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82-516: The history of the city goes back to the second half of the 19th century. The city should not be confused with the similarly named city of Konye-Urgench (also known as "Old Urgench" or "Gurgench") in Turkmenistan . The city of Old Urgench was left after the Amu Darya river changed its course in the 16th century, leaving the old town without water. New Urgench was founded by Russians in the second half of

164-513: A marsh . Konya-Urgench was soon built on or near the site of Jorjania. In 1221, Genghis Khan destroyed the city in the Mongol invasion of Central Asia , in what is considered to be one of the bloodiest massacres in human history. Most if not all the ancient Iranic Khwarazmian people were killed or pushed out, paving the way for the Turkification of Khwarazm. Despite the devastating effects of

246-634: A Khwarezm native, in his Athar ul-Baqiyah , specifically verifies the Iranian origins of Khwarezmians when he wrote (in Arabic): أهل خوارزم [...] کانوا غصناً من دوحة الفرس ("The people of Khwarezm were a branch from the Persian tree.") The area of Khwarezm was under Afrighid and then Samanid control until the 10th century before it was conquered by the Ghaznavids . The Iranian Khwarezmian language and culture felt

328-486: A cold desert climate ( BWk in the Köppen climate classification ), with long and hot summers. Winters are relatively short, but quite cold. Precipitation is scarce throughout the year, with an average of 109 mm (4.36 in). Khwarazm Khwarazm ( / x w ə ˈ r æ z ə m / ; Old Persian : Hwârazmiya ; Persian : خوارزم , Xwârazm or Xârazm ) or Chorasmia ( / k ə ˈ r æ z m i ə / )

410-428: A complex of monuments, all constructed in different periods of time, from the 14th to the 19th centuries. Ak-Kala is a fortress located southwest of the ruins of medieval Urgench. Its walls, whose height ranges from 6 to 8 meters, and which measure approximately 2 meters at the top, stretch on more than a kilometre. They were built with sun dried mud-bricks and their corners are decorated with semi-circular towers, whilst

492-400: A former madrasa constructed in the early 20th century. It was built as a mosque and it served as a madrasah before it was turned into a site museum in the 1990s. Its structure is mainly square, with a multitude of rooms opening into a large courtyard, and which now house various exhibits. The museum displays focus on the history of the site, on traditional arts and crafts of the region, on

574-450: A massive round drum and a conical roof with an inner dome hidden under it. The dome is connected to the square walls it rests upon by an octagonal belt. The structure between the dome and the octagon is decorated with 16 shallow niches . Their form is not lancet-like as those commonly found in the Islamic architecture of Central Asia, but rather semicircular. This is a motif that can be found in

656-530: A native Khwarezmian Iranian dynasty which ruled as the Shahs of Khwarezm from 305 to 995 AD. At times they were under Sassanian suzerainty. In 712, Khwarezm was conquered by the Arab Caliphate ( Umayyads and Abbasids ). It thus came vaguely under Muslim control, but it was not till the end of the 8th century and the beginning of the 9th century that an Afrighid Shah first converted to Islam appearing with

738-474: A researcher in early Indo-European history, believes that Airyanem Vaejah was in what is now Afghanistan , the northern areas of which were a part of ancient Khwarazm and Greater Khorasan . Others, however, disagree. University of Hawaii historian Elton L. Daniel believes Khwarazm to be the "most likely locale" corresponding to the original home of the Avestan people, and Dehkhoda calls Khwarazm "the cradle of

820-522: A revolt in 1017, Khwarezmian rebels murdered Abu'l-Abbas Ma'mun and his wife, Hurra-ji , sister of the Ghaznavid sultan Mahmud . In response, Mahmud invaded and occupied the region of Khwarazm, which included Nasa and the ribat of Farawa . As a result, Khwarazm became a province of the Ghaznavid Empire from 1017 to 1034. In 1077, the governorship of the province, which since 1042/1043 belonged to

902-399: A vestibule. One of the most impressive architectural features of the mausoleum is the circular dome covering the main hall, whose surface is covered in colourful mosaic which forms intricate ornamental patterns consisting of flowers and stars, creating a visual metaphor for the heavens. No comparable contemporary parallels can be found at Urgench, as some of the architectural features, such as

