SAMARCAND, a city of Turkestan; in the valley of the Zerafshan; about 4 miles S. of that river, and among the W. spurs of the Tian-Shan Mountains; 130 miles E. by S. of Bokhara and 150 miles N. by E. of Balkh in Afghanistan. It is the ancient Marcanda, the capital of Sog diana, which was taken and destroyed by Alexander the Great. It was again cap tured in A. D. 712 by the Arabs, who sup planted the Grwco-Bactrian civilization, of which it was the center, by the creed and customs of Islam. Ever since that time it has been a sacred city in the eyes of the Moslems, especially after the con queror Timur made it the capital of his kingdom in the 14th century. It had, however, suffered terribly from Genghis Khan, who took it (1219) and destroyed three-fourths of its 500,000 inhabitants. In Timur's time it had a population of 150,000. The Ulug-beg, the graves of Timur and his wives, as well as the tomb of one of the Prophet's companions, and two other colleges, the Tilla-Kari and Shir-rar, both dating from the beginning of the 17th century, are magnificent structures, grandly decorated. In the
15th century Samarcand was renowned as a school of astronomy and mathemat ics. After the decay of Timur's empire the city had a checkered history, figuring in most of the wars that raged in that region till at last it fell into the hands of the emirs of Bokhara, from whom it was taken by the Russians in 1868. They established themselves in the citadel, built on a steep hill 4 miles in circuit, and laid out a new town, with broad and handsome streets, to the W. of it. On the other side of the citadel is the old city, walled, with dark and narrow streets and dirty houses. The ruins of still more ancient Samar cands extend for 3 miles or more to the W. and N. of both the Russian and the native town. The people carry on gardening, their gardens being irrigated by water drawn off from the Zerafshan, and the manufacture of textiles, harness, gold and silver wares, leather, pottery, boots, etc., and conduct a brisk trade in cotton, silk, fruits, wheat, rice, salt, and horses. Pop. about 98,000.