Samarkand

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Samarkand is a major city in south-eastern Uzbekistan. Among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central Asia, it had a population of 882,000 inhabitants as of 2026, making it the second-largest city in Uzbekistan after Tashkent. It is the capital of the Samarkand Region and a district-level city that includes the urban-type settlements of Kimyogarlar, Farkhod, and Khishrav. It also served as the initial capital of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic from 1925 until 1930. There is evidence of human activity in the area of the city dating from the late Paleolithic. Although the exact date of Samarkand's founding remains uncertain, it has been proposed that the city was established between the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Historically, Samarkand has long been one of the principal urban centres of Iranic civilisation in Central Asia and played a major role in the cultural and commercial networks of the Silk Road. It was the central city of the Sogdian civilisation. It was conquered by...

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