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984-431: Is a highly sophisticated work of architecture, both in its conceptualisation of spaces and in its engineering. Both are fully utilised in a conscious way to achieve a visual, aesthetic and spiritual effect. The original building was composed of two chambers: a large domed hall and a smaller one behind it. The large chamber is twelve-sided on the exterior and hexagonal on the interior, being preceded by an entrance portal and

1066-870: Is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia , bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea , on the east by the Kyzylkum Desert , on the south by the Karakum Desert , and on the west by the Ustyurt Plateau . It was the center of the Iranian Khwarezmian civilization, and a series of kingdoms such as the Afrighid dynasty and the Anushtegin dynasty , whose capitals were (among others) Kath , Gurganj (now Konye-Urgench ) and—from

1148-562: Is declared to be part of the Persian Empire . Some of the early scholars believed Khwarazm to be what ancient Avestic texts refer to as Airyanem Vaejah ( Airyanəm Vaēǰah ; later Middle Persian Ērān-wēz ). These sources claim that Old Urgench , which was the capital of ancient Khwarazm for many years, was actually Ourva, the eighth land of Ahura Mazda mentioned in the Pahlavi text of Vendidad . However, Michael Witzel ,

1230-673: Is further divided. Northern Khwarezm became the Uzbek SSR , and in 1925 the western part became the Turkmen SSR . Also, in 1936 the northwestern part became the Kazakh SSR . Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, these became Uzbekistan , Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan respectively. Many of the ancient Khwarezmian towns now lie in Xorazm Region , Uzbekistan . Today, the area that

1312-495: Is protected by a thick mud-brick wall which dates back to the 10th to 14th centuries, and has been partially rebuilt after archaeological excavations. This complex is situated in the centre of the new town of Kunya-Urgench, within a Muslim cemetery. The Najm-ad-Din al-Kubra Mausoleum was erected in the first half of the 14th century, and derives its name from the philosopher, painter, physician, chess master and general Najm al-Din Kubra ,

1394-885: Is that the Iranian compound stands for 'lowland' from kh(w)ar 'low' and zam 'land'. Khwarazm is indeed the lowest region in Central Asia (except for the Caspian Sea to the far west), located on the delta of the Amu Darya on the southern shores of the Aral Sea . Various forms of khwar/khar/khor/hor are commonly used in the Persian Gulf to stand for tidal flats, marshland, or tidal bays (e.g., Khor Musa , Khor Abdallah , Hor al-Azim , Hor al-Himar , etc.) The name also appears in Achaemenid inscriptions as Huvarazmish , which

1476-643: The Afrighid line of Khwarazmshahs, having placed the ascension of Afrighids in 616 of the Seleucid era, i.e. in 305 AD. Like Sogdia , Khwarazm was an expansion of the Bactria–Margiana culture during the Bronze Age , which later fused with Indo-Iranians during their migrations around 1000 BC. Early Iron Age states arose from this cultural exchange. List of successive cultures in Khwarazm region 3000–500 BC: During

1558-592: The Aryan tribe" ( مهد قوم آریا ). The Khwarezmian scholar Al-Biruni (973–1048) says that the land belonging to the mythical king Afrasiab was first colonised 980 years before Alexander the Great (thus c.  1292 BC , well before the Seleucid era ) when the hero of the Iranian epic Siyavash came to Khwarazm; his son Kay Khusraw came to the throne 92 years later, in 1200 BC. Al-Biruni starts giving names only with

1640-633: The British Empire in the First Anglo-Afghan War in 1839. The Khanate of Khiva was gradually reduced in size from Russian expansion in Turkestan (including Khwarezm) and, in 1873, a peace treaty was signed that established Khiva as a quasi-independent Russian protectorate . In 1912, the Khiva Khanate numbered up to 440 schools and up to 65 madrasahs with 22,500 students. More than half of

1722-928: The Seljuqs , fell into the hands of Anush Tigin Gharchai , a former Turkic slave of the Seljuq sultan. In 1141, the Seljuq Sultan Ahmed Sanjar was defeated by the Qara Khitai at the battle of Qatwan , and Anush Tigin's grandson Ala ad-Din Atsiz became a vassal to Yelü Dashi of the Qara Khitan . Sultan Ahmed Sanjar died in 1156. As the Seljuk state fell into chaos, the Khwarezm-Shahs expanded their territories southward. In 1194,

