It is mentioned as "Maracanda" in Greek sources and as "K'Sang" and "Hsi-wan-chin" in Chinese sources. The name of Samarkand is a combination of Semer and the Sogdian word kent/kant, which means city or settlement. The city was first founded on the hill located on the southern part of the Sogd River. The ruins of the city today are called Efrâsiyâb. After Genghis Khan destroyed the city in 617, the city was rebuilt on its present site. Historically, the city of Samarkand was the administrative center of the entire Mâverâünnehir and Sogdia region. Thanks to the canals of the Sogd River, the city was not affected by severe heat and drought. It is located in a location that travelers liken to paradise.
Although the accounts of the city's foundation are different in the sources, excavations at the site in the 20th century revealed that the city was founded in 535 BC by the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great as an outpost city. The famous Turkish ruler Alp Er Tunga (Efrâsiyâb), after whom the ruins of Samarkand are named, gave his name to the city because he ruled the region before its foundation. Archaeological studies show that Samarkand was one of the largest cities in Central Asia.
Alexander the Great, who took Samarkand from the Persians in 329 BC, burned the city under the pretext of a revolt against him. However, Alexander saw the city as a good fortification and surrounded it with walls. The city, which was attached to the Sogd-Bactrian satrapy, fell into the hands of Seleucos as a result of the wars between the commanders. The Greeks remained a small ruling class in the city, which later fell under the rule of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom in 189 BC. In the city where Sogdian was the main language, the majority of the population consisted of Iranians and Saka Turks. In the following period, Samarkand fell first to the Yüeh-chih (Yüechis) Turks and then to the K'ang-chü Turks. Under the K'ang-chü Turks, the city was rebuilt and returned to its former glory.
Although there are rumors that Samarkand fell to the Himyerids in 300, the Akhuns, who captured the city in 375, killed the king of K'ang-chü and ruled the city for a long time. In the mid-5th century Samarkand came under the rule of the Eftalites. The Eftalites were contented with only collecting taxes and left the administration of Mâverâünnehir to K'ang-chü. In 562, with the rule of the Göktürks, they used Samarkanders for embassy missions. In 659, with the fall of the Göktürks, the city came under Chinese rule. Even though the city was under Chinese rule on paper, the Sogdian Yabguli were acting almost independently. The influence of the Turkish population was also significant in the city.
In 576, Sa'id b. Uthman, the Umayyad governor of Khorasan, led an expedition against Samarkand. When Tarhûn, the king of Samarkand, agreed to pay taxes and give hostages to the Muslims, peace was established. According to a rumor, the son of Prophet Muhammad's uncle Abbas was martyred during the siege. After King Tarhun broke the treaty, the city was reconquered by Salm b. Ziyād in 680. But this rule did not last long either. In 701, Samarkand and its surroundings passed into the hands of the Turks with the army sent by the Second Turks. The second Göktürk rule did not last long either, and Samarkand came under Umayyad rule in 711 after a long siege by Qutayba b. Muslim, the Umayyad governor of Khorasan. Qutayba taxed the city and had a mosque built here. He also appointed his relatives as governors and left a military unit under his command. After this move, Samarkand became an important military base for further conquests.
The city's conversion to Islam accelerated with the efforts of 'Umar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz. The 30,000-strong Islamic army established during the time of Qutayba was also an important presence here. But wars, which were a fate for Samarkand, broke out again. The harshness of the governors appointed to Samarkand and the unfairness of the taxes levied triggered the revolts that would start in Samarkand and last for years. The Turgish, who came under the pretext of helping the people of Sogdia, united with the Sogdian forces and laid siege to Samarkand. The siege lasted for two years and was saved by the Umayyad governor of Khorasan, Junayd al-Murrî, but in 735 it fell to Gûrek with the help of the Turgish during the uprising of Khāris b. Süreyc (Qutayba had left Gûrek in charge of the local population). The Islamic garrison in the city was also eliminated as a result of this rebellion. However, the successive deaths of the Turgish rulers Su-lu and Gûrek in 738 made the Umayyads' task easier. In addition, the successful policies of Nasr b. Sayyâr, who was appointed as the governor of Khorasan, increased the Umayyad dominance in the region again.
