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Landmark archaeological

Afrasiab (Ancient Samarkand)

500 BCE – 1220 CE · 1,720 years

Ruins of pre-Mongol Samarkand in Uzbekistan, a major Silk Road hub with 7th-century palace murals depicting ambassadors

See it on the timeline

Who held this ground

Borders from dated snapshots, up to a century apart; precision varies.

Reconstruction

  1. Before it was built (3000 BCE–700 BCE)
  2. Achaemenid Empire (500 BCE–400 BCE) Border precision: Approximate
  3. Empire of Alexander (323 BCE) Border precision: Approximate
  4. Seleucid Kingdom (300 BCE) Border precision: Approximate
  5. Bactria (200 BCE) Border precision: Approximate
  6. Kushan Empire (100 BCE) Border precision: Approximate
  7. No border recorded here in this snapshot (1 BCE)
  8. Kushan Empire (100 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  9. No border recorded here in this snapshot (200 CE–600 CE)
  10. Western Gokturk Khaganate (700 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  11. Abbasid Caliphate (800 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  12. Samanid Empire (900 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  13. No border recorded here in this snapshot (1000 CE)
  14. Karakhanids (1100 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  15. Kara Khitai Khaganate (1200 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  16. Chagatai Khanate (1279 CE–1300 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  17. Timurid Empire (1400 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  18. Chagatai Khanate (1492 CE–1500 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  19. Khiva Khanate (1530 CE–1715 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  20. central Asian khanates (1783 CE–1800 CE) Border precision: Defined
  21. Turan (1815 CE) Border precision: Defined
  22. Russian Empire (1880 CE–1914 CE) Border precision: Defined
  23. Russian SFSR (1920 CE) Border precision: Defined
  24. USSR (1930 CE–1960 CE) Border precision: Defined
  25. Uzbekistan (1994 CE–2026 CE) Border precision: Defined
Border precision
  • Defined
  • Approximate

Running at the same time

Records whose own span overlaps this one, found by the same test the canvas draws with. The bar under each card is where it sits inside this one.

See the whole view

Landmark

Mogao Caves

366 CE – still standing

Polity

Srivijaya Empire

650 CE – 1400 CE

Figure · Northern India / Nepal

Buddha

563 BCE – 483 BCE

Trade route

Silk Road Southern Branch

200 BCE – 1450 CE

Conflict

Mongol Conquests

1206 CE – 1368 CE

Landmark

Samarkand

300 BCE – still standing

Polity

Scythians

Attested 400 BCE – 100 CE

Figure · State of Lu, China

Confucius

551 BCE – 479 BCE

Dated moments inside this span

Events the timeline places between 500 BCE and 1220 CE.

500 BCE Bukhara 300 BCE Samarkand 200 BCE Kashgar 200 BCE Dunhuang 200 BCE Jiaohe Ruins

And in the rest of the world

Records running through the same years, on the other side of the map.

Petra Landmark · Middle East 300 BCE – still standing Tibet Polity · South Asia 1000 CE – 1960 CE Nile River Trade Trade route · Middle East 3000 BCE – 30 BCE Greco-Persian Wars Conflict · Europe 499 BCE – 449 BCE Colosseum Landmark · Europe 80 CE – still standing Meroe Polity · Middle East 500 BCE – 400 CE
Image credits 7 pictures from Wikimedia Commons
  • Mogao Caves xiquinhosilva · CC BY 2.0
  • Srivijaya Empire Gunawan Kartapranata · CC BY-SA 3.0
  • The Buddha พระมหาเทวประภาส วชิรญาณเมธี (ผู้ถ่าย-ปล่อยสัญญาอนุญาตภาพให้นำไปใช้ได้เพื่อการศึกษาโดยอยู่… · CC BY-SA 3.0
  • Mongol conquests User:Astrokey44 · CC BY-SA 3.0
  • Samarkand Registan_-_Gusjer.jpg : Gustavo Jeronimo from Aranjuez, Spain derivative work: MrPanyGoff · CC BY 2.0
  • Scythians Antiquistik · CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Confucius Anonymous Chinese painter of the Western Han period · Public domain