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SAMARCAND

Volume 18 · 136 words · 1823 Edition

or SARMACAND, an ancient and famous town of Asia, capital of the kingdom of the same name in the country of the Usbeck Tartars, with a castle and a famous university. The houses are built with stones, and it carries on a trade in excellent fruits. It is pleasantly seated near the river Sogde, a branch of the Amu. E. Long. 69. 0. N. Lat. 39. 50. This town was the capital of the kingdom of Sogdia in the time of Alexander the Great, when it was called Maracanda. It was afterwards the capital of the empire of Tamerlane the Great. In the time of Jenghis Khan, it was forced to yield to the arms of that cruel conqueror; by whom the garrison, amounting to 30,000 men, were butchered; 30,000 of the inhabitants, with their wives,