Samarkand

City in eastern Uzbekistan, capital of Samarkand wiloyat (region), near the River Zerafshan, 217 km/135 mi east of Bukhara; population (1999 est) 362,300. Industries include cotton-ginning, silk manufacture, production of foodstuffs, and engineering, especially the manufacture of tractor and motor car components. Samarkand is one of the oldest cities in Central Asia, dating from the 3rd or 4th millennium BC. The Registan - a collection of mosques, courtyards and former Muslim theological seminaries (‘madrasahs’) - forms the centrepiece of the historic town. A university, established in 1933, is situated here and there are also colleges specializing in agriculture, medicine, architecture and commerce.

As Maracanda, the capital of Sogdiana (part of the Persian Empire), Samarkand was destroyed by Alexander the Great in 329 BC. From the 8th century, following Arab conquest and settlement, it became a centre of Islamic culture, but was destroyed by Genghis Khan in 1220. It was the capital of the empire of Tamerlane, the 14th-century Mongol ruler, who is buried here, and was once a major city on the Silk Road. Tamerlane had many fine examples of architecture built, including the observatory of Ulug Beg, and the Bibi-Khanym mosque.

Thereafter, the city belonged to the Uzbeks and the Bukhara emirate; its importance declined and it became largely deserted in the 18th century. Samarkand was occupied by the Russians in 1868; it remained a centre of Muslim culture until the Russian Revolution.