Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Samanids' land by the Turkish states of Ghaznavids and Karakhanids in
999, Ghaznavids started the Turkish reign in Merv, which lasts till today.
When we reached the 10th century, the Oghuz Turks, which are the
ancestors of Turkmens who form today's Merv people, were living in the
region from Syr Derya to the Caspian Sea and from the Aral Sea to Kho-
rasan. Al-Biruni, the famous Kharezm scientist who lived in the 10th-11th
centuries, when talking about the Khorasan and Mawaraunnahr regions,
named the Karakum deserts as “Oghuz deserts” (Mufazat el-Guziyye)
and “Oghuz realm,” and the Kızılkum deserts as “Turkmen country” (Ard
el-Turkmaniya) (Togan, 1960). According to the Muslim writers of the
time, the Turkmen name was given by the non-Muslim Oghuz people to
the Muslim Oghuz people. Indeed, the acceptance of Islam by the Oghuz
people had commenced in the second half of the 9th century (Saray, 1993).
After the establishment of the Great Seljuk Empire by an Oghuz tribe,
which followed the defeat of Ghaznavids by Chagri Bey (died 1059) and
Tugrul Bey (1016-1063) in the Dandanakan War of 1040 around Merv,
governance of Merv was given to Chagri Bey. Merv, then, served as the
capital of this great state, which extended from Amu Darya to the Medi-
terranean, and lived its brightest times during the reign of Sultan Sanjar
(1119-1157). The dam (Sultanbend) which Sultan Sanjar had built on Mu-
grab played a significant role in the prosperity of Merv.
With his death, the governance was taken over by Turkish Khwarez-
mids. Merv, which in 1153 was plundered by the rebelling Oghuzs against
Seljuks, was reconstructed during the Khwarezmid period. But the Mon-
gol invasion in 1221 with the leadership of Tuli Han, the son of Genghis
Han, completely demolished the city and as the Murgab bend, the main
life stream was destroyed, and for about two hundred years there was no
significant residence in the city. It is so significant that the city's popu-
lation before the Mongol invasion could only be reached very recently.
After the Mongol invasion, with the establishment of the Ilhanids State
(1256-1336) in Persia by Hulagu (1256-1265), Merv got located in this
nation. The coins produced in Merv show that Merv was governed by the
Chagatai Khanate during the final periods of Ilhanids and by the Golden
Horde State for a brief amount of time. Ibn Batuta, who visited Merv in the
beginning of the 14th century mentions that, among the four biggest cities,
Merv and Balkh were ruined whereas Herat and Nishapur were flourishing
(Ibn Battuta Tanci, 2000).
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