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Samarkand

city in southeastern Uzbekistan

19 dated entries naming Samarkand, drawn from 16 separate years between 329 BCE and 1409 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as Maracanda in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

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4th century BC

  • 329 BCEFrom Maracanda, Alexander advances through Cyropolis to the Jaxartes river, the boundary of the Persian Empire. There he breaks the opposition of the Scythian nomads by his use of catapults and, after defeating them in a battle on the north bank of the river, pursues them into the interior. On the site of modern Khujand on the Jaxartes, he founds a city, Alexandria Eschate, "the farthest."source
  • 328 BCESpitamenes raises all Sogdiana in revolt behind him, bringing in the Massagetae, a people of the Scythian confederacy. He besieges the Macedonian garrison in Maracanda. Alexander the Great sends an army under the command of Pharnuches of Lycia which is promptly annihilated with a loss of more than 2,000 infantry and 300 cavalry.source
  • 328 BCEAt Maracanda, Alexander murders Cleitus, one of his most trusted commanders, friend and foster-brother, in a drunken quarrel; but his excessive display of remorse leads the army to pass a decree convicting Cleitus posthumously of treason.source

8th century

  • 705Arab forces gain power in Central Asia, as Qutayba ibn Muslim becomes governor of Khorasan. The region has grown rich from trade with China and Eastern Europe, its merchants dealing in silk, furs, amber, honey, and walrus ivory. During his rule, Qutayba subjugates the mercantile cities of Bukhara and Samarkand (modern Uzbekistan), as well as the Oxus delta area of Khwarezm, south of the Aral Sea.source
  • 712Arab forces under Qutayba ibn Muslim conquer Khwarezm and Samarkand (modern Uzbekistan).source
  • 720Umayyad conquest of Transoxiana: The first Turgesh attack on Muslim-Arabs in Transoxiana leads to the siege and relief of the Umayyad garrison at the fortress of Qasr al-Bahili, near Samarkand (or 721).source
  • 729Siege of Kamarja: A small Arab garrison defends the fortress of Kamarja against the Turgesh for 58 days, ending with a negotiated withdrawal to Samarkand.source
  • 731Battle of the Defile: An Umayyad relief army (28,000 men) is sent to Samarkand (modern Uzbekistan), which is besieged by the Turgesh. The Muslims are ambushed near the Zarafshan Range, at the Tashtakaracha Pass. The battle results in a Pyrrhic victory, with heavy casualties for the Umayyad army, halting Muslim expansion in Central Asia for almost two decades.source
  • 751Battle of Talas: First recorded encounter (and the last) between Arab and Chinese forces. The rulers of Tashkent and Ferghana are both nominal vassals of the Tang Dynasty; the Chinese have intervened on behalf of Ferghana in a conflict between the two; the Abbasid Caliphate, competing with the Chinese for control of Central Asia, has become involved. Arab forces from Samarkand have marched to challenge a Chinese army (30,000 men) under Gao Xianzhi. Gao has had a series of military victories in the region, but his Turkish contingent, Karluk mercenaries, defects. Out of 10,000 Tang troops, only 2,000 manage to return from the Talas River to China. The Arabs triumph, and they will remain the dominant force in Transoxiana for the next 150 years.source

9th century

  • 806Rafi ibn al-Layth, an Arab nobleman, leads a large-scale rebellion against oppressive taxation by the Abbasid governor Ali ibn Isa ibn Mahan. He launches a revolt in Samarkand, which spreads quickly across Khorasan.source
  • 819Ghassan ibn Abbad, the Abbasid governor of Khorasan rewards the Samanid brothers, Nuh, Ahmad, Yahya and ilyas for their aid against the rebel Rafi ibn al-Layth, rewarding them each important cities and territories, respectively Samarkand, Farghana, Tashkent and Herat, to govern under Abbasid suzerainty. This becomes the basis for the formation of the Samanid dynasty which will rule Khorasan for a century.source

13th century

  • 1220Spring – The Mongol army (some 100,000 men) led by Genghis Khan crosses the Kyzylkum Desert – a freezing sand-and-tussock wilderness of some 450 kilometers – towards Bukhara. Meanwhile, Muhammad II, ruler of the Khwarazmian Empire, prepares a strong defense around his capital Samarkand. In February, Genghis approaches Bukhara, which is defended by a garrison of some 20,000 men, and begins the Siege of Bukhara. The city leaders open the gates to the Mongols, but Turkish forces who defend the city's citadel hold out for another twelve days. In a speech at the city's Friday Mosque, Genghis declares "I am the punishment of God."source

14th century

  • 1368Timur ascends the throne of Samarkand (in modern-day Uzbekistan).source
  • 1369Timur names the city of Samarkand as the capital of his empire.source

15th century

  • 1403The Gur-e Amir Mausoleum is built in Samarkand by Timur, after the death of his grandson Muhammad Sultan, and eventually becomes the family mausoleum of the Timurid dynasty.source
  • 1403May 21 – Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, an ambassador from the king of Castile to Timur, leaves Cadiz; he arrives in Samarkand over a year later.source
  • 1405March 18 – News reaches the Timurid Empire that Timur has died, and a period of mourning begins as he is interred at the Gur-e-Amir mausoleum in Samarkand, now in the Republic of Uzbekistan.source
  • 1409Ulugh Beg becomes governor of Samarkand.source
  • 1409May 13 – The Timurid War of Succession comes to an end as Khalil Sultan surrenders Samarkand to Shah Rukh, ruler of the Timurid Empire since 1405. Shah Rukh installs his son Ulugh Beg as Governor of Transoxiana. Shah Rukh then appoints Khalil as Governor of Shahr-e Rey in modern-day Iran.source

Named in the same entries