The Uzbeks are a Turkic ethnic group native to the wider Central Asian region, being among the largest Turkic ethnic group in the area. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, next to Kazakh and Karakalpak minorities, and are also minority groups in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Russia, and China. Uzbek diaspora communities also exist in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, United States, Ukraine, and other countries.
Samarqand or Samarkand is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central Asia. Samarqand is the capital of Samarqand Region and a district-level city, that includes the urban-type settlements Kimyogarlar, Farhod and Khishrav. With 551,700 inhabitants (2021), it is the second-largest city of Uzbekistan. Most of the inhabitants of the city are native speakers of the Tajik dialect of the Persian language, although Uzbek is spoken as a second language.
The Kara-Khanid Khanate, also known as the Karakhanids, Qarakhanids, Ilek Khanids or the Afrasiabids, was a Karluk Turkic khanate that ruled Central Asia in the 9th through the early 13th century. The dynastic names of Karakhanids and Ilek Khanids refer to royal titles with Kara Khagan being the most important Turkic title up until the end of the dynasty.
The Qara Khitai, or Kara Khitai, also known as the Western Liao, officially the Great Liao, was a dynastic regime based in Central Asia ruled by the Yelü clan of the Khitan people. They were culturally Sinicized to a large extent, especially among the elites, being refugees from the Liao dynasty.
The Ghaznavid dynasty or the Ghaznavid Empire was a Persianate Muslim dynasty and empire of Turkic mamluk origin, ruling at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, and the northwest Indian subcontinent from 977 to 1186. The dynasty was founded by Sabuktigin upon his succession to the rule of Ghazna after the death of his father-in-law, Alp Tigin, who was an ex-general of the Samanid Empire from Balkh, north of the Hindu Kush in Greater Khorasan.
The Samanid Empire, also known as the Samanian Empire, Samanid dynasty, Samanid amirate, or simply as the Samanids, was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire, of Iranian dehqan origin. The empire was centred in Khorasan and Transoxiana; at its greatest extent encompassing Persia and Central Asia, from 819 to 999.
Yelü Dashi, courtesy name Zhongde (重德), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Dezong of Western Liao (西遼德宗), was the founder of the Western Liao dynasty. He initially ruled as king from 1124 to 1132, then as emperor from 1132 to 1143. He was also known in Muslim sources as Nūshī Taifū, Qushqin Taifū or Qushqīn, son of Baighū. He fled the Liao dynasty in northern China as it was on the verge of destruction by the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty and moved westward into Central Asia where he established a new empire.
Chaghaniyan, known as al-Saghaniyan in Arabic sources, was a medieval region and principality located on the right bank of the Oxus River, to the south of Samarkand.
The Protectorate General to Pacify the West, initially the Protectorate to Pacify the West, was a protectorate established by the Chinese Tang dynasty in 640 to control the Tarim Basin. The head office was first established at the prefecture of Xi, now known as Turpan, but was later shifted to Qiuci (Kucha) and situated there for most of the period.
The Afrasiab murals, also called the Paintings of the Ambassadors, is a rare example of Sogdian art. It was discovered in 1965 when the local authorities decided to construct a road in the middle of Afrāsiāb mound, the old site of pre-Mongol Samarkand. It is now preserved in a special museum on the Afrāsiāb mound.
The history of Bukhara stretches back millennia. The origin of its inhabitants goes back to the period of Aryan immigration into the region. The city itself, currently the capital of the Bukhara Region (viloyat) of Uzbekistan, is about two and a half thousand years old. Located on the Silk Road, the city has long been a centre of trade, scholarship, culture, and religion. During the Golden age of Islam, under the rule of Samanids, Bukhara became the intellectual centre of the Islamic world. In medieval times, Bukhara served as the capital of the Khanate of Bukhara and was the birthplace of Imam Bukhari.
The Battle of Qatwan was fought in September 1141 between the Qara Khitai and the Seljuk Empire and its vassal-state the Kara-Khanid Khanate. The battle ended in a decisive defeat for the Seljuks, signaling the beginning of the end of the Great Seljuk Empire.
The Khwarazmian or Khwarezmian Empire was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim empire of Turkic mamluk origin. Khwarazmians ruled large parts of present-day Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Iran in the approximate period of 1077 to 1231, first as vassals of the Seljuk Empire and the Qara Khitai, and from circa 1190 as independent rulers, up until the Mongol conquest in 1219–1221.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
The Turkic peoples were descended from a Transeurasian agricultural community based in northeast China, and they were not recognized as native to the Xinjiang until the area was settled in by Tang-allied Türk (Tujue) tribes in the 7th century, and later by Turkic Uyghur people who founded the Qocho Kingdom there in the 9th century. The historical area of what is modern-day Xinjiang consisted of the distinct areas of the Tarim Basin and Dzungaria and was populated by Indo-European Tocharians and Saka peoples, who practiced Buddhism. They came under Chinese rule in the Han dynasty as the Protectorate of the Western Regions due to wars between the Han dynasty and the Xiongnu and again in the Tang dynasty as the Protectorate General to Pacify the West due to wars between the Tang dynasty and the First, Western, and Eastern Turkic Khaganates. The Tang dynasty withdrew its control of the region in the Protectorate General to Pacify the West and the Four Garrisons of Anxi after the An Lushan Rebellion, after which the Turkic peoples and the other native inhabitants living in the area gradually converted to Islam.
This is a timeline of the Karluks. The Kara-Khanid Khanate is also included; however, it is disputed whether the Karluks or Yagmas were the dominant group within the khanate.
The siege of Bukhara took place in February 1220, during the Mongol conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire. Genghis Khan, ruler of the Mongol Empire, had launched a multi-pronged assault on the Khwarazmian Empire ruled by Shah Muhammad II. While the Shah planned to defend his major cities individually, the Mongols laid siege to the border town of Otrar and struck further into Khwarazmia.
The Ikhshids of Sogdia, or Ikhshids of Samarkand, were a series of rulers of Soghdia in Transoxiana, with their capital at Samarkand, during the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods.
Uthman ibn Ibrahim was a Karakhanid ruler in Transoxiana from 1204 to 1212.
The Battle of Andkhud, also spelt as Battle of Andkhui was fought in 1204 on the bank of river Oxus near Andkhoy in present-day Afghanistan. It was fought between the Ghurid forces of Muhammad of Ghor against the Qara Khitai forces led by Tayangu of Taraz. The battle ended in a complete rout of the Ghurids, although Muhammad of Ghor managed to escape the debacle after the intervention by Uthman of Qarakhanid.
