Editing Tashkent (section)

===History as Chach===
[[File:Chach. Uncertain ruler. Circa AD 625-725.jpg|thumb|left|Coinage of Chach circa 625-725 CE]]
In pre-Islamic and early Islamic times, the town and the province were known as ''Chach''.  The [[Shahnameh]] of [[Ferdowsi]] also refers to the city as Chach.

[[File:Ambassadors from Chaganian (central figure, inscription of the neck), and Chach (modern Tashkent) to king Varkhuman of Samarkand. 648-651 CE, Afrasiyab, Samarkand.jpg|thumb|Ambassadors from [[Chaganian]] (central figure, inscription of the neck), and Chach (modern Tashkent) to king [[Varkhuman]] of [[Samarkand]]. 648-651 CE, [[Afrasiyab (Samarkand)|Afrasiyab murals]], Samarkand.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baumer |first1=Christoph |title=History of Central Asia, The: 4-volume set |date=18 April 2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-83860-868-2 |page=243 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DhiWDwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA243 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="SW">{{cite book |last1=Whitfield |first1=Susan |author-link=Susan Whitfield |title=The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith |year=2004 |publisher=British Library. Serindia Publications, Inc. |isbn=978-1-932476-13-2 |page=110 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ArWLD4Qop38C&pg=PA110 |language=en}}</ref>]]
The principality of Chach had a [[Square (geometry)|square]] citadel built around the 5th to 3rd centuries BC, some {{cvt|8|km}} south of the [[Syr Darya]] River. By the 7th century AD, Chach had more than 30 towns and a network of over 50 canals, forming a trade center between the [[Sogdiana|Sogdians]] and [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] nomads. The [[Buddhist]] monk [[Xuanzang]] (602/603? – 664 AD), who travelled from China to India through Central Asia, mentioned the name of the city as {{transliteration|zh|Zhěshí}} ({{lang|zh|赭時}}). The Chinese chronicles ''[[History of Northern Dynasties]]'', ''[[Book of Sui]]'', and ''[[Old Book of Tang]]'' mention a possession called {{transliteration|zh|Shí}} {{lang|zh|石}} ("stone") or {{transliteration|zh|Zhěshí}} {{lang|zh|赭時}} with a capital of the same name since the fifth century AD.<ref>Bichurin, 1950. v. II</ref>

In 558–603, Chach was part of the [[First Turkic Khaganate|Turkic Khaganate]]. At the beginning of the 7th century, the Turkic Khaganate, as a result of internecine wars and wars with its neighbors, disintegrated into the [[Western Turkic Khaganate|Western]] and [[Eastern Turkic Khaganate|Eastern Khaganate]]s. The Western Turkic ruler [[Tong Yabghu Qaghan]] (618-630) set up his headquarters in the Ming-bulak area to the north of Chach. Here he received embassies from the emperors of the [[Tang dynasty|Tang Empire]] and [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantium]].<ref>Golden, P.B. ''An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples''. Series: Turcologica. Wiesbaden: Otto-Harrassowitz. 1992</ref> In 626, the Indian Buddhist preacher [[Prabhakāramitra]] arrived with ten companions to the Khagan. In 628, Xuanzang arrived in Ming-bulak.

The Turkic rulers of Chach minted their coins with the inscription on the obverse side of the "lord of the Khakan money" (mid-8th century); with an inscription in the ruler Turk (7th century), in Nudjket in the middle of the 8th century, coins were issued with the obverse inscription “Nanchu (Banchu) Ertegin sovereign".<ref>Baratova L. S. Drevnetyurkskiye monety Sredney Azii VI—IKH vv. (tipologiya, ikonografiya, istoricheskaya interpretatsiya). Avtoreferat diss. kand. ist. nauk. — T., 1995, s.12</ref>