Samarkand Sq. — Geography & History

When Samarkand first grew to become a method station on the Silk Highway within the 4th century B.C.E., it was known as Maracanda and was the capital of Sogdiana. Sogdiana was a thriving province of Iran and the supply of the treasured stone lapis lazuli, which was traded eastward and westward alongside the Silk Road. Samarkand was conquered in 329 B.C.E. by the armies of Alexander the great and turned part of his expanding and highly effective Macedonian Empire. Not often did traders cross the entire Silk Road; fairly, https://tourbig.ru/ they passed their items alongside to quite a lot of middlemen. Due to their geographic location, specific cities along the Silk Road had been good resting stops and transfer factors of products from one caravan to a different. Samarkand was one such metropolis, and so it was enticing to rulers throughout Central and West Asia who wished to manage the lucrative trade. Following the collapse of Alexander’s Macedonian Empire, the area around Samarkand fell to the Kushans, Sasanian Persians, and Turks, all eager to regulate this area. Within the early 8th century the region was conquered by the Arabs, who made it a center of Islamic culture.

The Samanids mausoleum (IX — X c.c.) is really most historic mausoleum of Central Asia preserved to our time. For its effectively-proportioned look and distinctive brick-work decoration the mausoleum is thought to be a gem of Central Asian structure. The builder — Ismail Samani — and his father are buried in the mausoleum. Some historian would call the interval of Samanids ruling over Mavarounnahr as «Muslim Renaissance».

1. Know Where You are going: This is such an undiscovered land that many individuals do not know what nations are included. Central Asia stretches from the Caspian Sea within the west to China within the east and from the Wakhan Valley within the south to Russia within the north. It is comprised of the 5 Stan republics of the former Soviet Union: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. (Be aware: Some texts embrace Afghanistan as part of Central Asia)