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1804-651: The Türkmenabat -Beyneu railway line. Urban transportation in Urgench includes buses, trolleybuses, and minibus taxis. There is a unique trolleybus line between Urgench and Khiva , which is unusual for Central Asia . The Urgench Airport holds international status and is capable of accommodating all types of passenger aircraft. Regular flights operate to destinations including Tashkent , Moscow ( Uzbekistan Airways , Siberia Airlines ), Saint Petersburg , Paris , Rome , and Milan , as well as charter flights for tourists. In 1999,

1886-642: The UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites . Located on the south side of the Amu Darya River, Old Ürgenç was situated on one of the most important medieval paths: the Silk Road , the crossroad of western and eastern civilisations. It is one of the most important archaeological sites in Turkmenistan, lying within a vast zone of protected landscape and containing a large number of well-preserved monuments, dating from

1968-538: The " Fifty fortresses oasis ". Chorasmia remained relatively sheltered from the interests of the Seleucid Empire or Greco-Bactria, but various elements of Hellenistic art appear in the ruins of Chorasmian cities, particularly at Akchakhan-Kala , and the influence of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara , reflecting the rise of Kushan Empire , appears at Toprak-Kala . The early rulers of Chorasmia first imitated

2050-555: The "O'zbekiston Turizm" company's branch, as well as the "Jaykhun," "Khorezm Palace," and "Avesto" hotels. In the city, there are 27 newspapers and magazines published, including "Xorazm Haqiqati," "Urganch Oqshomi," "Yoshlar Ovozi," "Tujjor," and others. 41°33′N 60°38′E  /  41.550°N 60.633°E  / 41.550; 60.633 Konye-Urgench Konye-Urgench ( Turkmen : Köneürgenç / کؤنه‌‌اۆرگنچ; Persian : کهنه گرگانج , Kuhna Gurgānj , literally "Old Gurgānj"), also known as Old Urgench or Urganj ,

2132-598: The 10th and 14th centuries as the Khwarezmian capital, replacing Kath . Gurjanu served as an important trading center, competing in fame and population with many other Central Asian cities, such as Bukhara . It had become highly prosperous due to its strategic location on the main trade routes from the south to the north, and the west to the east, vastly contributing to the development of science and culture in Central Asia. According to an 1893 writer Djordjania or Jorjania

2214-516: The 11th to the 16th centuries. They comprise mosques , the gates of a caravanserai , fortresses, mausoleums and a minaret , and the influence of their architectural style and craftsmanship reached Iran , Afghanistan and the later architecture of the Mughal Empire of 16th-century India . Atanyyazow explains, "In the works of Chinese historians, the name Yue-Gyan, which occurs in Georgian forms in

2296-1702: The 16th century on— Khiva . Today Khwarazm belongs partly to Uzbekistan and partly to Turkmenistan . Khwarazm has been known also as Chorasmia , Khaurism , Khwarezm , Khwarezmia , Khwarizm , Khwarazm , Khorezm , Khoresm , Khorasam , Kharazm , Harezm , Horezm , and Chorezm . In Avestan the name is Xvairizem ; in Old Persian 𐎢𐎺𐎠𐎼𐏀𐎷𐎡𐏁 u-v-a-r-z-mi-i-š or 𐎢𐎺𐎠𐎼𐏀𐎷𐎡𐎹 u-v-a-r-z-mi-i-y (/ Uvārazmī-/); in Modern Persian : خوارزم Xārazm ; in Arabic : خَـوَارِزْم Khawārizm ; in Old Chinese * qʰaljɯʔmriɡ ( 呼似密 ); in Modern Chinese Huālázǐmó ( 花剌子模 / Xiao'erjing : خُوَلاذِمُوْ); in Tajik : Хоразм , Xorazm , خوارَزم; in Kazakh : Хорезм ( Xorezm ), حورەزم; in Uzbek : Xorazm , Хоразм , خورەزم; in Turkmen : Horezm , Хорезм , خوْرِزم; in Azerbaijani : Xarəzm , Харәзм ; in Turkish : Harezm ; in Greek language Χορασμία ( Chorasmía ) and Χορασίμα ( Chorasíma ) by Herodotus . The Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi in his Muʿǧam al-Buldan wrote that

