500 a. C. – 999
Antiquity and early Islam
- Sogdians
- Chorasmians
- Bactrians
- Arabs
- Persians
The oasis population spoke Iranian languages and lived on irrigated farming and caravan trade.
Asia centralCapital: Taskent
Uzbekistán
Uzbekistán se extiende entre los ríos Amu Daria y Sir Daria, en el corazón de Asia Central. Ciudades oasis como Samarcanda, Bujará y Jiva se hallaban en las rutas de la seda y fueron durante siglos centros de comercio y de saber islámico. El territorio fue conquistado por Rusia en el siglo XIX, fue una república soviética de 1924 a 1991 y desde entonces es independiente.
- Idiomas
- Uzbek (official), Karakalpak (official in Karakalpakstan), Tajik, Russian (widely used as a lingua franca)
- Religiones y cosmovisiones
- Sunni Islam (Hanafi school), with a strong Sufi tradition, Russian Orthodox Church, Small Jewish community
Cronología histórica
500 a. C. – 700
Sogdia and Chorasmia
Iranian-speaking oasis peoples belong to the Persian Empire; Sogdian merchants later dominate trade as far as China.
329 a. C.
Alexander the Great in Marakanda
The Macedonian army takes Samarkand; afterwards Greek and Kushan kingdoms arise in the region.
709 – 999
Arab conquest
The land 'beyond the river' becomes Islamic; under the Samanids Bukhara and Samarkand flourish as centres of science.
1220
Mongol conquest
The armies of Genghis Khan destroy Bukhara and Samarkand; the cities are rebuilt in the following century.
1370 – 1507
Empire of Timur
Timur makes Samarkand his capital and has monumental mosques and mausoleums built there; his grandson Ulugh Beg founds an observatory.
1865 – 1917
Russian conquest
Tashkent falls; the khanates of Bukhara and Khiva become Russian protectorates and cotton becomes the main crop.
1924 – 1991
Uzbek Soviet Republic
Moscow draws new borders; from the 1960s irrigation for cotton growing drains the Aral Sea.
1991
Independence
After the break-up of the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan becomes an independent republic.
Contexto histórico
The land between the two rivers, Mawarannahr in Arabic, owed its wealth to irrigation and to its position between China, India, Persia and the steppe. As early as the early Middle Ages Sogdian merchants had trading posts deep inside China.
After the Timurids the area fragmented into the khanates of Bukhara, Khiva and Kokand. The Soviet Union brought education, industry and a new national division, but also forced cotton growing; the drying up of the Aral Sea counts as one of the greatest environmental disasters of the twentieth century.
Pueblos y patrimonio cultural a través del tiempo
999
Turkic and modern era
- Uzbeks
- Tajiks
- Karakalpaks
- Kazakhs
- Russians
- Koreans
- Bukharan Jews
Turkic-speaking groups settled from the eleventh century; the name Uzbeks goes back to a tribal confederation of the sixteenth century. Under Stalin Koreans and Crimean Tatars, among others, were deported here.
Religión, cosmovisión y filosofía
Before Islam, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Manichaeism and the Christianity of the Church of the East existed side by side here. Under the Samanids Bukhara became a centre of Islamic learning: al-Bukhari compiled one of the most authoritative collections of traditions there.
In the fourteenth century the Naqshbandi order arose near Bukhara, a Sufi brotherhood that spread across the whole Islamic world. The Soviet state closed most mosques and madrasas; since 1991 religion has seen a revival under state supervision.
Movimientos artísticos
🎨 Timurid architecturefourteenth–fifteenth century
Domes and portals with blue and turquoise tiles, as on the Registan in Samarkand, became a model as far as India.
🎨 Miniature paintingfifteenth–seventeenth century
The Bukhara school continued the tradition of Herat with bright colours and court scenes in manuscripts.
🎨 Chagatai literaturefifteenth century
The poet Alisher Navoi proved that a Turkic language was as suited to poetry as Persian and is regarded as the father of Uzbek literature.
Tradiciones y costumbres
NavruzFiesta21 March
The new year at the spring equinox is celebrated with public festivities and sumalak, a porridge of sprouted wheat stirred through the night.
ShashmaqomMúsica y danza
Classical music tradition from Bukhara, built from six modal cycles with sung poetry; recognised by UNESCO.
Ikat weavingArtesanía
In Margilan silk and cotton fabrics are woven from threads dyed in patterns beforehand.
MahallaCostumbre
The neighbourhood community arranges weddings, mourning and mutual aid and has its own council of elders.
Gastronomía e historia culinaria
Uzbek cooking is that of oases on the Silk Road: rice, wheat, mutton, carrot and onion, with fruit and melons from irrigated orchards. Bread from the clay oven (tandoor) belongs to every meal.
Historia gastronómica
The oases grew wheat, rice, grapes, apricots and the famous melons, which were exported dried and fresh as far as the Chinese and Russian courts. Caravans brought spices, tea and new ways of cooking from every direction.
Plov is more than a dish: at weddings and commemorations men prepare it before sunrise for hundreds of guests. Tea, usually green, is drunk all day in the chaikhana, the teahouse that also serves as the neighbourhood's meeting place.
- Persian rice dishes
- Turkic pastoral cooking
- Chinese and Uyghur noodles
- Caravan trade in spices and dried fruit
- Russian and Soviet cooking
PlovPlato principal
Rice with mutton, yellow carrot, onion and cumin, prepared in a large cast-iron pan; the festive dish par excellence.
Origen: Medieval; the plov culture has been on the UNESCO list since 2016.
SamsaComida callejera
Filled pastry with meat and onion, baked against the wall of a clay oven.
Origen: Related to the Persian sanbosag; spread along the Silk Road.
LagmanSopa
Hand-pulled noodles in a broth with meat and vegetables.
Origen: Uyghur and Dungan cooking from the east.
NonPan
Round flatbread with a stamped pattern in the centre.
Origen: Every city has its own variant; that of Samarkand is the best known.
Maravillas y patrimonio
Aún no hay maravillas en la base de datos.
Figuras históricas
Aún no hay figuras asociadas.
Acontecimientos
Aún no hay acontecimientos asociados.
Todos los acontecimientos →Conflictos y fósiles
Fuentes: Uzbekistan — Encyclopaedia Britannica · UNESCO World Heritage: Samarkand – Crossroad of Cultures