Qutayba ibn Muslim was the Umayyad governor of Khurasan. Between 705 and 715 he conquered Sogdiana, Khorezm, Chach and Ferghana. In 712 he took Samarkand by a ruse.[1]

The treaty of surrender survives in its original form in Ibn A’tham al-Kufi, an eighth-century author, and in Persian in Bal’ami.[2] Samarkand paid two million dirhams at once and handed over three thousand slaves, neither too young nor too old. It also owed a yearly tribute of 200,000 dirhams.[2] The treaty also gave rates of conversion: a slave was worth 200 dirhams, a large garment 100, a small one 60, a piece of silk 28, and a mithqal of gold 20.[2]

Qutayba did not keep the treaty. Against its terms he refused to leave the town and drove out its inhabitants.[3] Under the caliph Umar II, in 719–720, a delegation of the people of Samarkand asked for redress. A judge ruled that the Arabs should leave and that the two armies should meet in open combat to decide the town’s status.[4] The lords of Samarkand made Ishtikhan their second capital.[5] Part of the nobility went to Panjikent. Its lord Dēwāštīč then claimed to be king of Sogdiana, and the citadel of Panjikent was painted with the capture of Samarkand.[6]

For thirty years after the conquest the Sogdian nobles, allied with the Türgesch, fought back. The Arabs lost the whole country, and the war was carried across the Oxus.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b de la Vaissière 2005a, p. 266
  2. ^ a b c de la Vaissière 2005a, p. 271
  3. ^ de la Vaissière 2005a, p. 276
  4. ^ Tabari
  5. ^ de la Vaissière 2005a, p. 283
  6. ^ de la Vaissière 2005a, p. 272

Sources

Literature

  • Étienne de la Vaissière, Sogdian Traders: A History (2005)

Related

What links here3

Persons
Qutayba ibn Muslim
Places
Samarkand
Peoples
Sogdians

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “The capture of Samarkand, 712.” Turkic Atlas, revised 28 October 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/events/capture-of-samarkand-712/

Last revised: 28 October 2026