Samarkand

Samarkand (population 400,000) is a city in Uzbekistan, capital of the Samarkand region (Samarqand Wiloyati).

History: The city of Samarkand was already founded in the third or fourth millennium BCE.

As a city on the trade routes (silk road) between China and the Middle East, Samarkand was captured by Alexander the Great in 329 BC.

Under Arab rule (since the 7th century CE), the city flourished as a trade center until the devastation of the city by Genghis Khan.

Timur (Tamerlane) (1336 - 1405) was born at Kesh situated some 50 miles south of Samarkand.

In 1868, the city came under Russian rule, and it became the capital of the Uzbek SSR in 1925 before being replaced by Tashkent.