Which country contains the historic city of Samarkand?

Which country contains the historic city of Samarkand? Uzbekistan.

Samarkand stands in southeastern Uzbekistan, in the fertile Zeravshan River valley near the Tajikistan border. It is one of Central Asia’s oldest continuously inhabited cities and was a major trading and cultural center on the Silk Road, linking China, Persia, and Europe.

The city was known as Maracanda when Alexander the Great captured it in 329 BCE. Centuries later, the conqueror Timur made Samarkand the capital of his empire in the 14th century. Monuments such as the Registan, Gur-e-Amir mausoleum, and Bibi-Khanym Mosque reflect that Timurid golden age.

A common mix-up is confusing Samarkand’s cultural and linguistic ties with neighboring Tajikistan. Samarkand has a strong Persian-Tajik heritage, but the city is geographically and politically in Uzbekistan. UNESCO inscribed it as “Samarkand – Crossroad of Cultures” in 2001.