The rebellion of Muqanna' al-Khorasani's supporters Mubayyiza, which broke out in 775-76 during the Abbasid period, lasted for four years. The revolt of Râfi' b. Leys, which started in 805 and shook the Abbasid rule in the region to a great extent, also lasted for four years. In 819, the caliph of the period, al-Ma'mūn, appointed Nūh b. Asad and his brothers from the Sāmānī family, who played an important role in suppressing the rebellions, as governors of Samarkand and the Māverānaynehir region. Nûh b. Asad and his brothers, who had been loyal to the Tahirids, became loyal to the Saffârids after the dissolution of the Tahirids in 873. The Saffārids became a state in the region when Caliph Mu'temid-al-Allāh appointed Nasr b. Aḥmad to govern the whole of Māveraunnehir two years later. After the death of Nasr b. Aḥmad in 892, his brother Ismā'il b. Aḥmad moved the capital to Bukhara, but Samarkand did not lose its importance in the region due to its population, human and economic importance. During the Samanid period, Samarkand gradually became the greatest scientific and economic center of the region.
Samarkand, described by Ibn Hawqal as the harbor of the Mâverâünnehir, was a crossroads for traders from all over the world. The trade routes were under the control of the Sogdians who lived around Samarkand. Samarkand was the largest center for paper production in the Islamic geography. In addition to paper, it was an important city with its silk, fabrics and weavings. Many scholars grew up and lived in Samarkand, which was at the forefront in the field of science as well as trade. Among these scholars, important scholars such as Ulugh Bey, Ali Qushchi, Ibn Arabshah, Naqshbandi Sheikh Nizmeddin Hâmûsh and Ibn Hibbân lived in Samarkand in various periods.
The majority of the population were Iranian Sogdians. Then came the Turks. The third most populous nation was the Arabs. In terms of religion, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Meniheism and Christianity were prevalent in the city before the Muslim conquest. There were also a considerable number of Jews in the vicinity of the city.
In 992, the city was again revitalized by wars. Although the Qarakhanid Buğra Khan captured the city, the Samanid ruler Nûh II took it back. In 999, the city again fell to the Qarakhanids. In the first half of the XIth century, the city, which was the scene of dynastic disputes, remained in the hands of the Western Qarakhanids after the Qarakhanids were divided into two in 1052. Böri Tegin Abu İshak İbrahim b. Nasr, who came to the throne, made Samarkand the capital. However, the tranquility of the city did not last long and it was captured by the Great Seljuk Sultan Malik Shah in 1089. In the early eighteenth century, the city fell into the hands of the Khwarizmshahs. Samarkand, which remained the capital, fell into ruins during the Mongol advance and is described as a ruined city in Ibn Battuta's writings.
The real rise of Samarkand after the Mongol invasion was during the reign of Timur, who took Samarkand and Mâverâünnehir under his rule. Timur, who declared Samarkand as the capital, brought the city back to its former importance and power by gathering scholars and scientists from the surrounding area as well as construction activities. The present day Samarkand consists of the buildings left by Timur and his descendants.
After the glorious years of the Timurid Dynasty, the city was captured by the Uzbek ruler Shaybani Shaybani Khan in 1500. Until 1868, the city, which was under Uzbek rule, was not used as the capital during the Uzbek period. The Uzbeks, who declared Bukhara as the capital and emphasized the development of this city, put a significant brake on the development of Samarkand. In 1868, Samarkand was taken over by the Russians and became an important crossroads again with the railroad built by the Russians. Samarkand, which was the capital of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Uzbekistan between 1924-1930, gained its independence on September 1, 1991. The population of Samarkand, which is still the capital of Uzbekistan today, consists of Uzbeks, Russians, Tatars and Tajiks.
REFERENCES
OSMAN AYDINLI, "SEMERKANT", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/semerkant#1 (29.05.2024)
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