2378-434: The 16th century, when it was replaced as a regional capital by Khiva and was ultimately abandoned. The area was later inhabited by the Turkmen people from the early 19th century, but they mostly developed outside the old town, utilising the latter as a graveyard . However, this use has now stopped, and efforts have been made to remove the decaying grave stones that can be encountered at the site. The new town of Urgench

2460-553: The 19th century at the site of a little trade station of the Khanate of Khiva . Modern Urgench is a Soviet -style city with cotton motifs adorning many objects, from street lights to apartment houses. Of note is a monument to the twenty Komsomol members killed by Tekke basmachi on the banks of the Syr Darya in 1922, and a large statue to Muhammad al-Khwarizmi , the 9th century local mathematician who revolutionised algebra , outside

2542-622: The 800th anniversary of Jalaluddin Manguberdi was celebrated in the city, and in 2001, the 2700th anniversary of the creation of the "Avesto" book was commemorated on an international scale. In 2003, a number of major sports facilities were built in the city for the Republic Sports Competitions "Umid Nihollari" held in Khorezm . Tourism has developed, especially in connection with ancient Khiva . The local and foreign visitors are served by

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2624-561: The Achaemenid Empire had a great influence on the material culture of Chorasmia, starting a period of rich economic and cultural development. Chorasmian troops participated in the Second Persian invasion of Greece by Xerxes in the 480 BC, under the command of Achaemenid general and later satrap Artabazos I of Phrygia . By the time of the Persian king Darius III , Khwarazm had already become an independent kingdom. Chorasmia

2706-650: The Hotel Urgench. Urgench is the main gateway for tourists to Khiva , 35 kilometres (22 mi) to the southeast, whose old city, known as Itchan Kala , is a UNESCO World Heritage Site . The city is located 968 kilometers west of Tashkent , 6 kilometers west of the Amu Darya River 's bank (at the Chalysh port) along the Shavkat Canal. Urgench has a cold desert climate ( Köppen climate classification BWk ). In

2788-610: The Islamic " amir of Khwarezm" ( امیر خوارزم ), or even the Khwarezmid Empire , sources such as Al-Biruni and Ibn Khordadbeh and others clearly refer to Khwarezm as being part of the Iranian (Persian) empire. During the reign of Khosrow II , extensive areas of Khwarezm were conquered. The fact that Pahlavi script which was used by the Persian bureaucracy alongside Old Persian , passed into use in Khwarezmia where it served as

2870-636: The Kushan rulers Vima Kadphises and Kanishka . From the 2nd century AD, Chorasmia became part of the vast cultural sphere corresponding to the rise of the Kushan Empire in the east. Under Shapur I , the Sasanian Empire spread as far as Khwarezm. Yaqut al-Hamawi verifies that Khwarezm was a regional capital of the Sassanid empire. When speaking of the pre-Islamic " khosrau of Khwarezm" ( خسرو خوارزم ),

2952-692: The Mongols near the Caspian Sea, while his son Jalal ad-Din , after being defeated by Genghis Khan at the Battle of Indus , sought refuge with the Delhi Sultanate , and was later assassinated after various attempts to defeat the Mongols and the Seljuks . In 1360 there arose in Ḵwarazm an independent minor dynasty of Qunghrat Turks, the Ṣūfīs, but Solaymān Ṣūfī was crushed by Timur in 1388. The Islamization of Khwarazm

3034-424: The Muslim world, and can be recognised in the structures and decorations of many buildings from the Timur period, both within Turkmenistan, and in regions such as Uzbekistan , Afghanistan , Transcaucasia , Turkey , Iran , Pakistan and India . For example, a multitude of buildings in Samarkand were erected by builders and architects employed from Kunya Urgench in the 14th century. The ingenuity and skill of

3116-458: The Qara Khitai who sent him an army. With this reinforcement, Muhammad won a victory over the Ghorids at Hezarasp (1204) and forced them out of Khwarizm. The Khwarezmid Empire ruled over all of Persia in the early 13th century under Shah ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Muhammad II (1200–1220). From 1218 to 1220, Genghis Khan conquered Central Asia including the Kara-Khitai Khanate , thus ending the Khwarezmid Empire. Sultan Muhammad died after retreating from

