate Turkic peoples, such as the Gekun (鬲昆) and Xinli (薪犁), appeared on the peripheries of
9372-458: The Turkic analogue of kand borrowed from Iranian languages. According to 11th-century scholar Mahmud al-Kashghari , the city was known in Karakhanid as Sämizkänd ( سَمِزْکَنْدْ ), 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. Along with Bukhara , Samarkand
9504-457: The Turkic word Türk , which means 'powerful' and 'strength', and its plural form is Türküt . Even though Gerhard Doerfer supports the proposal that türk means 'strong' in general, Gerard Clauson points out that "the word türk is never used in the generalized sense of 'strong'" and that türk was originally a noun and meant "'the culminating point of maturity' (of a fruit, human being, etc.), but more often used as an [adjective] meaning (of
9636-659: The Uyghur population relocated to the southwest of Mongolia, establishing the Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom in Gansu where their descendants are the modern day Yugurs and Qocho Kingdom in Turpan, Xinjiang. The Kangar Union ( Qanghar Odaghu ) was a Turkic state in the former territory of the Western Turkic Khaganate (the entire present-day state of Kazakhstan , without Zhetysu ). The capital of
9768-749: The Volga region and mixed with local Volga Finns to become the Volga Bulgars in what is today Tatarstan . These Bulgars were conquered by the Mongols following their westward sweep under Ogedei Khan in the 13th century. Other Bulgars settled in Southeastern Europe in the 7th and 8th centuries, and mixed with the Slavic population, adopting what eventually became the Slavic Bulgarian language . Everywhere, Turkic groups mixed with
9900-554: The Xiongnu. The Ashina tribe were famed metalsmiths and were granted land south of the Altai Mountains (金山 Jinshan ), which looked like a helmet , from which they were said to have gotten their name 突厥 ( Tūjué ), the first recorded use of "Turk" as a political name. In the 6th-century, Ashina's power had increased such that they conquered the Tiele on their Rouran overlords' behalf and even overthrew Rourans and established
10032-572: The ancient Nautaca , Shahrisabz is one of Central Asia ’s most ancient cities. It was founded more than 2,700 years ago and formed a part of the Achaemenid Empire or Persia from the 6th to 4th centuries BC. Throughout this period Kesh remained an important urban center of Sogdiana , a major province within the Empire. Documents from the late Achaemenid period speak of the renovation of the city's walls. It has been known as Shahrisabz since
10164-519: The area. Shahrisabz has a Mediterranean climate ( Köppen : Csa ) with chilly winters and very hot, dry summers. Shahrisabz was celebrated in the well-known eponymous song by the Uzbek VIA " Yalla ," with music by Farrukh Zokirov and lyrics by Yevgeny Berezikov. Samarkand Samarkand or Samarqand ( / ˈ s æ m ər k æ n d / SAM -ər-kand ; Uzbek and Tajik : Самарқанд / Samarqand, IPA: [samarˈqand, -ant] )
10296-413: The arts is evident in how, in contrast with the ruthlessness he showed his enemies, he demonstrated mercy toward those with special artistic abilities. The lives of artists, craftsmen, and architects were spared so that they could improve and beautify Timur's capital. Timur was also directly involved in construction projects, and his visions often exceeded the technical abilities of his workers. The city
10428-594: 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
10560-659: The center of Samarkand, built by Shaibani Khan at the beginning of the 16th century. After an assault by the Afshar Shahanshah Nader Shah , the city was abandoned in the early 1720s. From 1599 to 1756, Samarkand was ruled by the Ashtrakhanid branch of the Khanate of Bukhara . From 1756 to 1868, it was ruled by the Manghud Emirs of Bukhara . The revival of the city began during
10692-554: The centuries. Opponents of the theory proposed that the similarities are due to mutual linguistic influences between the groups concerned. The Turkic alphabets are sets of related alphabets with letters (formerly known as runes ), used for writing mostly Turkic languages . Inscriptions in Turkic alphabets were found in Mongolia . Most of the preserved inscriptions were dated to between 8th and 10th centuries CE. The earliest positively dated and read Turkic inscriptions date from
10824-657: The city became part of various successor states in the centuries following Alexander's death, the Seleucid Empire , Greco-Bactrian Kingdom , and Kushan Empire (even though the Kushana themselves originated in Central Asia). 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
