Transoxiana

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Map showing modern Transoxiana. Aral Sea boundaries are circa 1960. Countries at least partially in the Aral Sea watershed are in yellow.

Seven pieces set, ivory , dated 762, found at Samarkand, one of the ancient centers of Persian civilization.

Transoxiana (sometimes spelled Transoxania) is the largely obsolete name used for the portion of Central Asia corresponding approximately with modern-day Uzbekistan and southwest Kazakhstan. Geographically, it means the region between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers. When used in the present, it usually implies that one is talking about that region in the time prior to about the 8th century CE, although the term continued to remain in use among western historians for several centuries after. In Persian epic Shahnameh, written by the poet Ferdowsi, Transoxiana is homeland of Iranian nomadic tribes known and the Oxus river is the border between Iran and Turan.

History

The region was one of the satrapies of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia under name Sogdiana. Transoxiana, however, is Latin, and literally means "beyond the Oxus River", the Greek name for the Amu Darya, which describes the region perfectly from the viewpoint of the Greeks and Romans. The name stuck in Western consciousness because of the exploits of Alexander the Great, who extended Greek culture into the region with his conquests of the 4th century BC; Transoxiana represented the uttermost northeastern point of the Hellenistic culture, and in fact kept a hybrid Greek/Persian/Chinese Buddhist culture, dubbed 'Serindian', until the Islamic conquest. During Sassanid Empire, it was often called Sogdiana, a provincial name taken from early Persian Empire of Achaemenids, and used to distinguish it from nearby Bactria. During Sassanids, the region became a major cultural and scientific center due to effective central authority and wealth from silk road. Many of Persian nobilities and landlords escaped to this region following the invasion of Muslim Arabs. Following the Arab conquest of this area, it became known as Ma wara'un-Nahr (Arabic, "what is beyond the river").

Transoxiana's major cities and cultural centers are Samarkand and Bukhara. Both are in the southern portion of Transoxiana, however (though still to the north of the Oxus itself, on the river Zeravshan), and the majority of the region was dry but fertile plains. Both cities remained as centers of Persian culture and civilization after Islamic conquest of Iran, and played a crucial role in revival of Persian culture with establishment of Samanid dynasty.

Genghis Khan invaded Transoxiana in 1219 during his conquest of Khwarazm. Before his death in 1227, he assigned the lands of Western Central Asia to his second son Chagatai, and this region became known as the Chagatai Khanate. In 1369 Tamerlane, of the Barlas tribe, became a ruler under the authority of Chagatai Khan's dynasty, and he made Samarkand the capital of his future empire.

Other uses

"Transoxiana" is also the name of a well-respected publication of researchers from Argentina and worldwide. This journal is available online at [www.transoxiana.org].

Transoxiana

History

Other uses

See also