Timbuktu vs. Samarkand

Timbuktu vs. Samarkand
by Rit Nosotro
Comparative Essay

Compare the economic, social, cultural, and political role of Samarkand and Timbuktu.

Timbuktu and Samarkand are two cities of great historical importance. In the past, they were both important cities politically, economically, socially and culturally. What are some of the similarities and differences in the history of these two great cities? And most of all, why did these two great cities go through such great decline? Let’s dig deep and take a closer look at the history of both cities.

Timbuktu is located in the modern nation of Mali in Northwestern Africa, which is in the Sahara Desert. The city of Timbuktu was an important intellectual and spiritual city for the expansion of Islam on the continent of Africa. Samarkand, meanwhile, is located in the historic region of Central Asia known as Transoxiana and is located in the modern nation of Uzbekistan, a part of the former Soviet Union.

Timbuktu was important economically because of their success in trading. It was the center of trading in Africa because of its strategic location on the trans-Saharan trade route, which crossed the largest desert in the world. This brought a vast amount of wealth to the city, and the wealth in turn attracted many merchants, traders, and men from the areas of academic and religious learning. The people from Morocco sold the people from Timbuktu Taghaza (a type of Saharan salt), cloth, and horses in exchange for gold and slaves. The height of Timbuktu’s commercial and intellectual development was during the Askia period of 1493-1591.

Samarkand, similarly, was also important as an economical center and was successful in trading. Like Timbuktu, it was at a strategic location on a trade route. Samarkand was located on the Silk Road, which was important for the Silk Trade between Asia and Europe. The Soghdian people, who were from Iran, had a large network of merchants located in China. They went as far as Byzantium with the Silk Trade. Samarkand also served as the capital of Timur’s great Mongol empire.

Culturally, Timbuktu was a great city of learning and of religion. The city had scholars from places such as Mecca, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which attracted students from a wide area. Islamic universities, schools, and libraries were built there under the rule of the Mali and Songhai Empires. The golden age of Timbuktu ended in the 16th century with the arrival of Islamic invaders from Morocco.

Samarkand was also a great education center. Poets and historians described it as the “Eden of the East” and the “Rome of the East”. Religiously, Samarkand, like Timbuktu, was mostly dominated by the Islamic people. It had many large mosques and madrassas (Islamic schools for children), many of which are still standing today. However, after being attacked and conquered by the great rulers of Alexander the Great, Tamerlane, and Genghis Khan, Samarkand eventually declined.

Today, Timbuktu is not at all close to its prestige of long ago, and it is no longer a large city. Its size is closer to that of a town, and its population is small, at around twenty thousand people. The city is most accessible by camel cargo. It is a small administrative centre of the modern Sahara nation of Mali.

Samarkand currently boasts a population of about half a million inhabitants. Even though it is past its golden age, it is still the second largest city in the nation of Uzbekistan. It is also one of the oldest existing cities in the whole world. However, lots of its prestige and grandeur has also been lost.

The biggest and most important similarity between these two cities is the fact that after a rise and a golden age of trade and culture, both reached a period of decline. Throughout history, we see cities, cultures, and nations who have declined. What is the reason? Could it be that when a city exhalts itself against God it could still scattered like Babel in Genesis 11? Could a sinful city still bring destruction upon itself like Sodom?

The United States is a very powerful, rich, and successful nation. When its laws were made, they were based on the word of God. But the people have turned away and even the moral standards of the church have declined. Murder, divorce, suicide, abortions, rape, theft, homosexuality, and many other things have become common. Christians must be on our guard against the evils of sin. "Whatsoever a man sows, that also shall he reap." How soon until America will be another nation that has left an incomplete legacy, and her cities deteriorate like Timbuktu and Samarkand?

QUICK QUIZ

Where is Timbuktu located?
1. On the moon
2. In the modern nation of Nepal
3. in the modern nation of Uzbekistan
4. in the modern nation of Mali

Where is Samarkand located?
1. On the moon
2. In the modern nation of Nepal
3. in the modern nation of Uzbekistan
4. in the modern nation of Mali

What was the prominent religion in both Timbuktu and Samarkand?
1. Islam
2. Christianity
3. Buddhism
4. Cow worshipping

Which is not true of Timbuktu?
1. It currently has a population of about twenty thousand
2. It was located along the Silk Road
3. It is located in Africa
4. It was a great center of learning

Which is true of Samarkand?
1. It was located on the trans-Saharan trade route.
2. It has never been conquered
3. It is the second largest city in Uzbekistan.
4. It is on the moon.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fact Monster Samarkand History 2003, Columbia University Press.
http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/world/A0860907.html

The Salmons Timbuktu http://www.thesalmons.org/lynn/wh-timbuktu.html

from <http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/essays/comp/cw14timbuktuSamarkand.htm> ( )

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