3198-431: The Timurids and the Golden Horde, but in 1511 it passed to a new, local Uzbek dynasty, the ʿArabshahids. This, together with a shift in the course of the Amu-Darya, caused the center of Khwarezm to shift to Khiva , which became in the 16th century the capital of the Khanate of Khiva , ruled over by the dynasty of the Arabshahids . Khiva Khanate is the name of Khwarazm adopted in the Russian historical tradition during

3280-416: The banks of the Amu Darya during the reign of Russia's Peter the Great , together with the desire of the Russian Empire to open a trade route to the Indus (modern day Pakistan ), prompted an armed trade expedition to the region, led by Prince Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky , which was repelled by Khiva. During the reign of the Uzbek Khan Said Muhammad Khan (1856–1864) in the 1850s, for the first time in

3362-432: The building served a different purpose from that of a mausoleum, such as, for example, a House of Government or a Palace of the Great Khwarzm-shahs. Kyrkmolla is a 12-meter-high (39 ft) mound which used to constitute a fortress. It is located in the north-eastern outskirts of Gurgench. It is particularly significant as the earliest ceramics discovered at the site, dating back to the 5th century BC, were located here. It

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3444-414: The building tradition of Urgench, etc. The largest room is dedicated to the history and treasures of the old city, including a comprehensive miniature model of Gurgench and a variety of artefacts such as ceramic bowls, glazed tiles, children's toys, or Arabic texts. Another important room centres around the Dash Mosque and the history of its construction and use. Around the courtyard, behind the main building,

3526-408: The buildings, and the most substantial restoration work has been carried out in the past thirty years, during the soviet era, using traditional methods and materials. The Kutlug Timur minaret is perhaps the most striking structure here. It dates to the 11th and 12th centuries, and measures 60 meters in height, making it the highest monument in the park. Its diameter is 12 meters at its base, and 2 at

3608-400: The city, there are factories for various purposes, including those producing forage harvesters, cotton cleaning machines, oil extraction, repair excavators, and tire repair. There are also silk and sewing factories and the production of construction materials has been established. Additionally, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Uzbekistan is in operation. The city has a railway station on

3690-454: The coinage of the Greco-Bactrian ruler Eucratides I . Parthian artistic influences have also been described. From the 1st century BC, Chorasmia developed original coins inspired from Greco-Bactrian, Parthian, and Indo-Scythian types. Artav (Artabanus), a Chorasmian ruler of the 1st–2nd century AD, whose coins were discovered in the capital city of Toprak-Kala, imitated the type of the Kushan Heraios and were found together with coins of

3772-445: The decorations mentioned above, do not appear in other monuments built during the lifetime of Turabek-Khanum, around 1330. Thus, it is difficult to date the building so early. These features do, however, appear in Central Asia later, during the reign of Timur , a warlord of Turco-Mongol descent. New technologies, such as mosaic faience, show up in Timur's earliest buildings, such as the Aq Saray palace in Shahrisabz , in Uzbekistan, which

3854-413: The dome presents a tiling technique executed in turquoise glazed brick tiles, forming a geometric pattern. According to some of the latest scientific discoveries, one of the structure's functions, at a certain point, was that of storing water. This monument is dedicated to Ibn Khajib, one of Najm-ad-Din al-Kubra's talented disciples. It is located in the western part of ancient Urgench and it consists of

3936-434: The earliest existing Islamic mausoleum in Central Asia, the early 10th-century mausoleum of the Samanids in Bukhara , but instead of a hemispherical dome it has a faceted conical roof. The structure is decorated with a motif carved in relief into brick panels, a frieze containing an aphorism written in beautiful script, and with carved vegetal motifs displaying variations of an arabesque pattern. The decorative scheme of

4018-409: The final Saka phase, there were about 400 settlements in Khwarezm. Ruled by the native Afrighid dynasty , it was at this point that Khwarezm entered the historical record with the Achaemenid expansion . An East Iranian language, Khwarezmian was spoken in Khwarezm proper (i.e., the lower Amu Darya region) until soon after the Mongol invasion , when it was replaced by Turkic languages . It

4100-449: The first local alphabet about the AD 2nd century, as well as evidence that Khwarezm-Shahs such as ʿAlā al-Dīn Tekish (1172–1200) issued all their orders (both administrative and public) in Persian language , corroborates Al-Biruni's claims. It was also a vassal kingdom during periods of Kushans , Hephthalites and Gokturks power before the coming of the Arabs. Per Al-Biruni , the Afrighids of Kath ( آفریغیان-آل آفریغ ) were

