Transoxiana
Transoxiana (Latin: Transoxiana; Persian: ماوراءالنهر; Uzbek: Movarounnahr) is the historic name for the land between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers in Central Asia. The name means "beyond the river" in Latin, referring to lands beyond the Oxus (Amu Darya). In Persian and Arabic, it was called *Mā warāʾ al-nahr* ("land beyond the river").
Today, this area is mostly in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, southern Kazakhstan, and parts of Kyrgyzstan. Transoxiana was an important part of the Silk Road, with famous cities like Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, and Tashkent.
Ancient times
[change | change source]In ancient history, Transoxiana was part of Sogdiana and Bactria. Alexander the Great conquered the region in the 4th century BC.[1] Later it was ruled by the Seleucid Empire, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and the Kushan Empire.
Middle Ages
[change | change source]In the 7th and 8th centuries, Arab armies conquered Transoxiana. Islam spread quickly, and cities like Samarkand and Bukhara became centers of learning.[2] The Samanid dynasty ruled in the 9th and 10th centuries, making Bukhara a center of Persian literature and science. Later, the Karakhanid dynasty and the Khwarazmian dynasty controlled the region.
Mongol period
[change | change source]In 1220–1221, the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan invaded Transoxiana. Cities like Bukhara and Samarkand were destroyed.[3] Trade continued under Mongol rule, but many people were killed.
Timurid period
[change | change source]In the 14th century, Timur (Tamerlane) made Samarkand his capital. He built a large empire and made Transoxiana a center of art and science. His grandson Ulugh Beg built an observatory in Samarkand.[4]
Early modern period
[change | change source]In the 16th century, Uzbek tribes took control of Transoxiana. They founded the Khanate of Bukhara, the Khanate of Khiva, and later the Kokand Khanate. These states ruled until the 19th century.[5]
Russian period
[change | change source]In the 19th century, the Russian Empire invaded Central Asia. By 1876, Transoxiana was part of Russian Turkestan. Russian rule brought railways, cotton farming, and new cities, but also uprisings and resistance.[6]
Soviet period
[change | change source]After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Transoxiana became part of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic and the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic. During the Soviet Union, the region was used for cotton farming and industry.[7]
Modern times
[change | change source]Today, Transoxiana is divided between Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. The cities of Samarkand and Bukhara are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.[8]
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Christopher I. Beckwith, Empires of the Silk Road, Princeton University Press, 2009, pp. 87–90.
- ↑ Richard N. Frye, The Heritage of Central Asia, Princeton University Press, 1996, pp. 112–115.
- ↑ David Morgan, The Mongols, Blackwell, 1986, pp. 98–102.
- ↑ Beatrice Forbes Manz, Power, Politics and Religion in Timurid Iran, Cambridge University Press, 2007, pp. 33–36.
- ↑ Edward Allworth, The Modern Uzbeks: From the Fourteenth Century to the Present, Hoover Institution Press, 1990, pp. 55–60.
- ↑ Alexander Morrison, Russian Rule in Samarkand, 1868–1910, Oxford University Press, 2008, pp. 22–25.
- ↑ Shoshana Keller, To Moscow, Not Mecca: The Soviet Campaign Against Islam in Central Asia, Praeger, 2001, pp. 33–36.
- ↑ Adeeb Khalid, Central Asia: A New History from the Imperial Conquests to the Present, Princeton University Press, 2021, pp. 312–315.