3. From Tents to City

This chapter deals with the Western Qaghanate and the situation in its two major cities, Bukhara and Samarqand. It retraces a particular aspect of the history of the Western Qarakhanids: their moving towards and into the city. This process took quite some time, starting generations after the conquest, and came to an end only in the very last generation of Qarakhanid rule in Transoxania. Methodologically, the chapter uses both archaeological sources (mostly from excavations in Samarqand) and textual sources (including belles-lettres, waqf documents and poetry). It retraces the chronology of Qarakhanid building activity with a particular focus on the question of where the Qarakhanid rulers resided. The Qarakhanid 'retreat' to Samarqand in the mid-twelfth century was one of the main reasons behind the subsequent installation of the royal court in the citadel. Keywords:archaeological excavation; Bukhara; citadel; royal court; Samarqand; Western Qarakhanid

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