Samarkand is a major city in south-eastern Uzbekistan. Among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central Asia, it had a population of 882,000 inhabitants as of 2026, making it the second-largest city in Uzbekistan after Tashkent. It is the capital of the Samarkand Region and a district-level city that includes the urban-type settlements of Kimyogarlar, Farkhod, and Khishrav. It also served as the initial capital of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic from 1925 until 1930.
There is evidence of human activity in the area of the city dating from the late Paleolithic. Although the exact date of Samarkand's founding remains uncertain, it has been proposed that the city was established between the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Historically, Samarkand has long been one of the principal urban centres of Iranic civilisation in Central Asia and played a major role in the cultural and commercial networks of the Silk Road. It was the central city of the Sogdian civilisation. It was conquered by Alexander the Great in 329 BC; at that time, the city was known as Marakanda. Islam was introduced to the region in the 8th century AD following the Umayyad campaigns. Samarkand was the capital city of the Samanid Empire, under which New Persian gradually replaced Sogdian as the dominant language of the region. In the late 10th century, it became part of the Turkic Karakhanid Khanate. Thereafter, Samarkand was ruled by Turkic or Turko-Mongol dynasties until the Russian annexation in the 19th century, even though the city's culture and literary language remained Persian.
Samarkand prospered from its location on the Silk Road between China, Persia, and Europe. At times, it was one of the largest cities in Central Asia. It was conquered by the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan in 1220, which saw widespread destruction. In the 14th century, Timur made it the capital of the Timurid Empire, and Samarkand became a noted centre of Islamic scholarly study and the birthplace of the Timurid Renaissance. The Timurid and the later Uzbek Khanate of Bukhara periods made the most important architectural contributions to the urban landscape of the city, including the Registan Square, the Gur-i Amir Mausoleum, the Bibi-Khanym Mosque, and the Shah-i-Zinda Necropolis, which are now the iconic symbols of the city, well known for their cobalt and turquoise majolica tilework. In 2001, UNESCO added the city to its World Heritage List as Samarkand – Crossroads of Cultures.
Samarkand has a multicultural and plurilingual identity and history that was significantly modified by the process of national delimitation in Central Asia. A significant part of the city's population consists of bilingual Tajik speakers, whereas Uzbek is the official language and Russian is also widely used in the public sphere, in accordance with the language policy of Uzbekistan.
Modern Samarkand is divided into two parts: the old city, which includes historical monuments, shops, and old private houses; and the new city, which was developed during the days of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union and includes administrative buildings along with cultural centres and educational institutions.
Name
The city was named Marakanda when it was captured by Alexander the Great in 329 BC, a name rendered in Greek as Μαράκανδα.
According to some sources, the present name comes from the Eastern Iranian language Sogdian: samar ('stone, rock') and kand ('fort, town'). In this respect, Samarkand shares the same meaning as the name of the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, with tash- being the Turkic term for 'stone' and -kent the Turkic analogue of kand, borrowed from Iranian languages. This cannot be proven, because the city was given its name long after the Turkification of the Sogdians.
According to more realistic and historical sources, and to the 11th-century scholar Mahmud al-Kashghari, the city was known in Karakhanid Turkic as Sämizkänd or Sämerkänd (سَمِزْکَنْدْ), meaning 'fat city'. The 16th-century Mughal emperor Babur also mentioned the city under this name, and the 15th-century Castilian traveller Ruy González de Clavijo stated that Samarkand was simply a distorted form of it.
Some languages have their own spellings or variations of the name, such as the French 'Samarcande', the Italian and Spanish 'Samarcanda', and the Turkish 'Semerkant'.
History
Early history
Samarkand is one of the oldest inhabited cities in Central Asia, along with Bukhara, prospering from its location on the trade route between China and Europe. There is no direct evidence of when it was founded. Researchers at the Institute of Archaeology of Samarkand date the city's founding to around 700 BC.
Archaeological excavations conducted within the city limits (Syob and midtown), as well as in suburban areas (Hojamazgil and Sazag'on), have unearthed 40,000-year-old evidence of human activity dating back to the Upper Paleolithic. A group of Mesolithic (12th–7th millennia BC) archaeological sites was discovered in the suburbs of Sazag'on-1, Zamichatosh, and Okhalik. The Syob and Darg'om canals, supplying the city and its suburbs with water, appeared around the 7th–5th centuries BC (early Iron Age).
