Editing Samarkand (section)

===Early Islamic era===
[[File:Coin of Sogdian ruler Turgar, Ikhshid of Samarkand, Penjikent, 8th century CE (obverse and reverse), Tajikistan National Museum of Antiquities (319).jpg|thumb|Coin of [[Sogdia]]n ruler [[Turgar]], last [[Ikhshid]] of Samarkand, [[Panjakent|Penjikent]], 8th century CE, [[National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Tadjikistan : au pays des fleuves d'or |date=2021 |publisher=Musée Guimet |location=Paris |isbn=978-9461616272 |page=152}}</ref>]]
The armies of the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] under [[Qutayba ibn Muslim]] captured the city from the [[Tang dynasty]] c. 710 CE.<ref name="Dumper, Stanley 2007 319"/> During this period, Samarkand was a diverse religious community and was home to a number of religions, including [[Zoroastrianism]], [[Buddhism]], [[Hinduism]], [[Manichaeism]], [[Judaism]], and [[Nestorian Christianity]], with most of the population following Zoroastrianism.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dumper, Stanley |title=Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia |year=2007 |location=California}}</ref>

Qutayba generally did not settle Arabs in Central Asia; he forced the local rulers to pay him tribute but largely left them to their own devices. Samarkand was the major exception to this policy: Qutayba established an Arab [[garrison]] and Arab governmental administration in the city, its Zoroastrian [[fire temple]]s were razed, and a [[mosque]] was built.<ref name="Wellhausen437438">{{cite book |last1=Wellhausen |first1=J. |author-link=Julius Wellhausen |editor1-last=Weir |editor1-first=Margaret Graham |title=The Arab Kingdom and its Fall |date=1927 |publisher=University of Calcutta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qxPKpCcVOdcC |pages=437–438 |isbn=9780415209045 |access-date=2019-05-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421054204/https://books.google.com/books?id=qxPKpCcVOdcC |archive-date=2019-04-21 |url-status=live}}</ref> Much of the city's population converted to Islam.<ref>{{cite book |last=Whitfield |first=Susan |author-link=Susan Whitfield |title=Life Along the Silk Road |year=1999 |publisher=University of California Press |location=California |page=33}}</ref>

As a long-term result, Samarkand developed into a center of Islamic and Arabic learning.<ref name="Wellhausen437438"/> At the end of the 740s, a [[Abbasid dynasty|movement]] of those dissatisfied with the power of the [[Umayyad dynasty|Umayyads]] emerged in the Arab Caliphate, led by the Abbasid commander [[Abu Muslim]], who, after the victory of the uprising, became the governor of Khorasan and Maverannahr (750–755). He chose Samarkand as his residence. His name is associated with the construction of a multi-kilometer defensive wall around the city and the palace.<ref>Bartold V. V., Abu Muslim//Akademik V. V. Bartol'd. Sochineniya. Tom VII. Moskva: Nauka, 1971</ref>

Legend has it that during [[Abbasid]] rule,<ref>Quraishi, Silim "A survey of the development of papermaking in Islamic Countries", ''Bookbinder'', 1989 (3): 29–36.</ref> the secret of [[papermaking]] was obtained from two [[Han Chinese|Chinese]] prisoners from the [[Battle of Talas]] in 751, which led to the foundation of the first [[paper mill]] in the Islamic world at Samarkand. The invention then spread to the rest of the Islamic world and thence to Europe.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

[[File:Dinar of al-Mu'tazz, AH 253.jpg|250px|thumb|[[Gold dinar]] of caliph [[al-Mu'tazz]], minted at Samarkand in [[Hijri year|AH]] 253 (867 CE). His reign marks the apogee of the [[Anarchy at Samarra|decline of the Caliphate]]'s central authority]]
Abbasid [[Anarchy at Samarra|control of Samarkand soon dissipated]] and was replaced with that of the [[Samanids]] (875–999), though the Samanids were still nominal vassals of the [[Abbasid caliph|Caliph]] during their control of Samarkand. Under Samanid rule the city became a capital of the Samanid dynasty and an even more important node of numerous trade routes. The Samanids were overthrown by the [[Karakhanids]] around 999. Over the next 200 years, Samarkand would be ruled by a succession of [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] tribes, including the [[Seljuqs]] and the [[Khwarazmshahs]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Dumper, Stanley |title=Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia |year=2007 |location=California |page=320}}</ref>

The 10th-century Persian author [[Istakhri]], who travelled in [[Transoxiana]], provides a vivid description of the natural riches of the region he calls "Smarkandian Sogd":
<blockquote>I know no place in it or in Samarkand itself where if one ascends some elevated ground one does not see greenery and a pleasant place, and nowhere near it are mountains lacking in trees or a dusty steppe... Samakandian Sogd... [extends] eight days travel through unbroken greenery and gardens... . The greenery of the trees and sown land extends along both sides of the river [Sogd]... and beyond these fields is pasture for flocks. Every town and settlement has a fortress... It is the most fruitful of all the countries of [[Allah]]; in it are the best trees and fruits, in every home are gardens, cisterns and flowing water.</blockquote>