Editing Uzbeks (section)

=== Samanid Empire, Ghaznavids, and Kara-Khanid Khanate ===
The Samanids were a Persian state that reigned for 180 years, encompassing a vast territoriy stretching from Central Asia to West Asia.<ref>Tabaḳāt-i-nāsiri: a general history of the Muhammadan dynastics of Asia, pg.31, By Minhāj Sirāj Jūzjānī</ref><ref>The historical, social and economic setting By M. S. Asimov, pg.79</ref> The Samanids were descendants of [[Bahram Chobin]],<ref name="America pg. 123">Iran and America: Re-Kind[l]ing a Love Lost By Badi Badiozamani, Ghazal Badiozamani, pg. 123</ref><ref name="Lineage of Samanids pg.79">History of Bukhara by Narshakhi, Chapter XXIV, Pg 79</ref> and thus descended from the [[House of Mihran|House of Mihrān]], one of the [[Seven Great Houses of Iran]]. In governing their territory, the Samanids modeled their state organization after the [[Abbasids]], mirroring the [[caliph]]'s court and organization.<ref>The Monumental Inscriptions from Early Islamic Iran and Transoxiana By Sheila S. Blair, pg. 27</ref> They were rewarded for supporting the [[Abbasids]] in [[Transoxania]] and [[greater Khorasan|Khorasan]], and with their established capitals located in [[Bukhara]], [[Balkh]], [[Samarkand]], and [[Herat]], they carved their kingdom after defeating the [[Saffarids]].<ref name="America pg. 123"/>

The Samanid Empire was the first native Persian dynasty to arise after the Muslim Arab conquest. The four grandsons of the dynasty's founder, [[Saman Khuda]], had been rewarded with provinces for their faithful service to the Abbasid caliph [[al-Mamun]]: Nuh obtained [[Samarkand]]; Ahmad, [[Fergana]]; Yahya, Shash; and Elyas, [[Herat]]. Ahmad's son Nasr became governor of [[Transoxania]] in 875, but it was his brother and successor, [[Ismail Samani]] who overthrew the Saffarids and the Zaydites of Tabaristan, thus establishing a semiautonomous rule over Transoxania and Khorasan, with Bukhara as his capital.

Samanid rule in [[Bukhara]] was not formally recognized by the caliph until the early 10th century when the Saffarid ruler [[Amr-i Laith Saffari|'Amr-i Laith]] had asked the caliph for the investiture of Transoxiana. The caliph, [[Al-Mu'tadid]] however sent the Samanid amir, [[Ismail Samani]], a letter urging him to fight Amr-i Laith and the Saffarids whom the caliph considered usurpers. According to the letter, the caliph stated that he prayed for Ismail who the caliph considered as the rightful ruler of [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]].<ref>The book of government, or, Rules for kings: the Siyar al-Muluk, or, Siyasat-nama of Nizam al-Mulk, Niẓām al-Mulk, Hubert Darke, pg.18–19</ref> The letter had a profound effect on Ismail, as he was determined to oppose the Saffarids.

Since the 9th century, the Turkization of the population of the Central Asian interfluve has been increasing. At this time, a military system was created, in which the influence of the Turkic military was strong.<ref>Bregel Yuri, Turko-Mongol influences in Central Asia in Turco-Persia in Historical Perspective Edited by R. Canfield (Cambridge University Press), 1991, p.56</ref>

In the 9th century, the continued influx of nomads from the northern steppes brought a new group of people into Central Asia. These people were the [[Turkic peoples|Turks]] who lived in the great grasslands stretching from [[Mongolia]] to the [[Caspian Sea]]. Introduced mainly as slave soldiers to the Samanid dynasty, these Turks served in the armies of all the states of the region, including the Abbasid army. In the late 10th century, as the Samanids began to lose control of [[Transoxiana]] (Mawarannahr) and northeastern Iran, some of these soldiers came to positions of power in the government of the region, and eventually established their own states, albeit highly [[Persianate society|Persianized]]. With the emergence of a Turkic ruling group in the region, other Turkic tribes began to migrate to Transoxiana.<ref name=tm>Lubin, Nancy. "Turkification of Mawarannahr". In Curtis.</ref>

