Introduction Topic: Tourism resources of Bukhara Chapter. I. Why should we go to Bukhara?

Chapter I. Why should we go to Bukhara?
1.1. Bukhara history, legends – and pics.
Bukhara, Uzbekistan, is one of the oldest cities in the world. Estimated to have been founded more than 2500 years ago, it can compete even with Rome due to its lengthy history. It’s of course a lot older than Paris or London, and about three times as old as Moscow. There aren’t many cities that come close to Bukhara in terms of age, and also former significance – since it was one of the main trading hubs along the Silk Road.

You can read all about facts and figures of this delightful ancient city on the net. Here though, I’ll go through what remains in my memory from what we were told by our guide, adding just bits from the www to fill in any gaps.
So, Bukhara’s heyday was in the era of the Samanid Empire (late 9th to end of the 10th century), which was a time of peace. Accordingly, trade bloomed, as did progress in technology, medicine and art. Bukhara was both the capital and the main center of culture and learning of the Saminids, which, incidentally, stretched across rather a wide territory, covering parts of today’s (get ready!…): Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan (most of today’s Bukhara’s inhabitants, curiously, speak Tajik) Iran, Turkmenistan, Kirgizstan, Kazakhstan, and of course Uzbekistan.
It was here in Bukhara where the Persian polymath Avicenna was born, lived and worked. Avicenna is regarded to have been one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age. He was just one of many scientists of the Saminids, some of whose names – or works/theories thereof – you’ll recognize. Example: algebra comes from the Arabic al-jabr, meaning ‘reunion of broken-up parts’, which in turn comes from the book (Ilm al-jabr wa’l-muḳābala) by the scholar Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, from neighboring Khwarezm. But why the Arabic, you may wonder. Well, after these territories were conquered by the Arabs somewhere around the 6th-7th centuries, though the locals continued to speak their own languages and dialects, Arabic became the language of the elite, science and art. Thus: algebra. Also: alchemy, almanac, algorithm, alcohol! There are as many Arabic-originating words in different world languages as there are, say, Greek ones. Someone should do a comparison. Meanwh ile, I’ll just show you my photos…