4182-405: The founder of the Kubrawiya Sufi order . This is one of the structures which was rebuilt during the Khorezm era of prosperity, and also after the Mongol invasion. The Mausoleum of Sultan Ali, who ruled in the 16th century, is located across. It is a hexagonal monument, with a dome measuring 9.5 meters in diameter. The Mausoleum of Piryar Vali, a contemporary of Najm al-Din al-Kubra, is located to

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4264-429: The history of Khwarazm, a general population census of Khwarazm was carried out. It was under Tsars Alexander II and Alexander III that serious efforts to annex the region started. One of the main pretexts for Russian military expeditions to Khiva was to free Russian slaves in the khanate and to prevent future slave capture and trade. Early in The Great Game , Russian interests in the region collided with those of

4346-409: The inner side of the fortress wall is sustained by buttresses. This is a quadrangular fortress, erected by Khan Muhammed Emin, measuring 400 by 500 meters, and was built in the mid-19th century in the south-western outskirts of Kunya-Urgench. It is surrounded by a high defensive wall which has been severely eroded by the passing of time. The museum is located in the brick structure the Dash Mosque,

4428-450: The inside, it is strengthened with 12 buttresses standing upon the internal dome. Although this might seem like a risky construction technique, the roof is not in bad condition: only the top is destroyed, and the blue majolica decoration slightly damaged. One of the special features of the building's architecture is its façade . It presents a high portal niche with the main archway, which has now lost its original form. The lancet arch of

4510-508: The invasion, the city was revived and it regained its previous status. It was described by the 14th-century Berber traveller Ibn Battuta as "the largest, greatest, most beautiful and most important city of the Turks. It has fine bazaars and broad streets, a great number of buildings and abundance of commodities". In 1373, Timur attacked Khwarezm, and its ruler Yusef Sufi of the Sufi Dynasty surrendered to Timur. In 1379, Yusef Sufi rebelled against Timur, who sacked Urgench, and Yusef Sufi

4592-423: The last Sultan of the Great Seljuq Empire , Toghrul III , was defeated and killed by the Khwarezm ruler Ala ad-Din Tekish , who conquered parts of Khorasan and western Iran. In 1200, Tekish died and was succeeded by his son, Ala ad-Din Muhammad , who initiated a conflict with the Ghurids and was defeated by them at Amu Darya (1204). Following the sack of Khwarizm, Muhammad appealed for aid from his suzerain ,

4674-426: The local craftsmen and architects can be seen in the exceptional construction details, such as structure, form or ornamentation, which have been perfected throughout time. Furthermore, traditional building techniques have survived to this day: for example, the kilns at Kunya Urgench are still used throughout the region for the production of bricks utilised in the reconstruction of historic buildings. Kunya Urgench has

4756-518: The madrasahs were in the city of Khiva (38). After the Bolshevik seizure of power in the October Revolution , a short-lived Khorezm People's Soviet Republic (later the Khorezm SSR) was created out of the territory of the old Khanate of Khiva, before in 1924 it was finally incorporated into the Soviet Union , with the former Khanate divided between the new Turkmen SSR , Uzbek SSR and Karakalpakstan ASSR (initially part of Kazakh ASSR as Karakalpak Oblast). The larger historical area of Khwarezm

4838-409: The marble 8th-century mihrab at the Baghdad Museum, and has seldom been used in Central Asia: another comparable case that can be found in Turkmenistan is that of the mihrab of Muhammad Ibn Zayd's 11th-century mosque, from Merv . However, the two are located too far away to be considered prototypes . The external conical roof is built of horizontal layers using the technique of a false vault . From

4920-405: The modern city of Urgench some distance away) again became one of the largest and most important trading centers in Central Asia. In the mid-14th century Khwarezm gained independence from the Golden Horde under the Sufid dynasty. However, Timur regarded Khwarezm as a rival to Samarkand , and over the course of five campaigns, destroyed Urganch in 1388. Control of the region was disputed by