The first of the Turkic states in the region was the Persianate [[Ghaznavids|Ghaznavid Empire]], established in the last years of the 10th century. The Ghaznavid state, which captured Samanid domains south of the [[Amu Darya]], was able to conquer large areas of Iran, [[Afghanistan]], and northern [[India]] apart from Central Asia, during the reign of [[Mahmud of Ghazna|Sultan Mahmud]]. The Ghaznavids were closely followed by the Turkic [[Qarakhanids]], who took the Samanid capital Bukhara in 999 AD, and ruled Transoxiana for the next two centuries. Samarkand was made the capital of the Western Qarakhanid state.<ref name="UNESCO" />

According to Peter Golden, the Karakhanid state was one of the first Turkic-Islamic states.<ref>Golden, Peter B. "An introduction to the history of the Turkic peoples." Ethnogenesis and state-formation in medieval and early modern Eurasia and the Middle East (1992): 228.</ref> The Islamization of the Karakhanids and their Turkic subjects played an important role in the cultural development of the Turkic culture. In the late 10th–early 11th century for the first time in the history of the Turkic peoples, Tafsir (commentary on the Koran) was translated into the Turkic language.<ref>Borovkov, A.K. Leksika sredneaziatskogo tefsira: XII—XIII vv. Moscow, 1963</ref>

The founder of the Western Karakhanid Kaganate, [[Böritigin|Ibrahim Tamgach Khan]] (1040–1068), for the first time erected a madrasah in Samarkand with state funds and supported the development of culture in the region. One of the famous scholars was the historian Majid ad-din al-Surkhakati, who in Samarkand wrote the "History of Turkestan", which outlined the history of the Karakhanid dynasty.<ref>Introduction to The Jawami u'l-hikayat wa Lawami'ur-riwayat of Sadidu'u-din Muhammad al-Awfi by Muhammad Nizamu'd-din. London: Luzac & Co, 1929</ref>

The most striking monument of the Karakhanid era in Samarkand was the palace of Ibrahim ibn Hussein (1178–1202), which was built in the citadel in the 12th century, where fragments of monumental painting depicting a Turkic ruler were discovered.<ref>Karev, Yuri. "Un cycle de peintures murales d'époque qarakhanide (XIIe-XIIIe siècles) à la citadelle de Samarkand: le souverain et le peintre." Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 147, no. 4 (2003): 1685–1731.</ref>

The dominance of Ghazna was curtailed, however, when the [[Seljuq dynasty|Seljuks]] led themselves into the western part of the region, conquering the Ghaznavid territory of [[Khorazm]] (also spelled Khorezm and Khwarazm).<ref name=tm/> The Seljuks also defeated the Qarakhanids, but did not annex their territories outright. Instead they made the Qarakhanids a vassal state.<ref name="sinor">{{citation|last = Golden|first = Peter. B.|contribution = The Karakhanids and Early Islam|year = 1990|title = The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia|editor-last = Sinor|editor-first = Denis|publisher = Cambridge University Press|isbn = 0-521-24304-1}}</ref> The [[Great Seljuq Empire|Seljuks]] dominated a wide area from [[Asia Minor]] to the western sections of Transoxiana in the 11th century. The Seljuk Empire then split into states ruled by various local Turkic and Iranian rulers. The culture and intellectual life of the region continued unaffected by such political changes, however. Turkic tribes from the north continued to migrate into the region during this period.<ref name=tm/> The power of the Seljuks however became diminished when the Seljuk Sultan [[Ahmed Sanjar]] was defeated by the [[Kara-Khitans]] at the [[Battle of Qatwan]] in 1141.

Turkic words and terms characteristic of the literature of the 11th century are used in the modern Bukhara dialect of the Uzbeks.<ref>Kilichev E. R., Vostochno-tyurkskiy yazyk XI veka i leksika bukharskogo govora // Sovetskaya tyurkologiya, 1975, No. 6, p.87</ref>

In the late 12th century, a Turkic leader of Khorazm, which is the region south of the Aral Sea, united Khorazm, Transoxiana, and Iran under his rule. Under the rule of the Khorazm [[shah]] [[Kutbeddin Muhammad]] and his son, [[Muhammad II of Khwarazm|Muhammad II]], Transoxiana continued to be prosperous and rich while maintaining the region's Perso-Islamic identity. However, a new incursion of nomads from the north soon changed this situation. This time the invader was [[Genghis Khan]] with his [[Mongol]] armies.<ref name=tm/>