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Samarkand

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39°39′15″N 66°57′35″E / 39.65417°N 66.95972°E / 39.65417; 66.95972

Colour photograph of a Madrasa taken in Samarkand ca. 1912 by Prokudin-Gorskii.
Registan is the ensemble of three madrasahs.

Samarkand (Samarqand or Самарқанд in both the Uzbek and Russian languages, in Persian سمرقند) (population 412,300 in 2005) is the third-largest city in Uzbekistan and the capital of Samarqand Province. The city is most noted for its central position on the Asian Silk Road between China and the west.

It is located at latitude 39° 39' 15, longitude 66° 57' 35E, at an altitude of 702 meters. Despite its status as the second city of Uzbekistan, the majority of the city's inhabitants are Tajik-speaking. In 2001, after several abortive attempts, UNESCO inscribed the 2700-year-old city on the World Heritage List as Samarkand - Crossroads of Cultures.

History

A minaret in Samarkand.

Samarkand (Greek: Marakanda) is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, prospering from its location on the (Silk Road) trade route between China and Europe. At times Samarkand has been the greatest city of Central Asia, and for much of its history it has been under Persian rule. Founded circa 700 BCE it was already the capital of the Sogdian satrapy under the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia when Alexander the Great conquered it in 329 BCE (see Afrasiab, Sogdiana). Under Sassanid Empire of Persia, Samarkand flourished and became one of the most important cities of the Persian empire.

From the 6th to 13th centuries 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, Karakhan Turks, Seljuk Turks, Karakitay, and Khorezmshah before being sacked by the Mongols in 1220. 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. The town took many decades to recover from these disasters.

In 1370, Timur the Lame (Tamerlane) decided to make Samarkand the capital of his projected world empire, which extended from India to Turkey. For the next 35 years, he built a new city, populating it with artisans and craftsmen from all of the places he had captured. Timur gained a reputation for wisdom and generosity, and Samarkand grew to become the center of the region of Transoxiana.

His grandson Ulugh Beg ruled the country for 40 years. In Samarkand, Ulugh Beg created a scientific school that united outstanding astronomers and mathematicians. He also ordered the construction of an observatory; it contained a gigantic but precision-made marble sextant with an arc length of 63 meters.

In the 16th century, the Uzbek Shaybanids moved their capital to Bukhara, and Samarkand went into decline. After an assault by the Persian warlord Nadir Shah, the city was abandoned in the 18th century. The Emir of Bukhara forcibly repopulated the town at the end of the 18th century.

In 1868, the city came under Russian rule, when the citadel was stormed by a force under Colonel A.K. Abramov (1836-1886). Shortly thereafter the small Russian garrison of 500 men were themselves besieged. The assault was led by Abdul Malik Tura, the rebellious elder son of the Bukharan Emir, together with the Bek of Shahrisabz, and the attack was beaten off with heavy losses. Abramov, now a general, became the first Governor of the Military Okrug which the Russians established along the course of the River Zeravshan, of which Samarkand was the administrative centre. It 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. It became the capital of the Uzbek SSR in 1925 before being replaced by Tashkent in 1930.

Following the break up of the Soviet Union, the Tajiks, who were then part of the Uzebekistan province, pushed for independence. The Russians supported the Uzbeks over Tajiks and handed over Bukhara and Samarkand, traditionally and linguistically Iranic cities, to Uzbekistan.

Major Sights

File:Tajikestan.JPG
Bibi Khanum mosque, 14th century.

Registan

Main article: Registan

One of the most awesome sights in Central Asia, if not one of the most remarkable in the world, the Registan was the center of medieval Samarkand. It consists of three huge madrassas, forming three sides surrounding a huge square.

  • Ulugh Beg Madrassa on the west was finished in 1420 under Ulugh Beg himself, and contains mosaics with astronomical themes. About 100 students were taught the sciences, astronomy, and philosophy in addition to theology.
  • Sherdar Madrassa on the east was completed in 1636 by the Shaybanid Emir Yalangtush as a mirror image of Ulugh Beg Madrassa, except with decoration of roaring lions, in blatant violation of Islamic rules.
  • Tilla-Kari Madrassa in between was completed in 1660, with a golden decoration and with a pleasant courtyard.