10956-475: 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 , and was an important city of the empires of Greater Iran . By
11088-422: 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
11220-528: The city was built after this point, largely west of the old city. In 1886, the city became the capital of the newly formed Samarkand Oblast of Russian Turkestan and regained even more importance when the Trans-Caspian railway reached it in 1888. Samarkand was the capital of the Uzbek SSR from 1925 to 1930, before being replaced by Tashkent . During World War II , after Nazi Germany invaded
11352-634: The city was conquered by the Arabs and following the Mongol conquest of Khwarezmia in the 13th century, the region came under the control of the Barlas tribe, all of whose lineages seem to have been associated with this region. From the 6th to 8th centuries, Kesh was a part of the Turkic and West Turkic Kaganates. In the 8th century the ruler-malik of Khuzar (Kesh) was Turk Subugra. Under Ton-Yabgu-Kagan (618–630)
11484-463: The city's leaders at or about this time. In 1501, Samarkand was finally taken by Muhammad Shaybani from the Uzbek dynasty of Shaybanids , and the city became part of the newly formed “Bukhara Khanate”. Samarkand was chosen as the capital of this state, in which Muhammad Shaybani Khan was crowned. In Samarkand, Muhammad Shaybani Khan ordered to build a large madrasah, where he later took part in scientific and religious disputes. The first dated news about
11616-573: 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
11748-583: The city. A standalone hill, located beyond the city walls, is situated about 650 meters to the southwest of Uzunkyr. It consists of a central hill with dimensions of 84x62 meters and a height of around 8 meters. The surrounding wall encloses an area within 3 hectares. Archaeological excavations have been conducted on this site by the Department of Archaeology at Tashkent State University (now the National University of Uzbekistan ) since 1983. As
11880-630: The conquered territories. Instead, the Mongol war machine was progressively augmented by various Turkic tribes as they expanded, and in this way Turkic peoples eventually reinforced their expansion over the Eurasian steppe and beyond." A 2018 autosomal single-nucleotide polymorphism study suggested that the Eurasian Steppe slowly transitioned from Indo European and Iranian -speaking groups with largely western Eurasian ancestry to increasing East Asian ancestry with Turkic and Mongolian groups in
12012-555: 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 . Many inhabitants of the city are native or bilingual speakers of
12144-526: The eastern wall, a Turkic warrior was depicted, dressed in a yellow caftan and holding a bow. Horses, hunting dogs, birds and periodlike women were also depicted here. The Mongols conquered Samarkand in 1220. Juvayni writes that Genghis killed all who took refuge in the citadel and the mosque, pillaged the city completely, and conscripted 30,000 young men along with 30,000 craftsmen. Samarkand suffered at least one other Mongol sack by Khan Baraq to get treasure he needed to pay an army. It remained part of
12276-466: The entire city, covering an area of more than 70 hectares. The original wall of the settlement was constructed from adobe-like raw bricks dating back to the 10th-9th centuries BCE, which were characteristic of ancient cities in Sogd, such as Koktepa , and Kesh. Later, during the rule of the Achaemenid , Seleucid , and Greco-Bactrian kingdoms , extensive repairs were carried out on the fortification walls of
12408-595: The entry of the Ak-Saray are big letters saying: "If you challenge our power – look at our buildings!" A Friday mosque built in 1437 by Ulugh Beg in honor of his father Shah Rukh , its name meaning “Blue Dome”. Located immediately behind the Kok Gumbaz Mosque is the so-called “House of Meditation”, a mausoleum built by Ulugh Beg in 1438 but apparently never used for burials. East of the Kok Gumbaz
12540-691: The era of Timur, masterpieces of world architecture were built: the Ak-Saray palace, the Dorusiodat memorial complex. The city struggled for autonomy under Bukharan rule and the Russians helped the Bukharan emir conquering the city in 1870. Several remaining impressive monuments from the Timurid dynasty have enabled the old part of the city to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List . However, destruction of vast areas of
12672-403: The establishment of Christian bishoprics (see below). Ibn Battuta , who visited in 1333, called Samarkand "one of the greatest and finest of cities, and most perfect of them in beauty." He also noted that the orchards were supplied water via norias . In 1365, a revolt against Chagatai Mongol control occurred in Samarkand. In 1370, the conqueror Timur (Tamerlane), the founder and ruler of
