28 Facts About Samarkand

Today, Samarkand is the capital of Samarqand Region and a district-level city, that includes the urban-type settlements Kimyogarlar, Farxod and Xishrav.

From its earliest days, Samarkand was one of the main centres of Sogdian civilization.

Samarkand was the major exception to this policy: Qutayba established an Arab garrison and Arab governmental administration in the city, its Zoroastrian fire temples were razed, and a mosque was built.

Samarkand's name is associated with the construction of a multi-kilometer defensive wall around the city and the palace.

Abbasid control of Samarkand soon dissipated and was replaced with that of the Samanids, though the Samanids were still nominal vassals of the Caliph during their control of Samarkand.

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Samarkand suffered at least one other Mongol sack by Khan Baraq to get treasure he needed to pay an army.

Timur gained a reputation as a patron of the arts, and Samarkand grew to become the centre of the region of Transoxiana.

Under Ulugbek Samarkand became one of the world centers of medieval science.

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.

From 1599 to 1756, Samarkand was ruled by the Ashtrakhanid branch of the Khanate of Bukhara.

Samarkand was the capital of the Uzbek SSR from 1925 to 1930, before being replaced by Tashkent.

Samarkand has a Mediterranean climate that closely borders on a semi-arid climate with hot, dry summers and relatively wet, variable winters that alternate periods of warm weather with periods of cold weather.

Samarkand is home to large ethnic communities of "Iranis", Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Armenians, Azeris, Tatars, Koreans, Poles, and Germans, all of whom live primarily in the centre and western neighborhoods of the city.

In eastern Samarkand there was once a large mahallah of Bukharian Jews, but starting in the 1970s, hundreds of thousands of Jews left Uzbekistan for Israel, United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe.

Also in the eastern part of Samarkand there are several quarters where Central Asian "Gypsies" live.

De facto, the most common native language in Samarkand is Tajik, which is a dialect or variant of the Persian language.

Samarkand was one of the cities in which the Persian language developed.

Only one newspaper in Samarkand is published in Tajik, in the Cyrillic Tajik alphabet: "Ovozi Samarqand" .

Samarkand is home to the Shrine of Imam Maturidi, the founder of Maturidism and the Mausoleum of the Prophet Daniel, who is revered in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.

Every year, the Shiites of Samarkand celebrate Ashura, as well as other memorable Shiite dates and holidays.

Shiites in Samarkand are mostly Samarqandian Iranians, who call themselves Irani.

The majority of the population were then Zoroastrians, but since Samarkand was the crossroads of trade routes among China, Persia, and Europe, it was religiously tolerant.

Samarkand is the center of the Samarkand branch of the Uzbekistan and Tashkent eparchy of the Central Asian Metropolitan District of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Samarkand has several thousand Protestants, including Lutherans, Baptists, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Adventists, and members of the Korean Presbyterian church.

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Samarkand boasted two major gardens, the New Garden and the Garden of Heart's Delight, which became the central areas of entertainment for ambassadors and important guests.

Finally, Samarkand has the so-called "Marshrutka, " which are Daewoo Damas and GAZelle minibuses.

Nonetheless, Samarkand remained one of the largest and most important stations of the Uzbekistan SSR and Soviet Central Asia.