5002-426: The most powerful kingdom northwest of the Amu Darya (the Oxus River of antiquity). The king's emissary offered to lead Alexander's armies against his own enemies, west over the Caspian towards the Black Sea (e.g. Kingdom of Iberia and Colchis ). Khwarezm was largely independent during the Seleucid , Greco-Bactrian and Arsacid dynasties. Numerous fortresses were built, and the Khwarazm oasis has been dubbed

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5084-432: The name was a Persian compound of khwar ( خوار ), and razm ( رزم ), referring to the abundance of cooked fish as a main diet of the peoples of this area. C.E. Bosworth , however, believed the Persian name to be made up of xor ( خور 'the sun') and zam ( زم 'earth, land'), designating 'the land from which the sun rises', although a similar etymology is also given for Khurasan . Another view

5166-405: The period of its existence (1512–1920). The Khiva Khanate was one of the Uzbek khanates . The term "Khiva Khanate" was used for the state in Khwarazm that existed from the beginning of the 16th century until 1920. The term "Khiva Khanate" was not used by the locals, who used the name Khvarazm. In Russian sources the term Khiva Khanate began to be used from the 18th century. The rumors of gold on

5248-435: The popular convert's name of ʿAbdullah ('slave of God'). In the course of the 10th century—when some geographers such as Istakhri in his Al-Masalik wa-l-mamalik mention Khwarezm as part of Khorasan and Transoxiania —the local Ma'munids , based in Gurganj on the left bank of the Amu Darya, grew in economic and political importance due to trade caravans. In 995, they violently overthrew the Afrighids and themselves assumed

5330-408: The portal is filled by a complicated system of stalactite -like forms, which is a decorative motif made of terracotta and fixed on wooden sticks within the brickwork. Research concerning this structure has given rise to speculations that the Mausoleum of Tekesh might have stood at the centre of some large construction that consisted of a multitude of buildings. Thus, certain scholars would argue that

5412-413: The pressure of Turkic infiltration from northern Khwarezm southwards, leading to the disappearance of the original Iranian character of the province and its complete Turkicization today. Khwarezmian speech probably lasted in upper Khwarezm, the region round Hazarasp , till the end of the 8th/14th century. The Khwarezmian language survived for several centuries after Islam until the Turkification of

5494-458: The region, and so must some at least of the culture and lore of ancient Khwarezm, for it is hard to see the commanding figure of Al-Biruni, a repository of so much knowledge, appearing in a cultural vacuum. The Achaemenid Empire took control of Chorasmia during the time of King Darius I (ruled 522–486 BC). And the Persian poet Ferdowsi mentions Persian cities like Afrasiab and Chach in abundance in his epic Shahnama . The contact with

5576-414: The remaining smaller rooms, formerly the bedrooms of the students at the madrasa, have been converted into 19 displays explaining the traditional handicrafts of the region such as carpet making, pottery, Yurt construction, etc. Kunya Urgench has been, for a long period of time, a prolific school of construction masters. The knowledge and skills of this school have spread, throughout the centuries, amongst

5658-413: The top. On the basis of its decorative brickwork, including Kufic inscriptions, the minaret is thought to be an earlier construction, only restored by Kutlug-Timur around 1330. Named after Turabek-Khanum, the wife of Kutlug-Timur (ruled between 1321 and 1336), this structure is located at the northern part of ancient Gurgench. It is remarkable for its elegant design and stunning tile decoration, and it

5740-431: The traditional title of Khwarazm-Shah. Briefly, the area was under Samanid suzerainty, before it passed to Mahmud of Ghazni in 1017. From then on, Turko-Mongolian invasions and long rule by Turko-Mongol dynasties supplanted the Iranian character of the region although the title of Khwarezm-Shah was maintained well up to the 13th century. The date of the founding of the Khwarazmian dynasty remains debatable. During

5822-445: The west of the latter's mausoleum, and was built in the 13th and 14th centuries. It is 6.5 meters high and measures 7.5 meters in length. Il Arslan is a magnificent piece of architecture, also known among the people as the Mausoleum of Kho-Rezmshah II Arslan, who ruled from 1156 to 1172. The mausoleum, dating to the 12th century, is the oldest standing monument in Gurgench. The building has a cuboidal structure of baked brick similar to

