20140929_Uzbekistan_0499 Bukhara
Interior courtyard of Ulugh Beg Madrasa (Islamic school) built in 1417, making it Central Asia’s oldest. Around the courtyard’s two-story perimeter are the dormitory rooms for the students—all male. This madrasa became the model for many others.
A grandson of Tamerlane (Timur the Lame; 1336-1405), Ulugh Beg (1394-1449) became sovereign ruler of most of Central Asia plus Afghanistan while still a teenager in 1411. He was also an astronomer and mathematician. While on his way to Mecca in 1449, he was beheaded by order of his own eldest son.
By 500 BCE the settlements at the Bukhara oasis had grown enough that a walled city was founded. Bukhara prospered as a trading center, especially benefitting from its location along the Silk Road. Christianity may have been the official religion of the ruling caste in the late-7th/early-8th centuries as more coins with crosses have been found in Bukhara than anywhere else in Central Asia. However, after the Arabs finally conquered Bukhara in 751, Islam gradually became the dominant religion. In 892 the Samanids (a Sunni Persian empire) moved their capital from Samarkand to Bukhara which then grew to become the intellectual center of the Islamic world with the largest population by far of any city in Central Asia and rivaling Baghdad in its glory. The Samanid Empire was toppled in 999. In 1220 the city was leveled by the Mongols led by Genghis Khan but managed to slowly recover. In 1868 the Emirate of Bukhara was forced to become a protectorate of the Russian Empire. After the attack of the Red Army of the Bolsheviks in 1920, the Bukharan People’s Soviet Republic was formed with the bulk of it then integrated into the Uzbek SSR in 1925 (smaller portions going to present-day Tajikistan and Turkmenistan). In August 1991 Uzbekistan declared its independence.
The Historic Centre of Bukhara became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.
[The term ‘Silk Road’ was coined in 1877 by German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen. The Silk Road contributed not only to the exchange of goods and technologies, but also to the mutual enrichment of cultures and traditions of different peoples. Direct maritime trade between Europe and the Far East ultimately supplanted the overland route.]
On Google Earth:
Ulugh Beg Madrasa 39°46'35.64"N, 64°25'3.06"E
20140929_Uzbekistan_0499 Bukhara
Interior courtyard of Ulugh Beg Madrasa (Islamic school) built in 1417, making it Central Asia’s oldest. Around the courtyard’s two-story perimeter are the dormitory rooms for the students—all male. This madrasa became the model for many others.
A grandson of Tamerlane (Timur the Lame; 1336-1405), Ulugh Beg (1394-1449) became sovereign ruler of most of Central Asia plus Afghanistan while still a teenager in 1411. He was also an astronomer and mathematician. While on his way to Mecca in 1449, he was beheaded by order of his own eldest son.
By 500 BCE the settlements at the Bukhara oasis had grown enough that a walled city was founded. Bukhara prospered as a trading center, especially benefitting from its location along the Silk Road. Christianity may have been the official religion of the ruling caste in the late-7th/early-8th centuries as more coins with crosses have been found in Bukhara than anywhere else in Central Asia. However, after the Arabs finally conquered Bukhara in 751, Islam gradually became the dominant religion. In 892 the Samanids (a Sunni Persian empire) moved their capital from Samarkand to Bukhara which then grew to become the intellectual center of the Islamic world with the largest population by far of any city in Central Asia and rivaling Baghdad in its glory. The Samanid Empire was toppled in 999. In 1220 the city was leveled by the Mongols led by Genghis Khan but managed to slowly recover. In 1868 the Emirate of Bukhara was forced to become a protectorate of the Russian Empire. After the attack of the Red Army of the Bolsheviks in 1920, the Bukharan People’s Soviet Republic was formed with the bulk of it then integrated into the Uzbek SSR in 1925 (smaller portions going to present-day Tajikistan and Turkmenistan). In August 1991 Uzbekistan declared its independence.
The Historic Centre of Bukhara became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.
[The term ‘Silk Road’ was coined in 1877 by German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen. The Silk Road contributed not only to the exchange of goods and technologies, but also to the mutual enrichment of cultures and traditions of different peoples. Direct maritime trade between Europe and the Far East ultimately supplanted the overland route.]
On Google Earth:
Ulugh Beg Madrasa 39°46'35.64"N, 64°25'3.06"E