12804-571: 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. Abbasid control of Samarkand soon dissipated and was replaced with that of the Samanids (875–999), though the Samanids were still nominal vassals of the Caliph during their control of Samarkand. Under Samanid rule the city became a capital of
12936-560: The history of Samarkand began after the conquest of Samarkand by the Russian Empire in 1868. The first studies of the history of Samarkand belong to N. Veselovsky, V. Bartold and V. Vyatkin. In the Soviet period, the generalization of materials on the history of Samarkand was reflected in the two-volume History of Samarqand edited by the academician of Uzbekistan Ibrohim Moʻminov . Turkic peoples The Turkic peoples are
13068-471: The information gap is so substantial that any connection of these ancient people to the modern Turks is not possible. The Chinese Book of Zhou (7th century) presents an etymology of the name Turk as derived from 'helmet', explaining that this name comes from the shape of a mountain where they worked in the Altai Mountains . Hungarian scholar András Róna-Tas (1991) pointed to a Khotanese-Saka word, tturakä 'lid', semantically stretchable to 'helmet', as
13200-602: The late Xiongnu confederation about 200 BCE (contemporaneous with the Chinese Han dynasty ) and later among the Turkic-speaking Tiele as Hegu (紇骨) and Xue (薛). The Tiele (also known as Gaoche 高車, lit. "High Carts"), may be related to the Xiongnu and the Dingling . According to the Book of Wei , the Tiele people were the remnants of the Chidi (赤狄), the red Di people competing with
13332-595: The left bank of the small, low-water Shurabsay River, which originates from the Zarafshan Mountains , there are three hills of varying configurations running from north to south. Together, they constitute three parts of the ancient capital city of Nautaka (Padayaktepa, Uzunkyr, and Sangirtepa). In the mid-1980s, archaeological sites in the Shurabsay micro-oasis, which are scattered within 5 kilometers of each other, were first surveyed by N.I. Krasheninnikova,
13464-552: The literary pseudonym Khush. During the reign of the Ashtarkhanid Imam Quli Khan (1611–1642) famous architectural masterpieces were built in Samarkand. In 1612–1656, the governor of Samarkand, Yalangtush Bahadur, built a cathedral mosque, Tillya-Kari madrasah and Sherdor madrasah. Zarafshan Water Bridge is a brick bridge built on the left bank of the Zarafshan River , 7–8 km northeast of
13596-602: The local populations to varying degrees. The Volga Bulgaria became an Islamic state in 922 and influenced the region as it controlled many trade routes. In the 13th century, Mongols invaded Europe and established the Golden Horde in Eastern Europe, western & northern Central Asia, and even western Siberia. The Cuman-Kipchak Confederation and Islamic Volga Bulgaria were absorbed by the Golden Horde in
13728-469: The medieval townscape in 2015 to create a park and tourist facilities have led to concern from UNESCO. It is possible that the listing could be lost. Timur 's Summer Palace , the “White Palace” was planned as the most grandiose of all Timur's constructions. It was started in 1380 by artisans deported by Timur from the recently conquered Khwarezm . Unfortunately, only parts of its gigantic 65 m gate-towers survive, with blue, white and gold mosaics. Above
13860-590: The next few years, when Uyghur Khaganate remnants tried to raid Tang borders, the Shatuo participated extensively in counterattacking the Uyghur Khaganate with other tribes loyal to Tang. In 843, Zhuye Chixin, under the command of the Han Chinese officer Shi Xiong with Tuyuhun, Tangut and Han Chinese troops, participated in a raid against the Uyghur khaganate that led to the slaughter of Uyghur forces at Shahu mountain. The Shatuo Turks had founded several short-lived sinicized dynasties in northern China during
13992-460: The northeast Asian gene pool", the proto-Turkic language likely originated in northeastern Asia. Genetic data found that almost all modern Turkic peoples retained at least some shared ancestry associated with populations in "South Siberia and Mongolia" (SSM), supporting this region as the "Inner Asian Homeland (IAH) of the pioneer carriers of Turkic languages" which subsequently expanded into Central Asia. The main Turkic expansion took place during
