Editing Tajikistan (section)

=== Samanid Empire ===
{{Main|Samanid Empire}}

The [[Samanids|Samanid Empire]], 819 to 999, restored [[Persian people|Persian]] control of the region and enlarged the cities of [[Samarkand]] and [[Bukhara]], which became the cultural centers of [[Iran]]; the region was known as Khorasan. The empire was centered in Khorasan and Transoxiana; at its greatest extent encompassing Afghanistan, parts of Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, parts of Kazakhstan, and Pakistan.

Four brothers Nuh, Ahmad, Yahya, and Ilyas founded the Samanid state. Each of them ruled territory under [[Abbasid]] suzerainty. In 892, [[Ismail Samani]] (892–907) united the Samanid state under one ruler, thus putting an end to the feudal system used by the Samanids. It was under him that the Samanids became independent of Abbasid authority.

The [[Kara-Khanid Khanate]] conquered [[Transoxania]] (which corresponded approximately with what later would be Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, southern Kyrgyzstan, and southwest Kazakhstan) and ruled between 999 and 1211.<ref name=encyclo>{{cite web|url=http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9062103|title=Encyclopedia – Britannica Online Encyclopedia|work=eb.com|access-date=2 June 2014|archive-date=2 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202055513/http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9062103|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Grousset, Rene |title=The Empire of the Steppes |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8135-1304-1 }}</ref> Their arrival in Transoxania signalled a definitive shift from Iranian to Turkic predominance in Central Asia,<ref name="svat">{{cite book |title=A history of Inner Asia |author=Svatopluk Soucek |chapter=Chapter 5 – The Qarakhanids |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-521-65704-4 |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/historyofinneras00souc }}</ref> and gradually the Kara-khanids became assimilated into the Perso-Arab Muslim culture of the region.<ref>[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ilak-khanids ilak-khanids] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909080737/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ilak-khanids |date=9 September 2015 }}: Iranica. accessed May 2014.</ref>

In the 13th century, the [[Mongol Empire]] swept through Central Asia, invaded the [[Khwarezmian Empire]] and sacked its cities, looting and massacring people. [[Turco-Mongol tradition|Turco-Mongol]] conqueror [[Timur|Tamerlane]] founded the [[Timurid Empire]], becoming the first ruler of the [[Timurid dynasty]] in and around what later became Tajikistan and Central Asia.<ref name="auto"/>