5904-509: The works of Arab scholars of the 10th century,...was used in the form of Gurganj, a native of Khorezm....and -j, according to Yakut, mean[s] just like the word... abat , i.e., "village" and "city"...Given the ancient name of the word Gurgen..., then the toponym of Gurganj...has the meaning of "Gurgen city", "Gurgen city of the people". Later, the name Gurganj began to be used in the form of Urgench." To what Gurgen or Gurgan refer, however, remains unexplained. The exact dates when Kunya-Urgench

5986-420: Was Khwarezm has a mixed population of Uzbeks , Karakalpaks , Turkmens , Tajiks , Tatars , and Kazakhs . Khwarezm and her cities appear in Persian literature in abundance, in both prose and poetry. Dehkhoda for example defines the name Bukhara itself as "full of knowledge", referring to the fact that in antiquity, Bukhara was a scientific and scholarship powerhouse. Rumi verifies this when he praises

6068-423: Was a city of about 30,000 inhabitants in north Turkmenistan , just south from its border with Uzbekistan . It is the site of the ancient town of Gurgānj, which contains the ruins of the capital of Khwarazm . Its inhabitants deserted the town in the early eighteenth century in order to develop a new settlement, and Konye-Urgench has remained undisturbed ever since. In 2005, the ruins of Old Urgench were inscribed on

6150-558: Was begun in 1379 but was still unfinished in 1404. This structure is the presumed Tomb of Sultan Ala al-Din Tekish , the founder of the Khwarazmian Empire and its ruler between 1172-1200. It has been identified as a mausoleum due to the tradition that each ancient Central Asian building is dedicated to a historical or mythical personage. The building is made of bricks and consists of a square hall with walls which are 11,45 meters high,

6232-571: Was closely related to Sogdian . Other than the astronomical terms used by the native Iranian Khwarezmian speaker Al-Biruni , our other sources of Khwarezmian include al-Zamakhshari 's Arabic – Persian –Khwarezmian dictionary and several legal texts that use Khwarezmian terms to explain certain legal concepts. For most of its history, up until the Mongol conquest, the inhabitants of the area were from Iranian stock, and they spoke an Eastern Iranian language called Khwarezmian. The scientist Al-Biruni,

6314-426: Was developed to the southeast, in present-day Uzbekistan . Some of the first archeological research on the old city site was conducted by Alexander Yakubovsky in 1929. The urban layout of Kunya Urgench has been lost and only certain monuments remain standing to this day. These are authentic and rich examples of fine architecture and building traditions existing for centuries. The level of conservation varies amongst

6396-583: Was founded remain uncertain, but archaeological finds at the Kyrkmolla Hill (one of the main fortresses at the site) reveal that the town already had a strong structure in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Some of the earliest records show that Khwarezm was conquered by the Arabs in 712, who took the capital city of Kath of the Iranic Khwarazmian Afrighid dynasty. The city rose to prominence between

6478-463: Was involved in the conquests of Alexander the Great in Central Asia . When the king of Khwarezm offered friendship to Alexander in 328 BC, Alexander's Greek and Roman biographers imagined the nomad king of a desert waste, but 20th-century Russian archeologists revealed the region as a stable and centralized kingdom, a land of agriculture to the east of the Aral Sea , surrounded by the nomads of Central Asia, protected by its army of mailed horsemen, in

6560-533: Was killed. In 1388, the Sufi dynasty of Urgench again revolted against Timur; this time Timur razed Urgench to the ground and massacred its population, destroyed the city's irrigation system, and had barley planted over the ground where the city had once stood, leaving only one mosque standing. This, coupled with the sudden change of the Amu-Darya River's course, constituted the beginning of Kunya-Urgench's decline until

6642-732: Was reflected in the creation of literary, scientific and religious works and in the translation of Arabic works into the Turkic language. In the Suleymaniye Library in Istanbul, the Koran is kept with an interlinear translation into Turkic, written in Khwarazm and dated (January – February 1363). The region of Khwarezm was split between the White Horde and Jagatai Khanate , and its rebuilt capital Gurganj (modern Kunya Urgench , "Old Gorganj" as opposed to

6724-662: Was the "second capital" of the country. It was on the Wadak canal which seems to be the east end of the Kunya-Darya which seems to be the river bed that now leads to the Sarykamysh Lake . Just east of the town was the Gurganj Dam that irrigated the area and blocked the flow of the Oxus into the Caspian Sea . In 1221 both town and dam were destroyed by the Mongols and the surrounding area became

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