{"slug": "samarkand", "label": "Samarkand", "wikipedia": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samarkand", "wikidata": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5753", "qid": "Q5753", "description": "city in southeastern Uzbekistan", "entries": 19, "years": 16, "span": [-328, 1409], "span_label": ["329 BCE", "1409 CE"], "topics": [{"title": "Conflict & Security", "count": 11}, {"title": "Exploration & Expansion", "count": 3}, {"title": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "count": 2}, {"title": "Crime & Justice", "count": 1}, {"title": "Religion & Belief", "count": 1}, {"title": "Deaths", "count": 1}], "also_known_as": ["Maracanda"], "related": [{"slug": "uzbekistan", "label": "Uzbekistan", "shared": 5}, {"slug": "timur", "label": "Timur", "shared": 4}, {"slug": "abbasid-caliphate", "label": "Abbasid Caliphate", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "central-asia", "label": "Central Asia", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "transoxiana", "label": "Transoxiana", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "khorasan", "label": "Khorasan", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "bukhara", "label": "Bukhara", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "arab-muslims", "label": "Arab Muslims", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "turgesh", "label": "Türgesh", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "tang-dynasty", "label": "Tang dynasty", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "iran", "label": "Iran", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "ray-iran", "label": "Ray, Iran", "shared": 1}], "items": [{"year": -328, "year_label": "329 BCE", "section": "Exploration & Expansion", "date": null, "text": "From 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.\"", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1356261159#Macedonian_Empire", "title": "329 BC", "revid": 1356261159, "section": "Events › By place › Macedonian Empire"}}, {"year": -327, "year_label": "328 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Spitamenes 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.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1353522998#Macedonian_Empire", "title": "328 BC", "revid": 1353522998, "section": "Events › By place › Macedonian Empire"}}, {"year": -327, "year_label": "328 BCE", "section": "Crime & Justice", "date": null, "text": "At 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.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1353522998#Macedonian_Empire", "title": "328 BC", "revid": 1353522998, "section": "Events › By place › Macedonian Empire"}}, {"year": 705, "year_label": "705 CE", "section": "Exploration & Expansion", "date": null, "text": "Arab 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.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1340807090#Arabian_Empire", "title": "705", "revid": 1340807090, "section": "Events › By place › Arabian Empire"}}, {"year": 712, "year_label": "712 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Arab forces under Qutayba ibn Muslim conquer Khwarezm and Samarkand (modern Uzbekistan).", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1357552155#Arabian_Empire", "title": "712", "revid": 1357552155, "section": "Events › By place › Arabian Empire"}}, {"year": 720, "year_label": "720 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Umayyad 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).", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1349994139#Arabian_Empire", "title": "720", "revid": 1349994139, "section": "Events › By place › Arabian Empire"}}, {"year": 729, "year_label": "729 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Siege of Kamarja: A small Arab garrison defends the fortress of Kamarja against the Turgesh for 58 days, ending with a negotiated withdrawal to Samarkand.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1340808680#Asia", "title": "729", "revid": 1340808680, "section": "Events › By place › Asia"}}, {"year": 731, "year_label": "731 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Battle 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.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1358697487#Asia", "title": "731", "revid": 1358697487, "section": "Events › By place › Asia"}}, {"year": 751, "year_label": "751 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Battle 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.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1340809785#Abbasid_Caliphate", "title": "751", "revid": 1340809785, "section": "Events › By place › Abbasid Caliphate"}}, {"year": 806, "year_label": "806 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Rafi 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.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1292643508#Abbasid_Caliphate", "title": "806", "revid": 1292643508, "section": "Events › By place › Abbasid Caliphate"}}, {"year": 819, "year_label": "819 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Ghassan 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.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1340941210#Abbasid_Caliphate", "title": "819", "revid": 1340941210, "section": "Events › By place › Abbasid Caliphate"}}, {"year": 1220, "year_label": "1220 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Spring – 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.\"", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1360552842#Mongol_Empire", "title": "1220", "revid": 1360552842, "section": "Events › By place › Mongol Empire"}}, {"year": 1368, "year_label": "1368 CE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": null, "text": "Timur ascends the throne of Samarkand (in modern-day Uzbekistan).", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1371792677#Date_unknown", "title": "1368", "revid": 1371792677, "section": "Events › Date unknown"}}, {"year": 1369, "year_label": "1369 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Timur names the city of Samarkand as the capital of his empire.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1371621472#Dates_unknown", "title": "1369", "revid": 1371621472, "section": "Events › Dates unknown"}}, {"year": 1403, "year_label": "1403 CE", "section": "Religion & Belief", "date": null, "text": "The 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.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1371593649#Date_unknown", "title": "1403", "revid": 1371593649, "section": "Events › Date unknown"}}, {"year": 1403, "year_label": "1403 CE", "section": "Exploration & Expansion", "date": "May 21", "text": "May 21 – Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, an ambassador from the king of Castile to Timur, leaves Cadiz; he arrives in Samarkand over a year later.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1371593649#April–June", "title": "1403", "revid": 1371593649, "section": "Events › April–June"}}, {"year": 1405, "year_label": "1405 CE", "section": "Deaths", "date": "March 18", "text": "March 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.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1337543539#January–March", "title": "1405", "revid": 1337543539, "section": "Events › January–March"}}, {"year": 1409, "year_label": "1409 CE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": null, "text": "Ulugh Beg becomes governor of Samarkand.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1361998092#Date_unknown", "title": "1409", "revid": 1361998092, "section": "Events › Date unknown"}}, {"year": 1409, "year_label": "1409 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "May 13", "text": "May 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.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1361998092#April–June", "title": "1409", "revid": 1361998092, "section": "Events › April–June"}}]}