14124-428: The partly Islamized native Siberian Tatars and indigenous Uralic peoples. It was the northernmost Islamic state in recorded history and it survived up until 1598 when it was conquered by Russia. The Uyghur Khaganate had established itself by the year 744 AD. Through trade relations established with China, its capital city of Ordu Baliq in central Mongolia's Orkhon Valley became a wealthy center of commerce, and
14256-497: The past 4000 years, including extensive Turkic migrations out of Mongolia and slow assimilation of local populations. A 2022 report suggested that Turkic and Mongolic populations in Central Asia formed via admixture events during the Iron Age between "local Indo-Iranian and a South-Siberian or Mongolian group with a high East-Asian ancestry (around 60%)". Modern day Turkmens form an outlier among Central Asian Turkic-speakers with
14388-491: The power of Turks strengthened in Sogdia . New campaigns to Tokharistan and Afghanistan pushed the borders of the state to northwestern India . Ton-Yabgu Kagan carried out administrative reform and appointed his representatives - tuduns - in the regions, including Sogdia, to monitor and control the collection of tribute. It is assumed that he issued his coins with the inscription "Tun yabgu kagan". An ancient Turkic tribe were
14520-407: 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... [extends] eight days travel through unbroken greenery and gardens... . The greenery of the trees and sown land extends along both sides of
14652-598: The reign of the Karakhanids, the new capital of medieval Kesh was finally formed. During the hegemony of the Khwarazmshahs (early 13th century), Kesh-Shahrisabz was first enclosed by defensive walls. During World War II , in 1942, the 6th Infantry Division of the Polish Anders' Army was stationed and organized in Shahrisabz, before it was evacuated from Uzbekistan to fight against Nazi Germany . There
14784-580: The reign of the founder of the Uzbek dynasty, the Mangyts, Muhammad Rakhim (1756–1758), who became famous for his strong-willed qualities and military art. Muhammad Rakhimbiy made some attempts to revive Samarkand. The city came under imperial Russian rule after the citadel had been taken by a force under Colonel Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufman in 1868. Shortly thereafter the small Russian garrison of 500 men were themselves besieged . The assault, which
14916-546: The river [Sogd]... 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. After the fall of the Samanids state in 999, it was replaced by the Qarakhanid State, where the Turkic Qarakhanid dynasty ruled. After the state of
15048-472: The settlement date back to the 9th to 8th centuries BCE. In one of the excavations in the western part of Padayaktepa, a section of a defensive wall from the Achaemenid and Hellenistic periods can be traced. These walls indicate that the city of Nautaka had an aristocratic section, enclosed by a separate wall - an acropolis, similar to the ancient site of Afrasiab in Samarkand . With the end of Alexander
15180-589: The speakers of which account for about 40% of all Turkic speakers. More than one third of these are ethnic Turks of Turkey , dwelling predominantly in Turkey proper and formerly Ottoman -dominated areas of Southern and Eastern Europe and West Asia ; as well as in Western Europe, Australia and the Americas as a result of immigration. The remainder of the Turkic people are concentrated in Central Asia, Russia,
15312-811: The term Türki refers generally to the people of modern "Turkic Republics" ( Türki Cumhuriyetler or Türk Cumhuriyetleri ). However, the proper usage of the term is based on the linguistic classification in order to avoid any political sense. In short, the term Türki can be used for Türk or vice versa. [REDACTED] Crimea ( disputed by Ukraine and Russia) [REDACTED] Sunan Yugur Autonomous County [REDACTED] Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District (Russian Federation) Possible Proto-Turkic ancestry, at least partial, has been posited for Xiongnu , Huns and Pannonian Avars , as well as Tuoba and Rouran , who were of Proto-Mongolic Donghu ancestry. as well as Tatars , Rourans' supposed descendants. The Turkic languages constitute
15444-672: 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. The city is noted as a centre of Islamic scholarly study and
15576-407: 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
15708-403: The traditions of ancient turkic written texts. The official Karakhanid language of the 10th century was based on the grammatical system of ancient Karluk dialects. The Islamization of the Karakhanids and their turkic subjects played a major role in the cultural development of turkic culture . In the late 10th and early 11th centuries, for the first time in the history of the turkic peoples ,
