Samarkand

Timeline

1. 1210–1220Samarkand · Samarkand ProvinceSamarkand was one of Central Asia's most prosperous cities under Khwarazm shah Ala al-Din Muhammad, gathering Sogdian merchants, Islamic scholars, and artisans, a trade hub linking Persia, India, and the steppe.
2. 1220Samarkand · Samarkand ProvinceGenghis Khan led Mongol forces to besiege and capture Samarkand; even after the garrison surrendered the city suffered systematic destruction, with large numbers of people massacred or carried off as artisans, marking the collapse of the Khwarazmian Empire and a drastic change in Central Asia's political order.
3. 1221–1230Samarkand · Samarkand ProvinceUnder Mongol rule Samarkand gradually recovered; captured artisans rebuilt waterworks and handicrafts, the city was incorporated into the Mongol Empire's postal relay system, becoming a Central Asian administrative and trade node, and Chagatai's successors gradually established a ruling base here.
4. 1225–1230Samarkand · Samarkand ProvinceAfter the Mongol Empire unified the Eurasian steppe, Samarkand reconnected eastern and western trade routes; Sogdian and Persian merchants returned, and the city's strategic position as a Central Asian entrepôt again stood out in the late 1220s.