Bibi-Khanym Mosque

Main article: Bibi-Khanym Mosque

Some argue that this gigantic ruined mosque was built by Timur's Mongol wife, Bibi-Khanym, while Timur was away campaigning. They claim that Bibi-Khanym was a niece of Genghis Khan (Which would be difficult, as he died almost two hundred years earlier). According to one of the legends, the architect fell madly in love with her, and refused to complete the job unless she agreed to kiss him. The kiss left a mark, and the outraged Timur ordered both killed, and decreed that thenceforth the women of his empire would wear veils in the Arab style. Alas, romantic hopes are doomed to disappointment. There is no trustworthy source which mentions a wife of Timur who was known by the name 'Bibi-Khanym' (which literally means 'woman-woman' in Persian. Timur's senior wife, a powerful old woman called Saray-mulk-Khanum, in honour of whom the mosque was named, does not call to mind the beautiful heroine of charming fairy tale.

In any event, the mosque, with its main gate over 35 meters tall, is one of the largest and grandiose buildings in Samarkand. It mostly collapsed in an earthquake in 1897, but it has now been heavily restored by the Uzbek Government, obliterating what was left of the original tilework.

Shah-i-Zinda

Main article: Shah-i-Zinda

Perhaps the most beautiful of Samarkand’s sights is the “Tomb of the Living King". The complex is based on the grave of Qusam ibn Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, who brought Islam to this area. His shrine is one of the oldest buildings in Samarkand. According to legend, he is not dead, but only sleeping and his tomb draws thousands of pilgrims. The approach to the tomb is a vast necropolis built on the ruins of the ancient Sogdian city. The major tombs belong to Timur and Ulugh Beg’s extended family and favorites, and are covered in fantastic majolica tile work.

Gur-e Amir Mausoleum

After the death of his grandson Muhammad-Sultan in 1403 Timur ordered the mausoleum built for him. With time, the Gur-e Amir became the family mausoleum of the Timurid dynasty. See main article at Gur-e Amir

Statue of Timur in Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Main Bazaar

Extending around and behind Bibi Khanym Mosque, things have been unchanged for centuries.

The Ruins of Afrasiab

Northeast of the Main Bazaar is the 2.2 sq km archaeological site of ancient Samarkand (Marakanda) or Afrasiab, mostly exposed to the elements. The Afrasiab Museum has some 7th century Sogdian frescos. Of note is the purported tomb of Daniel, the Old Testament prophet.　The restored building is a long, low structure with five domes, containing an immense 18-meter long sarcophagus. According to legend, Daniel’s body grows by half an inch per year, thus the long tomb.

Ulugh Beg Observatory

Ulugh Beg was probably more famous as an astronomer than a ruler. His works on astronomy were known even in Europe. In the 1420s, he built an immense, 3-story tall astrolabe, one of the largest ever constructed, in order to measure the positions of the stars with unprecedented accuracy. The ruins were unearthed in 1908.

State Museum

This crumbling and largely ignored museum contains serious exhibitions on local archaeology, history, and folk crafts.

In fiction

In Jinyong's wuxia novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes, the Mongol conquest is mentioned in the story.

In The Arabian Nights, King Shah Zaman is king of Samarkand.

In The Travels, of Marco Polo, Samarkand is described as a "a very large and splendid city..." 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.

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, around Omar Khayyám's life.

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.

In some futuristic science fiction universes (most notably BattleTech), there is a human-populated world named New Samarkand.

The Nightingale of Samarkand is a character in the Broadway musical Once Upon a Mattress.

Angela Carter's short story The Kiss discusses the legend of Tamburlaine's mosque in Samarkand.

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.

The Amulet of Samarkand is the first book in the Bartimaeus Trilogy written by Jonathan Stroud.

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 city of Zanarkand in the video game Final Fantasy X may be inspired by Samarkand, both in its name and its status as a beacon of civilization.

In Fitzroy MacLean's 'Eastern Approaches'

Non-fiction

Murder in Samarkand by Craig Murray is a book about the UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan's experiences in this role, until he was fired in October 2004.

Thirty Days in the Samarkand Desert with the Duchess of Kent by A E J Eliott, O.B.E.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Samarkand.
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