Samarcand, a city of West Turkestan, situated at the western base of the Tian-Shan Mountains, 130 m. SE. of Bokhara. Suffered at the hands of Genghis Khan in the 13th century; was Timur's capital in the 14th century, and has since been held sacred by the Moslems. Captured by the Russians in 1868, who have improved it, and built a handsome suburb on the west. Manufactures silk, cotton, paper, &c.
Population (circa 1900) given as 33,000.
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Sam Weller * Samaria