Editing Silk Road (section)

=== Islamic era (8th–13th centuries) ===
{{further|History of Islamic economics}}
[[File:Baghdad 150 to 300 AH.png|thumb|The [[Round city of Baghdad]] between 767 and 912 was the most important urban node along the Silk Road.]]
[[File:Lions, soie polychrome sogdienne, Asie centrale.jpg|thumb|A lion [[Motif (textile arts)|motif]] on [[Sogdia]]n [[polychrome]] silk, 8th century, most likely from [[Bukhara]]]]

By the [[Umayyad]] era, [[Damascus]] had overtaken [[Ctesiphon]] as a major trade center until the [[Abbasid dynasty]] built the city of [[Baghdad]], which became the most important [[Cities along the Silk Road|city along the silk road]].

At the end of its glory, the routes brought about the largest continental empire ever, the Mongol Empire, with its political centres strung along the Silk Road ([[Beijing]]) in North China, [[Karakorum (palace)|Karakorum]] in central Mongolia, [[Sarmakhand]] in [[Transoxiana]], [[Tabriz]] in Northern Iran, realising the political unification of zones previously loosely and intermittently connected by material and cultural goods.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}

The [[Islamic world]] [[Muslim conquest of Transoxiana|expanded into Central Asia]] during the 8th century, under the [[Umayyad Caliphate]], while its successor the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] put a halt to [[Protectorate General to Pacify the West|Chinese westward expansion]] at the [[Battle of Talas]] in 751 (near the [[Talas River]] in modern-day [[Kyrgyzstan]]).<ref name="hanks 2010 p4">Hanks, Reuel R. (2010), ''Global Security Watch: Central Asia, Santa Barbara'', Denver, Oxford: Praeger, p. 4.</ref> However, following the disastrous [[An Lushan Rebellion]] (755–763) and the conquest of the [[Western Regions]] by the [[Tibetan Empire]], the Tang Empire was unable to reassert its control over Central Asia.<ref>Ebrey, Patricia Buckley; Walthall, Anne; Palais, James B. (2006), ''East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History'', Boston: Houghton Mifflin, {{ISBN|978-0-618-13384-0}}, p. 100.</ref> Contemporary Tang authors noted how the dynasty had gone into decline after this point.<ref>Gascoigne, Bamber; Gascoigne, Christina (2003), ''The Dynasties of China: A History'', New York: Carroll and Graf, an imprint of Avalon, {{ISBN|978-0-7867-1219-9}}, p. 97.</ref> In 848 the Tang Chinese, led by the commander [[Zhang Yichao]], were only able [[Guiyi Circuit|to reclaim]] the [[Hexi Corridor]] and [[Dunhuang]] in [[Gansu]] from the Tibetans.<ref>Taenzer, Gertraud (2016), "Changing Relations between Administration, Clergy and Lay People in Eastern Central Asia: a Case Study According to the Dunhuang Manuscripts Referring to the Transition from Tibetan to Local Rule in Dunhuang, 8th–11th Centuries", in Carmen Meinert, ''Transfer of Buddhism Across Central Asian Networks (7th to 13th Centuries)'', 19–56, Leiden, Boston: Brill, pp. 35–37, {{ISBN|978-90-04-30741-4}}.</ref> The Persian [[Samanid Empire]] (819–999) centered in Bukhara ([[Uzbekistan]]) continued the trade legacy of the [[Sogdians]].<ref name="hanks 2010 p4" /> The disruptions of trade were curtailed in that part of the world by the end of the 10th century and conquests of Central Asia by the Turkic Islamic [[Kara-Khanid Khanate]], yet [[Nestorian Christianity]], [[Zoroastrianism]], [[Manichaeism]], and [[Buddhism in Central Asia]] virtually disappeared.<ref>Hanks, Reuel R. (2010), ''Global Security Watch: Central Asia, Santa Barbara'', Denver, Oxford: Praeger, pp. 4–5.</ref>

During the early 13th century [[Mongol conquest of Khwarezmia|Khwarezmia was invaded]] by the Mongol Empire. The Mongol ruler [[Genghis Khan]] had the once vibrant cities of Bukhara and [[Samarkand]] burned to the ground after besieging them.<ref>Sophie Ibbotson and Max Lovell-Hoare (2016), ''Uzbekistan'', 2nd ed., Bradt Travel Guides, pp. 12–13, {{ISBN|978-1-78477-017-4}}.</ref> However, in 1370 Samarkand saw a revival as the capital of the new [[Timurid Empire]]. The Turko-Mongol ruler [[Timur]] forcefully moved artisans and intellectuals from across Asia to Samarkand, making it one of the most important trade centers and cultural ''[[entrepôt]]s'' of the Islamic world.<ref>Sophie Ibbotson and Max Lovell-Hoare (2016), ''Uzbekistan'', 2nd edition, Bradt Travel Guides, pp. 14–15, {{ISBN|978-1-78477-017-4}}.</ref>