15840-453: The victory of the uprising, became the governor of Khorasan and Maverannahr (750–755). 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
15972-510: The world, do not have a uniform palaeography as do, for example, the Gothic runiform scripts, noted for their exceptional uniformity of language and paleography. The Turkic alphabets are divided into four groups, the best known of which is the Orkhon version of the Enisei group. The Orkhon script is the alphabet used by the Göktürks from the 8th century to record the Old Turkic language . It
16104-512: 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
16236-460: Was astronomy, and he constructed an observatory in 1428. Its main instrument was the wall quadrant , which was unique in the world. It was known as the "Fakhri Sextant" and had a radius of 40 meters. Seen in the image on the left, the arc was finely constructed with a staircase on either side to provide access for the assistants who performed the measurements. In 1500, nomadic Uzbek warriors took control of Samarkand. The Shaybanids emerged as
16368-634: 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
16500-458: Was in a state of constant construction, and Timur would often order buildings to be done and redone quickly if he was unsatisfied with the results. By his orders, Samarkand could be reached only by roads; deep ditches were dug, and walls 8 km (5 mi) in circumference separated the city from its surrounding neighbors. At this time, the city had a population of about 150,000. Henry III of Castile 's ambassador Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo , who
16632-492: Was initially reserved exclusively for the Göktürks by Chinese, Tibetans, and even the Turkic-speaking Uyghurs . In contrast, medieval Muslim writers, including Turkic speakers like Ottoman historian Mustafa Âlî and explorer Evliya Çelebi as well as Timurid scientist Ulugh Beg , often viewed Inner Asian tribes, "as forming a single entity regardless of their linguistic affiliation" commonly used Turk as
16764-771: Was later used by the Uyghur Empire ; a Yenisei variant is known from 9th-century Kyrgyz inscriptions, and it has likely cousins in the Talas Valley of Turkestan and the Old Hungarian script of the 10th century. Irk Bitig is the only known complete manuscript text written in the Old Turkic script. ( Tokhara Yabghus , Turk Shahis ) The origins of the Turkic peoples has been a topic of much discussion. Peter Benjamin Golden proposes two locations for
16896-654: Was led by Abdul Malik Tura, the rebellious elder son of the Bukharan Emir , as well as Baba Beg of Shahrisabz and Jura Beg of Kitab , was repelled with heavy losses. General Alexander Konstantinovich Abramov became the first Governor of the Military Okrug , which the Russians established along the course of the Zeravshan River with Samarkand as the administrative centre. The Russian section of
17028-426: Was replaced by the Uyghur Khaganate in the year 744. The Bulgars established themselves in between the Caspian and Black Seas in the 5th and 6th centuries, followed by their conquerors, the Khazars who converted to Judaism in the 8th or 9th century. After them came the Pechenegs who created a large confederacy, which was subsequently taken over by the Cumans and the Kipchaks . One group of Bulgars settled in
17160-407: Was stationed at Samarkand between 1403 and 1406, attested to the never-ending construction that went on in the city. "The Mosque which Timur had built seemed to us the noblest of all those we visited in the city of Samarkand." Between 1417 to 1420, Timur's grandson Ulugh Beg built a madrasah in Samarkand, which became the first building in the architectural ensemble of Registan. Ulugh Beg invited
17292-446: 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 Kaganate, Tong Yabghu Qaghan (618–630), family relations were established with the ruler of Samarkand – Tong Yabghu Qaghan gave him his daughter. Some parts of Samarkand have been Christian since
17424-606: Was tolerant of religious diversity and practiced variety of religions including Buddhism, Christianity, shamanism and Manichaeism. During the same time period, the Shatuo Turks emerged as power factor in Northern and Central China and were recognized by the Tang Empire as allied power. In 808, 30,000 Shatuo under Zhuye Jinzhong defected from the Tibetans to Tang China and the Tibetans punished them by killing Zhuye Jinzhong as they were chasing them. The Uyghurs also fought against an alliance of Shatuo and Tibetans at Beshbalik. The Shatuo Turks under Zhuye Chixin ( Li Guochang ) served
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