After the Indo-Iranian migrations in the second millennium BC, Samarkand became one of the main centres of the Sogdian civilisation. By the time of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia, the city had become the capital of the Sogdian satrapy.
Hellenistic period
Alexander the Great conquered Samarkand in 329 BC. The city was known as Maracanda (Μαράκανδα) to the Greeks. Written sources offer clues as to the subsequent system of government. They mention one Orepius, who became ruler 'not from ancestors, but as a gift of Alexander'.
While Samarkand suffered significant damage during Alexander's initial conquest, the city recovered rapidly and flourished under the new Hellenic influence. There were also major new construction techniques. Oblong bricks were replaced with square ones, and superior methods of masonry and plastering were introduced.
Alexander's conquests introduced classical Greek culture into Central Asia, and for a time, Greek aesthetics heavily influenced local artisans. This Hellenistic legacy continued as the city became part of various successor states in the centuries following Alexander's death: the Greek Seleucid Empire, Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and Kushan Empire (even though the Yuezhi themselves originated in Central Asia). After the Kushan state lost control of Sogdia during the 3rd century AD, Samarkand went into decline as a centre of economic, cultural, and political power. It did not significantly revive until the 5th century.
Sasanian era
Samarkand was conquered by the Persian Sasanians c. 260 AD. Under Sasanian rule, the region became an essential site for Manichaeism and facilitated the dissemination of the religion throughout Central Asia.
Hephthalites and Turkic Khaganate era
Between AD 350 and 375, Samarkand was conquered by the nomadic tribes of the Xionites, whose origin remains controversial. The settlement of nomadic groups in Samarkand is confirmed by archaeological material from the 4th century. The culture of the nomads from the Middle Syrdarya basin spread in the region. Between 457 and 509, Samarkand was part of the Kidarite state.
After the Hephthalites ('White Huns') conquered Samarkand, they controlled it until the Göktürks, in an alliance with the Sasanian Persians, won it at the Battle of Bukhara, c. 560 AD.
In the middle of the 6th century, a Turkic state was formed in the Altai, founded by the Ashina dynasty. The new state was named the Turkic Khaganate after the Turkic people, who were headed by the ruler—the Khagan. From 557 to 561, the Hephthalite Empire was defeated by the joint actions of the Turks and Sasanians, which led to the establishment of a common border between the two empires.
In the early Middle Ages, Samarkand was surrounded by four rows of defensive walls and had four gates. An ancient Turkic burial with a horse was investigated in the territory of Samarkand. It dates back to the 6th century.
During the period of the ruler of the Western Turkic Khaganate, Tong Yabghu Qaghan (618–630), family relations were established with the ruler of Samarkand—Tong Yabghu Qaghan gave him his daughter.
Some parts of Samarkand have been Christian since the 4th century. In the 5th century, a Nestorian chair was established in Samarkand. At the beginning of the 8th century, it was transformed into a Nestorian metropolitanate. Discussions and polemics arose between the Sogdian followers of Christianity and Manichaeism, as reflected in the documents.
Early Islamic era
The armies of the Umayyad Caliphate under Qutayba ibn Muslim captured the city c. 712 AD. During this period, Samarkand was a diverse religious community and was home to a number of religions, including Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Manichaeism, Judaism, and Christianity, with most of the population following Zoroastrianism.
Qutayba generally did not settle Arabs in Central Asia; he made the local rulers pay him tribute but largely left them to their own devices. Samarkand was the major exception to this policy: Qutayba established an Arab garrison and an Arab governmental administration in the city, its Zoroastrian fire temples were razed, and a mosque was built. Most of the city's population embraced Islam.
As a long-term result, Samarkand developed into a centre of Islamic and Arabic learning. At the end of the 740s, a movement of those dissatisfied with the power of the Umayyads emerged in the Arab Caliphate, led by the Abbasid commander Abu Muslim, who, after the victory of the uprising, became the governor of Khorasan and Transoxiana (750–755). He chose Samarkand as his residence. His name is associated with the construction of a multi-kilometre defensive wall around the city and the palace.
