The Great Travelers of the Silk Road
Marco
Polo
Ibn
Battuta
(1271-1295)
(1325-1354)
Key Cities of Focus
• Balkh (Bactria)
• Bukhara (Persia)
• Samarkand (Sogdiana)
Balkh
(Bactria)
Cities of the
Silk Road
Samarkand
Bukhara (Sogdia)
Balkh (Bactria)
The ancient city of Balkh, the
oldest in today's Afghanistan
It was in the Province of
Bactria, a Greek version of
the Vedic name Bhakri.
It was mostly known as the political centre and
capital of Bactria or Takharistan.
Balkh is now, for the most part,
a mass of ruins.
It is considered to be the first city to
which the Indo-Iranian tribes moved.
The nine-domed Mosque
Is said to have been a
magnificent structure
visited by travelers like:
MARCO POLO (13th Century)
IBN BATTUTA (14th Century)
Samarkand
Home of the great nomadic chief Timur the Lame
From the 9th-10th centuries, Samarkand became a cultural center of the Islamic East .
Samarkand was the first capital of the Samanid Dynasty.
In the 9th-10th centuries, the inner city occupied 220 hectares.
Samarkand
A suburb with markets, mosques,
baths and caravansaries adjoined
it in the south.
Numerous workshops using
water mills helped make it a
center for paper production.
In the 11th-13th centuries, Samarkand
became the capital of the Qarakhanid.
The palace of the Qarakhanids was
built in the citadel.
The tomb of Kusam ibn Abbas became
a holy place for all Muslims.
Bukhara (Sogdian Kingdom in Modern Uzbekistan)
In the early 8th century Arabs conquered Bukhara and constructed the first mosque of
Banu Hanza-la.
It became the capital of the Samanids at the end of the 9th century.
The city grew into a great fortress along the Silk Road
during 9th-10th centuries.
Not only the city (shahristan) but also its trade and
craft suburbs (rabad) were walled.
Bukhara
(Sogdia)
Bukhara (Sogdia)
The Great Fortress, known as
the “Ark” protected the city
from nomadic invaders.
The walls protected the city
till the Russian Bolsheviks
attacked them in the 1920’s
Remains of the wall and gate
can still be visited today