Legend has it that during Abbasid rule, the secret of papermaking was obtained from two Chinese prisoners from the Battle of Talas in 751, which led to the foundation of the first paper mill in the Islamic world at Samarkand. The invention then spread to the rest of the Islamic world and thence to Europe.
Abbasid control of Samarkand soon dissipated and was replaced by that of the Samanids (875–999), though the Samanids were still nominal vassals of the Caliph during their control of Samarkand. Under Samanid rule, the city became a capital of the Samanid dynasty and an even more important node of numerous trade routes. The Samanids were overthrown by the Karakhanids around 999. Over the next 200 years, Samarkand was ruled by a succession of Turkic tribes, including the Seljuqs and the Khwarazmshahs.
The 10th-century Persian author Istakhri, who travelled in Transoxiana, provides a vivid description of the natural riches of the region he calls 'Smarkandian Sogd':
I know no place in it or in Samarkand itself where, if one ascends some elevated ground, one does not see greenery and a pleasant place, and nowhere near it are mountains lacking in trees or a dusty steppe... Samarkandian Sogd... [extends] eight days' travel through unbroken greenery and gardens... The greenery of the trees and sown land extends along both sides of the river [Sogd]... and beyond these fields is pasture for flocks. Every town and settlement has a fortress... It is the most fruitful of all the countries of Allah; in it are the best trees and fruits, in every home are gardens, cisterns, and flowing water.
Karakhanid (Ilek-Khanid) period (11th–12th centuries)
After the fall of the Samanid state in 999, it was replaced by the Qarakhanid state, ruled by the Turkic Qarakhanid dynasty. After the Qarakhanid state split into two parts, Samarkand became part of the Western Qarakhanid Khaganate and, from 1040 to 1212, was its capital. The founder of the Western Qarakhanid Khaganate was Ibrahim Tamgach Khan (1040–1068). He was the first to build a madrasa in Samarkand with state funds and supported the development of culture in the region. During his reign, a public hospital (bemoristan) and a madrasa were established in Samarkand, where medicine was also taught.
The most striking monument of the Qarakhanid era in Samarkand was the palace of Ibrahim ibn Hussein (1178–1202), which was built in the citadel in the 12th century. During the excavations, fragments of monumental painting were discovered. On the eastern wall, a Turkic warrior was depicted, dressed in a yellow caftan and holding a bow. Horses, hunting dogs, birds, and period-style women were also depicted here.
The memorial complex of Shah-i-Zinda was founded by the rulers of the Qarakhanid dynasty in the 11th century.
By the beginning of the 13th century, three major memorial and religious centres had emerged in Samarkand: the area around the congregational mosque and the Qarakhanid mausoleum; the complex of Qutham ibn Abbas; and the Chokardiza cemetery, where prominent Muslim theologians were buried. The Mongol conquest led to the destruction of most of Samarkand's monuments. However, the complex of Qutham ibn Abbas survived and subsequently became one of the city's most important sacred sites.
Mongol period
The Mongols conquered Samarkand in 1220. Juvayni writes that Genghis killed all who had taken refuge in the citadel and the mosque, pillaged the city completely, and conscripted 30,000 young men along with 30,000 craftsmen. Samarkand suffered at least one other Mongol sack, by Khan Baraq, to obtain treasure he needed to pay an army. It remained part of the Chagatai Khanate (one of four Mongol successor realms) until 1370.
The Yenisei area had a community of weavers of Chinese origin, and Samarkand and Outer Mongolia both had artisans of Chinese origin, as reported by Changchun. After Genghis Khan conquered Central Asia, foreigners were chosen as governmental administrators; Chinese and Qara-Khitays (Khitans) were appointed as co-managers of gardens and fields in Samarkand, which Muslims were not permitted to manage on their own. The khanate allowed the establishment of Christian bishoprics.
The Travels of Marco Polo, in which Polo records his journey along the Silk Road in the late 13th century, describes Samarkand as 'a very large and splendid city'.
Timur's rule (1370–1405)
Ibn Battuta, who visited in 1333, called Samarkand 'one of the greatest and finest of cities, and most perfect of them in beauty'. He also noted that the orchards were supplied with water via norias.
Several decades after the Mongol conquest, a Friday mosque was erected on Registan Square in Samarkand, the site that had served as the focal point of the Sarbadar uprising of 1365.